Antiracist Language Teaching with Afro-Latin American Author Presentations

Antiracist Language Teaching with Afro-Latin American Author Presentations Jacob Brown In scholarship on language pedagogy, there is growing momentum for teaching Afrodescendant literature in language classrooms. Various teachers and scholars of languages and literatures have responded to the need for greater racial inclusion in language curricula by exploring approaches to teaching Afro-Hispanic literary texts (Villegas Rogers 2006; Maddox 2021; and Parker 2023). This article proposes a novel approach to including Afro-Latin American literature in intermediate and novice-level Spanish courses through author presentations. The purpose of the article is to empower language teachers to teach literature in our classrooms. Instructors do not have to be specialists on Afro-Latin American literature to lead this task because students become the experts through independent learning. Student-directed research on Afro-Latin American authors fosters both language acquisition and intercultural competence while placing students at the center of their own learning. Instructors set up a structure for the task and compose a list of authors from which students can choose, and students conduct their own research and teach each other about what they learned. Author presentations thus allow instructors the opportunity to introduce students to not just one or two Afro-Hispanic authors, but many. The objective of doing so is to illustrate a more representative history of Latin America and thus contribute to a more inclusive world language curriculum. Teaching Representative History in the World Language Classroom Simmons (2019) suggests that educators should "study and teach representative history," which is composed of "the truth of racial oppression" and "a true depiction of Black excellence." This is as true for language teachers as it is for instructors of any other subject. Hines-Gaither and Accilien (2022: 97) urge that language instructors begin teaching representative history as early as the novice level. Waiting to incorporate antiracism in language courses "breeds inequity given that most students in general, and an even larger number of students of color, do not persist to advanced language levels. In turn, this practice omits the majority of our students from ever experiencing an antiracist world language classroom" (Hines-Gaither and Accilien 2022: 63). Especially since Spanish tends to be the most-studied language in K–12 schools and universities, Spanish instructors have an opportunity and a responsibility to break this cycle. One way of doing so is by incorporating Afro-Latin American culture in our classrooms. It would be impossible to accurately represent Latin American culture without including Latin Americans of African descent. Across the Caribbean to Central and South America, Afrodescendants have made invaluable contributions to Latin American culture. Spanish teachers must therefore make Afro-Latin American history and culture an essential part of the curriculum. There is a growing wealth of resources for Spanish instructors who would like to incorporate Afro-Latin American culture into our classrooms. Watson (2013) argues that instructors can teach Afro-Latin American culture with Afro-Cuban director Gloria Rolando's End Page 225 film Raíces de mi corazón (2001). Haas et al. (2021) discuss the television show Afro-Latino Travels with Kim Haas and suggest practical novice-high-level activities to accompany it. Stand-alone materials and activities can support existing curricula, but Baralt et al. (2022) provide an example of what it looks like to design an entire language curriculum on the principle of antiracism. "The Task-based Spanish Language Curriculum for Black Language Learners: An Open-Access Resource for Teachers" is made up of units that center Black learners. Unit 8 includes an article by poet and essayist Amara Amaryah (2022), showing that instructors can and should teach students about Black authors and their work in Spanish courses beginning at the novice level. Antiracist Language Teaching with Afro-Latin American Literature Afrodescendant literature can help diversify historically white-dominated language curricula and remove historical barriers to minoritized students' language learning success. Anya and Randolph (2019: 24) argue that "to assure equity and meaningful participation of language educators and learners from minoritized racial backgrounds, we must openly address race and racism in language education policies, instructional practices, and curriculum." Everyone wins when we practice antiracism in our work. Diversifying our teaching materials can also encourage more...