VOICES OF MAYAN WOMEN IN PLAZA COMUNITARIA: POÉTICA Y EDUCACIÓN
DESDE YUCATÁN
By
Abraham Ceballos Zapata

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education—Doctor of Philosophy
2017

ABSTRACT
VOICES OF MAYAN WOMEN IN PLAZA COMUNITARIA: POÉTICA Y EDUCACIÓN
DESDE YUCATÁN
By
Abraham Ceballos Zapata
This study took place in a village in Yucatan, Mexico in the context of two adult
education programs in Yucatan [Plaza Comunitaria and Preparatoria Abierta]. I interacted in
convivencia with bilingual (Mayan-Spanish) Yucatec Mayan women who took on the
challenge of completing their formal schooling through those adult education programs. Over
3 summers (2013, 2014, 2015) I immersed myself in the community and witnessed their
educational efforts. Ethnographic and convivencia methodologies (Galvan, 2015) helped
generate data. I analyzed data with methodologies stemming from the humanities, in narrative
(Clandinin & Connelly, 2004) and poetic analysis (Görlich, 2016; Prendergast, Leggo, &
Sameshima, 2009). Through my discussion, I explore how the efforts of Yucatec Mayan
women prompt educators imagine possibilities for decolonial education and inform our
pedagogical practices across multiple educational settings. By focusing on the voices of rural
women as poetry, I evoke the rhythms and memories of their lives in indigenous communities
and in educational settings. This emerging research has taught me life and professional
lessons of education on the margins. I witnessed their ethos of familia, and solidaridad as
they studied together. Most importantly, they showed me how studying and being in
community are inseparable.

Copyright by
ABRAHAM CEBALLOS ZAPATA
2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank the contributions of a myriad of people who have influenced who I am
as a person and scholar. First and foremost, a mi papá Arturo Ceballos y a mi mamá Rosa
Zapata, les quiero dar las gracias por su trabajo, y por haberme inspirado en este camino de
descubrimiento y servicio. To the women of Plaza Comunitaria whose strength and
generosity invited me to re-think research and scholarship. My desire is that this will the
beginning of a wonderful collaboration. I want to express my gratitude to my Grand Rapids
family, las familias Koster y Flores, who adopted me into their homes and provided me with
a family away from home. Your kindness and generosity has enriched my life. I look forward
to many more celebrations to come.
Gratitude also goes to the many wonderful people that I met in Erickson Hall at
Michigan State University. Modi Pang, your encouragement and friendship has made
important contributions to my life and work all these years. Iwan Syahril, a thoughtful
colleague and wise friend. Terimakasi amigo. My experience in this program has been
expanded by friends who offered their support, smiles, knowledge, and encouragement
without hesitation: Jihea Maddamsetti, Eduardo Najarro, Dali Martínez, Bernadette Castillo,
Yue Bian, Xuexue Yang, Liz Gil, Amal Ibourk, Kris Windorski, Donald Barringer, Eunjung
Jin, and Soobin Jang. It has also been an honor to work with the terrific people in the
department of Teacher Education Department: Amy Peebles, Terry Edwards and Kelly
Hodges. Thanks for all your kindness while I was learning to navigate work as a graduate
assistant. I admire all your hard work in the department of Teacher Education. Mentors and
professors: your ideas, questions, and scholarship pushed my imagination. That is the best
gift I could ever receive from all of you: Janine Certo, Miguel Cabañas, John Dirkx, Sandro

iv

Barros, Jeffrey Bale, and Sandra Crespo. Lynn Fendler, my advisor, thank you because the
only sure prescription you ever gave me was possibility.
I will never forget my brothers and sister from Beaujardin: Bella Tirtowalujo, José
Manuel Martínez, and Juma Mongoyo, kindred spirits and joyful souls. Jan Simonson, I
thank for your joy and constant laughter. Your spirit of a servant made my first years in
graduate school a life changing experience. Your teachings have influenced my thinking
profoundly. Thanks to my writing group: Elise Dixon, Yunjeong Choi, Yu-han Hung,
Hyojeong Kim, all of you provided wonderful feedback on issues I could not see by myself.
Cường Nguyễn and Gerardo Aponte, I am indebted to the great conversations we had during
the process of writing. Your keen observations made me rethink the manuscript many times.
This dissertation would not have been completed without funding provided by The
Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship and the Language Teaching Fellowship
at the Residential College of Arts and Humanities. India Plough, it has been an honor to have
worked in your team. Your program helped me connect teaching and research in ways I did
not anticipate. To all of you: gracias de todo corazón.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ ix
CHAPTER ONE ...................................................................................................................... 1
The Context of the Study......................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
Plaza Comunitaria Context ................................................................................................. 6
Adult Education in México and Plaza Comunitaria ......................................................... 6
Plaza Comunitaria: Goals, Services and Roles ................................................................... 8
Plazas Comunitarias in the United States ......................................................................... 12
The Site: Agua Clara ........................................................................................................ 12
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Local Coordinator: Alicia ............................................... 13
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Site: La Plaza .................................................................. 14
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Study Group .................................................................... 15
CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................... 17
A Vitalist Ethnography of Education................................................................................... 17
Life as a Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................... 18
Objections to rationalism .................................................................................................. 19
Vital reason ....................................................................................................................... 22
Historical Reason.............................................................................................................. 25
Cartesianism of life ........................................................................................................... 27
Convivencia and Plaza Comunitaria................................................................................. 28
CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 32
Methodological Notes............................................................................................................. 32
Ortega’s Cartesianism of Life and Plaza Comunitaria .................................................. 32
Ethical Commitments ........................................................................................................ 34
Desire to Highlight Goodness........................................................................................... 35
Act Respetuosamente: Data Collection ............................................................................ 37
Mindful of Colonialism .................................................................................................... 38
Adopting a Stance for Learning: Researcher's Positionality ............................................ 39
Analytical Tools Through the Artistry of Voces Cotidianas ........................................... 41
Focus................................................................................................................................. 45
Production......................................................................................................................... 45
Comprehension ................................................................................................................. 48
Connection ........................................................................................................................ 48
Magnification.................................................................................................................... 51
Projecting the Narrative .................................................................................................... 53
CHAPTER FOUR.................................................................................................................. 56
Leadership in La Plaza Comunitaria ................................................................................... 56
Alicia’s Story ....................................................................................................................... 56
First Impressions .............................................................................................................. 56
Work at Plaza Comunitaria............................................................................................... 57

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Pedagogical Encounters .................................................................................................... 61
Leading ............................................................................................................................. 65
Summer 2015.................................................................................................................... 70
Reflections on Alicia's Education Through the lens of Ortega y Gasset's Philosophy 72
CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................... 77
The Voice of Resistance: Learning in Exclusion ................................................................. 77
Tomasita’s Story ................................................................................................................. 77
Vida Entre las Plantas ....................................................................................................... 77
Silence .............................................................................................................................. 82
Exclusion .......................................................................................................................... 86
Trust .................................................................................................................................. 88
Grupo de Estudio .............................................................................................................. 89
Justice ............................................................................................................................... 90
Empezar y Terminar ......................................................................................................... 94
Pedagogy with Tomasita .................................................................................................. 101
CHAPTER SIX .................................................................................................................... 104
Somos Familia: Unanimous Efforts ................................................................................... 104
Vero’s Story ...................................................................................................................... 104
Familia de Estudio .......................................................................................................... 104
High School .................................................................................................................... 109
Studying English ............................................................................................................ 110
Vivid Images................................................................................................................... 112
Pedagogy with Vero ......................................................................................................... 118
CHAPTER SEVEN.............................................................................................................. 121
De-limitations ....................................................................................................................... 121
What I Learned as a Researcher: Nomenclatura .......................................................... 122
What I Learned about Being an Educator..................................................................... 124
What I Learned from Plaza Comunitaria...................................................................... 126
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................... 129

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Plaza Comunitaria service providers ......................................................................... 11
Table 2. Cultural and vital imperatives according to Ortega y Gasset .................................... 33
Table 3. Ethical Commitments and research ........................................................................... 35
Table 4. The artistry of voces cotidianas ................................................................................. 52
Table 5. Interpreting Alicia's story .......................................................................................... 73

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Theorizing the voices of Mayan women .................................................................... 4
Figure 2. Cartesianism of life................................................................................................... 31
Figure 3. Plaza Comunitaria building ...................................................................................... 61
Figure 4. Roberto and Alicia triciclo ....................................................................................... 71
Figure 5. Alicia delivering a certificate ................................................................................... 72
Figure 6. Agua Clara Town Hall.............................................................................................. 93
Figure 7. Political ad promising free internet to students ........................................................ 93
Figure 8. Political ad promising on-call doctors for the community ....................................... 94
Figure 9. Vero and Tomasita holding their High School certificates ...................................... 99

ix

CHAPTER ONE
The Context of the Study

“Para comprender algo humano, personal o colectivo, es preciso contar una historia.”
Ortega y Gasset
“La Historia como Sistema (p. 91).”

Introduction
Plaza Comunitaria is a community education program for adults. Formally, it is run
by the federal Mexican government. The program aims at attending the needs of vulnerable
youth and adults (Bernhardt, Yorozu, & Medel-Añonuevo, 2014). My research took place in
a small Yucatán village, "Agua Clara," that had been participating in the Plaza Comunitaria.
The adult students who participated, mostly women, had been pursuing an elementary and/or
middle school diploma through Plaza Comunitaria in Agua Clara. I visited them three times,
in the summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015 to conduct research on their local approach to
education.
I began getting immersed in Agua Clara and in its Plaza Comunitaria in the summer
of 2013. At first, I tagged along with Alicia, the local coordinator of Plaza Comunitaria. Over
the summers of 2013, 2014, and 2015, Alicia invited me to witness the efforts students at
Agua Clara were making to complete their K-12 schooling. Eventually, I met more people,
and I got to ask more questions. When I was not there, I remained in touch with them via
social media. To this date, their posts on social media afford me a good excuse to smile.
During those summers, I maintained a discipline of writing field notes of my observations,
experiences, memories, reflections, puzzling and surprising events. As experienced
ethnographers would expect, the plot lines running across those field notes thickened.

1

I interviewed students of Plaza Comunitaria, inquiring about what being part of La
Plaza meant to them. I transcribed some those interviews myself, and commissioned the
transcriptions of others. Right before every fall of those years, I returned to Michigan State
University to make sense of those memories by writing them up as academic papers, or as
scholars informally call this practice to “unpack them.” In the village, I also engaged in
multiple informal interviews and conversations. I put these two together because, at some
point, the lines between the two blurred; and as those events become more distant it is harder
to tell them apart. I now access those memories by reading the field notes and memos I wrote
of those events.
Over a period of three summers, I could see change in my own research approach. In
that research journey, there were several gradual shifts. I went from using data collection as a
formal technique to generating data through convivencia and seeing it through vox
participare, a change that both reflected and prompted my evolving theoretical stance. I
started my visits looking for very specific answers, and moved to learning how to be open to
the ways people of La Plaza would work together. New questions emerged that broadened
my original ones. I have tried to reflect the shifts in research approaches in the following
stories about Plaza Comunitaria in Agua Clara. I went from looking at redefining educated
identities to seeking to engage with the identities that were already there. I am intentionally
framing the notion of gaining rapport as attentive listening, and participant observation as
witnessing.
I use a methodology of con-vivencia (communal lived experiences) to investigate how
adult students’ voices give us ways to imagine a decolonial education, and inform our
pedagogical practices across multiple educational settings. Convivencia is at the center of my
world as a researcher. I define convivencia as communal lived experience performed day to
day. It is a research methodology because by acting in convivencia with the friends I met in

2

the village, I came to encounter the deep intellectual and ethical resources women of Plaza
Comunitaria brought into their life projects. Convivencia permeates their lives as an attitude
they bring into their studies. In short, through the lens of convivencia we can see how for
women of Plaza Comunitaria to study and to be in community are inseparable.
In the process, I also learned how to connect convivencia with Ortega y Gasset's
philosophy of raciovitalismo. His philosophical project provided the theoretical
underpinnings that run along my analysis. There are several strands in his philosophy that
sustain this project theoretically: first is his critique of rationalism, such critique inspired me
to interpret research as a vital experience. I interpret my own vital experience as a researcher
though my ethical commitments. Second, his philosophy of raciovitalismo inverts
cartesianism by subsuming reason to life. He argued that life is the foundation for intellectual
life. This attitude resonates with my observations. Third, he proposed that understanding
human matters requires storytelling. This helped me weave in the narrative elements as part
of the analysis. Finally, his philosophical project allowed me to find connections between
philosophy of education and ethnographic research in line with other researchers (Hansen,
Wozniak and Galindo Diego, 2014).
Emotional elements emerged in the research process. I cautiously sought to avoid bias
stereotyping women as being over-emotional in the workplace, while at the same time not
pruning important elements of their experience. Through the lens of vox participare
(Pendergast, Lego and Sameshima, 2009) I could pay attention to those emotional elements
in the work and efforts of women of Plaza Comunitaria. Vox participare refers to the strand
of research within poetic inquiry that pays attention to the voices of participants by looking at
data through poetic lenses. This line of inquiry allowed me to create a rupture from the
disciplinary impositions on research methodologies. Researchers utilize vox participare to
pay attention to emotional elements that otherwise might be overlooked.

3

Figure 1 below, "Theorizing the voices of Mayan women," presents at a glance the
theoretical components of my research. On one end, the thought of Ortega y Gasset
permeates all the elements of this research project. The ethnographic aspect of my research
stems out of the theoretical framework and ethical commitments. On the other end, I present
the notion of convivencia as methodology and vox participare as lens.

Figure 1. Theorizing the voices of Mayan women

I met Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero when I arrived at Agua Clara in the summer of
2013. I learned that Alicia and Tomasita had completed the Plaza Comunitaria program.
Since they had their secundaria [middle school] diploma, along with Vero they had been
studying together to complete their high school diploma. The analysis appears in their
respective chapters in the context of both Plaza Comunitaria and Preparatoria Abierta. I refer
to the study group in the context of their program to Preparatoria Abierta.
Against all odds, they completed their K-12 schooling through adult education
programs. When I met them, I realized that they were so close to finishing the high school
program. I was intrigued about what had sustained their journey in such circumstances? I

4

eventually asked: How do Tomasita, Vero and Alicia--all Mayan women--experience their
return to school? And through my analysis I asked: How can those experiences challenge me
as an educator? I present through each chapter the stories that reveal their intellectual and
ethical resources as well as their stories of education at the margins. My hope is to present a
more human vision of what is indigenous, not as an object of study, but as convivencia. In
this study, I want to present the vitality I experienced through the multiple narratives and
poems I composed with their words. With this work, I also hope to expand the imagination of
readers regarding the Mayan beyond jungles and temples.
Alicia opened the doors of Plaza Comunitaria for me, both literally and figuratively.
By way of her welcoming, I came to intermingle with people of La Plaza, as she would
endearingly refer to it. I witnessed the pedagogical spaces created by the students and her, in
Plaza Comunitaria and beyond. At the time, Alicia was a 31-year-old woman serving as the
coordinator of La Plaza, who on a daily basis walked the four corners of Agua Clara as if
they had no end. She spoke with deep conviction about La Plaza as a site for redemption,
where villagers would vindicate missed life opportunities. For those missed opportunities, she
assured them they had found the perfect place.

5

Plaza Comunitaria Context
Adult Education in México and Plaza Comunitaria
The National Institute for Adult Education (INEA) in México attempts to tackle youth
and adult illiteracy across the country through adult education programs for marginalized
populations. One of those programs is known as Plaza Comunitaria (PC). For some time,
Plazas Comunitarias have been the “face” of adult education programs in México. On the one
hand, PC’s curriculum has earned recognition as innovative and promising (Schmelkes,
2012). On the other hand, scholars point out that its implementation has been impacted by
administrative failures, lack of appropriate funding (Ávila, 2013), and for not successfully
motivating and recruiting students (Álvarez Mendiola, 2006).
The National Institute for Adult Education is a decentralized organization that was
created in 1981. In that year, then Mexican President José Lopez Portillo issued an order to
create the National Institute for Adult Education (INEA). Then, Minister of Education
Fernando Solana, delineated the principles and goals of the new institute. United Nations and
UNESCO were involved in the design of INEA. The Mexican government commissioned a
team to coordinate the creation of such institute. The team members traveled to Tanzania and
Senegal to learn about adult education programs of those countries. INEA took on the task of
putting into action the National Law of Adult Education. Through this institution, the
Mexican government, would provide free educational services to adults (defining adults as
any person 15 years old and older) along with a certification system that would allow
students to have an official diploma (Castro-Muñoz, 2011).
The philosophy of INEA is expressed in the Modelo Educación para la Vida y el
Trabajo (MEVyT, Education for Life and Work Model). MEVyT connects the life
experiences of adult learners with the curriculum. Flexibility is at the center of the model.
Students can take as much time needed to complete any module, they can abide by the

6

anticipated cycle (4 weeks per module), or move faster. MEVyT follows as a guiding
principle the idea inclusion of life experiences of adults in the curriculum. Adult students
under this model can go through three different levels or grades: literacy, primary and
secondary. In the Mexican context secondary goes up to 9th grade. (CONEVyT, 2013). The
training manual Para Saber Más del MEVyT (2006. p. 37) explains:
MEVyT conceptualizes the education of youth and adults as a process of recognizing,
strengthening, and building learning and knowledge to develop competencies.
Through those competencies youth and adults will be able to explain the causes and
effects of diverse phenomena, solve problems in their different contexts and life
situations. In this conceptualization centered on the people, content areas refer to real
needs and interests. By doing this, youth and adult will apply what they learn with the
goal of improving their individual, familial and social (my translation).
Application of knowledge is ingrained in training materials and the structure of Plaza
Comunitaria. This framing of pedagogical goals follow a logic of human capital theory
(Bartlett, 2007, Aikman, 2012). In the statement above MEVyT connects individual, familial
and social development to students competencies developed through the program. MEVyT
also emphasizes connections to life. This view is evident in in another training manual (Pérez
Gómez, 2006. P. 19) for asesores :
What is learning? Learning is the process of in which people reflect and build new
knowledge based on their experiences or previous knowledge, being able to act on
reality transforming it and transforming themselves. Therefore, to learn is appropriate
new information, give it new meaning, and apply it to daily life (my translation).
INEA defines its goals broadly. It aims at developing educational models, conducting
research, creating and distributing educational materials, assessing adult learning, and
certifying and accrediting adult students. INEA offers a valid accreditation nationally across

7

educational institutions (INEA, 2013). This institution provides basic education to students
ages 15 and older, who have not completed their basic educational milestones, through a nonformal educational system delivered at Plazas Comunitarias (PCs).
A community (whether located in a village or neighborhood) can start a study group
with the support of INEA. When a community can gather a group of students interested in
finishing basic education, INEA steps in to support the creation of a Punto de Encuentro. This
is the first organizational step that functions as a study group sponsored by INEA. When
there is widespread interest in the community for these programs, and the need is evident
(i.e., high dropout rates) in the community, INEA allocates funds so a particular community
can operate an adult education program called Plaza Comunitaria. Community members and
INEA staff work with local authorities to find facilities in the town where PCs will operate.
Whether it is a Punto de Encuentro or a Plaza Comunitaria, INEA will send instructors (who
receive a very small compensation) to guide students through INEA study materials. All
materials are provided for free.
Plaza Comunitaria: Goals, Services and Roles
In this section, I explain the goals of Plaza Comunitaria as a program, services and the
different roles of people who participated in Plaza Comunitaria. This will serve to describe
the operational aspects of Plaza Comunitaria as established by the National Institute for the
Education of Adults.
PC course offerings can be classified in three different categories. First, basic literacy,
students learn how to read and write, basic arithmetic (in Plaza Comunitaria this is known as
the ALFA program). Second, PC provides education corresponding to elementary education.
Third, PC offers programs so that adults can obtain their junior high school certificate
(secundaria). Instructional materials are designed to make connections with real-life
situations. Adults can also take those courses without necessarily completing the programs.

8

They can enroll in those as separate courses and job training. PC is designed to be very
flexible. It accommodates varied schedules within students and tutors. It does not have
deadlines for students, and students can make decisions regarding which modules they want
study. PCs offer several services such as basic education, life and job skills training,
community services, and a literacy program (ALFA).
The program PC has two broad functions, that is, education and outreach. The first
goal within the function of education is providing basic education. PC’s offer basic
education to youth and adult (people 15 and older who have not completed basic education)
so that they can obtain an elementary and/or middle school certificate. Community members
can study online modules or printed materials accessible through Plazas Comunitarias. In
both cases PC has desktop computers and tutors available to guide students through the
content and help them prepare for the test.
The second goal within the function of education is serving as a school community.
Broadly speaking, PCs are conceived by INEA as sites for education within the community.
To achieve this goal, PC’s combine the use of technology, training, and knowledge with the
support of local and regional staff members. Along those lines, PC’s provide training in life
and job skills. This is available to people without necessarily pursuing a basic education
certificate. Community members can study a course or module of their interest. Plaza
Comunitaria offers many modules and courses geared towards learning about life and job
skills. Tutors are also available to students who desire to study specific modules.
The second broad function is outreach. PCs physical spaces can be used for other
community purposes. It can be a gathering place. Community members or interest groups can
host reunions there to plan, discuss and tackle problems. Materials, books, and computers
connected to the Internet are available to these groups. INEA also encourages other types of
community partnerships. The specific village I visited has partnered with a non-profit

9

organization called ProJoven (Pro-Youth) to encourage women who dropped out school (due
to financial, family issues or pregnancy) to continue their studies. They have also worked
with program called “Un Kilo de Ayuda” [A Kilogram of Help] which provides groceries to
people in need. Another program they work with is called “El Buen Juez” [The Good Judge].
This is a program sponsored by INEA with the goals of providing basic education to people
working at any level of government (federal, state or local) who have not finished their
schooling.
PCs involve in their system local volunteers, regional and state representatives. One
group of people is called figuras solidarias (local volunteers). They are locals who are
willing to volunteer in Plazas Comunitarias. The second group of people falls within the
classification of figuras institucionales (INEA employees). Figuras solidarias are not hired
as staff members, but receive some monetary compensation. Tutors (one instance of figura
solidaria) receive about 7 dollars for every exam that any of their students has passed. There
is also compensation for tutors as their students complete modules and certificates for a
particular level (i.e. literacy program, elementary, junior high school). The local coordinator
in Agua Clara received about $2000 pesos a month (less than $200 dollars) for her work. The
local coordinator and tutor sign a document recognizing that they are not hired as INEA
employees.

10

In the table below, I organize the classification of the different denominations of PC
participants:
Figuras solidarias

Figuras institucionales

Promotor comunitario [local coordinator]
Local coordinator who is often a
community member in charge of
administration and recruitment of the site.
They are referred on-site as: el promotor or
la promotora.

Técnico docente [teaching specialist]
Visits different Plazas Comunitarias in
order to provide support, training, collect
data about the enrollment and students’
completion, and bringing the money to
pay tutors and local coordinator.

Asesores [tutors]
They offer tutoring students and help
students prepare for the tests. They can
tutor in groups or in a one-on-one basis. In
the case of the village I observed, all tutors
were locally recruited, and supported the
on-the-ground work of Plaza Comunitaria.

Coordinadores de zona [regional
coordinators]
INEA staff who supervise performance of
Plazas Comunitarias, allocate funding,
and help promoting the work of Plazas in
the community.
Personal de la coordinación de zona
[staff working with regional coordinators]
Administration at the regional level

Apoyo técnico [technical support]
Administers the computer lab. He/she also
helps students who want to study online
modules. The person in the role of apoyo
técnico assists local coordinator
(promotor/a) updating the enrollment and
students’ progress figures in the database.

Personal de las oficinas, institutos y
delegaciones [states offices staff]
Administration at the state level

Aplicadores [proctors]
Proctors who visit Plaza Comunitarias with
printed exams. After the exams are taken
they return them to the state offices.
Table 1. Plaza Comunitaria service providers
As shown in the table above, Plazas Comunitaria labor is divided between two groups
of figuras. In the case of figuras solidarias they are mainly from the village (with the
exception of proctors). Many of the tutors for instance have been students who decide to join
these efforts, or students from the community with a secundaria (middle school) or
bachillerato (high school) diploma. The second group is figuras institucionales. They are
INEA employees at the regional or state level who coordinate the work in the local Plazas
Comunitarias.

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Plazas Comunitarias in the United States
INEA also implements Plaza Comunitaria programs in the U.S. providing elementary
and secondary education to Mexicans living in the U.S. However, Plazas Comunitarias offer
their services to anyone, and in particular Spanish speakers. INEA coordinates with different
consulates and various local organizations to create implement the Plaza Comunitaria
program. INEA has also created manuals and program implementation guides in English,
some aspects of the curriculum have been adapted to respond to the U.S. context
(http://www.conevyt.org.mx). Some of the materials specifically address the issues
immigrants face. The state of Michigan has three Plazas Comunitarias located in Detroit, and
one Plaza Comunitaria in Grand Rapids that operates in collaboration with Grand Valley
State University (https://www.gvsu.edu/las/plaza-comunitaria-60.htm).
The Site: Agua Clara
Agua Clara strikes any visitor as regular Yucatán village. In the morning, Agua Clara
villagers rush to catch their taxis and buses for their work or school commute. Others who
work in the village open up their businesses. The rest of the day seems quiet. Some retired
men sit down at the Plaza quietly while they chat with other friends. Many women stay and
work on their quehaceres (daily chores). It is here where I encountered stories of learning.
The municipality of Agua Clara is located in the Southern area of the state of
Yucatán. It has a little over 4,800 inhabitants. Its inhabitants worked the henequen plant
during the heyday of its production. Nowadays the municipality produces corn, beans and
other types of vegetables. They also farm pigs and cattle, and they practice aviculture. The
municipality has also various archeological sites, as well as sinkholes (cenotes) around. In the
nearby villages sinkholes are starting to get tourists’ attention.
Agua Clara has a reputation in the state of Yucatán for handbags and backpacks
manufacturing. Several families have workshops with sewing machines in their houses. They

12

pass those skills to their children. Those who choose to work on this occupation sell their
production to retail stores in the capital of the state of Yucatán. Many visitors come to the
village with the intention of purchasing handbags at low prices. I noticed in my last visit that
some local small business had just started selling their own products. Youth also work in the
construction business; they usually commute to Mérida or Cancun to work in construction.
There are some people in the village who have migrated to the United States. Migrants use
their remittances to build their houses. There is a stark contrast between the houses built by
migrants and those who stayed in the village.
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Local Coordinator: Alicia
I worked closely with the local program coordinator. Alicia helped me access the
daily life in a Plaza Comunitaria. Alicia is a 31-year-old Mayan woman who serves as the
coordinator of Plaza Comunitaria in Agua Clara. She is the second person serving in such a
position since the program started. I will refer to her as Alicia for research confidentiality
reasons.
Alicia served in her position as coordinator from December 2012 to March of 2015.
She first became involved as a student earning her secundaria (middle school) diploma
through this program. Alicia’s interest in participation increased upon earning her secundaria
diploma. She then joined PC as an asesor (tutor). Finally, she was selected by the técnico
docente (regional coordinator) to be the PC local coordinator (promotora) in her community.
My initial contact with Alicia was the starting point of my inquiry. I became
acquainted with the day-to-day struggles she faced to keep the program running. She made
me aware of tensions between the stated program goals and the program goals that people
running the program on site had for themselves. I also learned how local tutors enacted
pedagogies that stemmed out of their desire to learn and to teach others.
Alicia promotes the services offered by La Plaza, whether through house visits or

13

formal presentations in the community. She networks with other local organizations
coordinating services across different organizations for students of Plaza Comunitaria. She
introduced me to many asesores (local tutors). Later, I would learn through my interviews
that they were involved out of their sheer desire to share their experiences learning.
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Site: La Plaza
Yucatán is known for its plain terrains. However, the building housing Plaza
Comunitaria sits at an elevation next to the Town Hall. Plaza Comunitaria has a prime
location in town. The Catholic Church white building rises across from Plaza Comunitaria.
The first time I visited Plaza Comunitaria it was a rectangular old building, painted in color
beige. In the front of the building you can read in big black letters “Plaza Comunitaria de
Agua Clara, Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán.” When you walk to the building up on a very
rocky path, the smaller letters telling the service hours appear more clearly.
Inside Plaza Comunitaria some of the walls have started shedding some of their paint.
The material that covers the walls has started breaking up. This causes some of the wall
materials to go into the room, and fall on the floors. The color beige on the walls and the age
of the building help bring up a calcareous look. Each room is labeled with the name of the
functions is supposed to serve. In the different rooms, visitors can read written in black
cursive letters: computer room, multipurpose room, and conference room. Names that follow
the guidelines for Plazas Comunitarias. The rooms are somewhat adapted in different ways.
Its rooms also feature posters that encourage people to study. Some other posters are more
detailed and talk about interesting topics. The latter are made by a communications
department from the National University of México. The former are made by the local staff at
Plaza Comunitaria. Posters are made of different in materials and they all convey the sense of
the importance of going back to school.
There are office supplies in every room. There is a front desk that Alicia uses for

14

archiving files and conducting day-to-day businesses. There is a cabinet in each room to store
different resources and supplies. These supplies give Plaza Comunitaria a school-like
presentation. The computer room sticks out among the other rooms for being a renovated
room with tiles on the floor. The fans running at full force on the ceiling refresh that room
more than at any other space. Computers are laid out around the room next to the walls. In
that building, I cannot help but think in the juxtaposition of old and new things, formal and
casual, elements that belong to the national program of Plaza Comunitaria and those things
that come from the locals, and also different goals.
Agua Clara Plaza Comunitaria Study Group
When I met Tomasita, Vero, and Alicia they had already been studying together for
some time. They had started studying through the Preparatoria Abierta program with a larger
group of adult students from Agua Clara. Eventually many students dropped. Alicia had a
core group of 6 people studying. Tomasita, Vero and Alicia were the most consistent, and I
ended up observing many of their gatherings. When I refer to the study group is in the context
of Preparatoria Abierta. According to the Preparatoria Abierta site :
Preparatoria Abierta is a public educational service of the Ministry of Education and
the state governments offered. Preparatoria Abierta is a non-escholarized modality of
education offered at the high school level. It is offered to the population with the
desire or need to start, continue and conclude this level of education who are not able
to line up with a regular school schedule.(http://www.prepaabierta.sep.gob.mx)
The flexibility of the schedule also meant there was no building or regular teachers
assigned. Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero made the arrangements (when the program did not send
a teacher) to find teacher who would help with the different subjects The teachers they found
could register in the Preparatoria Abierta system and receive a small compensation. Given the
distance of the village from any major towns or cities it was difficult to find teachers.

15

Tomasita, Vero and Alicia's teachers seemed to work with them out of desire to help more
than for the compensation. Since there was no official building for Preparatoria Abierta in
Agua Clara they met in various places. The first two summers (2013, 2014) I conducted
research Alicia was leading the Plaza Comunitaria program. Their Preparatoria Abierta study
group met in the Plaza Comunitaria building after Alicia had finished her work. Other times,
they met at the elementary school near the Plaza, and other times in the secundaria building.
[The program] consists of 22 modules. Each module is a unit of learning within the
curricular plan. This plan includes contents from different areas of knowledge,
teaching and learning strategies, informative and formative activities with the goal of
helping students develop multiple competencies. The non-formal modality of
Preparatoria Abierta represents the main instrument of the federal government to
tackle the dropout rates at a high school level. For those reasons the program has
evolved socially and technologically, and changed its curricular plan to 33 subjects.
(http://www.prepaabierta.sep.gob.mx)
Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero described experiences traveling to Mérida to take exams,
failing, and having to retake them. When Vero talks about cheering on her peers or lending
them downloaded study materials, it is oftentimes in the context of their efforts to complete
the Preparatoria Abierta program. The program keeps track of the exams through an online
system. Preparatoria Abierta program emphasizes the independence of study skills as well as
the opportunity to retake exams if students are not satisfied with their grades. As of April of
2017, Vero and Tomasita have completed their high school through this program.

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CHAPTER TWO

“La vida es un gerundio y no un participio: un faciendum y no un factum, la vida es
quehacer.”
Ortega y Gasset
“La Historia como Sistema (p. 85)”

A Vitalist Ethnography of Education
My research in Plaza Comunitaria merges two broad theoretical areas recursively. On
the one hand, I collected ethnographic data over three summers in the Plaza Comunitaria of
Agua Clara. On the other hand, the ethnographic data prompted philosophical explorations.
Because they seem to be distinct inquiry traditions, one of my challenges was bridging a
philosophy of education and an anthropology of education. My efforts focused on utilizing
life as a theoretical framework to guide the ethnographic aspect of the study. In bringing life
as theoretical framework I asked: what are some theoretical underpinnings that can support
ethnography from that perspective? In this section I will explain how the thought of Ortega y
Gasset made that interaction possible. I will explore how his ideas became very generative
for developing a bridge between philosophy and anthropology of education.
In Agua Clara, I encountered a group of women poised to continue their education. It
intrigued me. I decided to follow this experience over three summers. By following Plaza
Comunitaria women’s efforts I blended narrative and ethnographic methodologies.
Theoretically, I sought grounding in the ideas of Ortega y Gasset. His notion of historical
reason provides epistemological foundations for understanding life through the lenses of a
narrative logic. This narrative logic connects to some of the discursive elements of
ethnographic work that already part of the ethnographic tradition of inquiry. Creswell (2007)

17

recognizes that ethnographic research benefits from rhetorical devices as well literary tropes
such as metaphors, synecdoche, storytelling tropes, and even irony where the researcher
contrasts competing frames of reference.
Life as a Theoretical Framework
There are several threads in Ortega y Gasset's philosophy I used as theoretical
underpinnings of my research in Plaza Comunitaria, thus connecting his philosophical
thought to an anthropology of education. First, I build on Ortega y Gasset's critique of the
dehumanizing impact of rationalism on the social sciences. His notion of life as biography
and not biology already suggests an alternative approach in studying human matters. He
would argue that to understand the nature of an individual we would have to understand
his/her history. Second, Ortega y Gasset anticipated that attitudes towards rationalism can fall
on two extremes. The first extreme is that advocacy for rationalism may lead to overlooking
lived experiences. To respond to this extreme, he argued that reason was a function of life.
Reason needs to be subsumed to life, not vice versa. On the other hand, if we overcome that
extreme by moving to the other side and affirming lived experience only, it would be possible
to fall on some form of irrationalism. Ortega y Gasset sought to avoid those two extremes.
His notion of la razón vital responds to that dilemma by integrating reason and life as one
vital experience. Third, Ortega y Gasset sought to understand human matters, whether as
individual or collective, through a narrative logic. In that effort, he drew from his critical
literary work, and often reflected on life as a novel. Fourth, his interest in human endeavors
as a fundamentally vital effort incorporates language of the mundane into his thinking. In this
study, I build on the notions of quehacer and faena framed under his discussion of vivencias
and circunstancias. The four themes that I will discuss are the following: (1) objections to
rationalism, (2) la razón vital, (3) la razón histórica, and (4) cartesianism of life.

18

Objections to rationalism
Ortega y Gasset questioned rationalism as a paradigm for the social sciences and
humanities. In the following section, I explain what are some of the assumptions of
rationalism that Ortega y Gasset opposed with his philosophy. I also draw connections
between his philosophical arguments and Plaza Comunitaria. By making these assumptions
explicit I can justify the orientations towards the experience beyond the policy that originated
the program, the focus of my analysis and methodological decisions.
First, he deemed rationalism insufficient as a philosophical project. He was skeptical
that people armed with pure reason can conquer the abyss of the cosmos, and yet find
realization through this exercise of the reason. For Ortega y Gasset rationalism is a form of
idealism because ideas have primacy for directing life, thus giving humans certainty that
realization can be achieved through pure reason. Ortega y Gasset positioned his philosophy to
grasp knowledge beyond our intellectual faculties. Ortega y Gasset proposes there are
appreciative faculties with which we can “see” values. He argues that there are geniuses of
the appreciative faculties as well as geniuses of the intellectual faculties. An ethical life
connects both sets of faculties.
This is important for my study because as a researcher I can expand my understanding
of the efforts of the women of Plaza Comunitaria beyond what is purely rational. Rather than
seeing them as forging an intellectual life only, or learning within a developmentalist
framework in which women of Plaza Comunitaria receive the benefits of aid and
development programs. It allows me to see their efforts as both intellectual and vital. It is a
theoretical principle that encourages me to include their life perspectives. Women of Plaza
Comunitaria treat their study of the Plaza Comunitaria program in equal terms as the familia
and compañerismo they developed overtime. In fact, by making their familia the starting
point they model the reprioritization between reason and life that Ortega y Gasset envisioned.

19

Second, his ideas raised questions on the often-assumed correspondence between
reality and thought. Ortega y Gasset does not subscribe to the idea that there is an exact
correspondence between reality and thinking, nor does he think that we need to strive towards
it. He suggests that when we look at our surroundings we are actively interpreting our world.
This active process of seeing-interpreting the world brings our personal lives into what we
see. He called this notion perspectivism. What we consider reality is constituted by multiple
perspectives (explicit or not).
This attempt to make thoughts and realities merge influenced the earlier stages of my
work. At first, in the process of analysis, I attempted to extract some form of idea from my
observations. I wrote extensive notes about the motivations and how Plaza Comunitaria
women were forging ne identities. I did this with the hopes of extracting some ultimate
theory. This, however, reflected a rationalist assumption in that I was still trying to “abstract”
ideas out of what I perceived as a reality. Ortega y Gasset argues that rationalism in its purest
form is not possible because ultimately, we cannot escape from our own perspective. By
recognizing that there is always a perspective involved in our discourses, I could weave the
perspectives that the women of Plaza Comunitaria throughout the research. Their
perspectives became the starting point. Each of the narratives of Alicia, Tomasita and Vero
that I present brings a unique perspective into how each person approaches Plaza
Comunitaria and their study efforts.
Third, he critiqued the notion that reason is isolated from the mundane issues of life.
Ortega y Gasset explains this active seeing-interpreting in Meditaciones del Quijote. Ortega y
Gasset explains that the person of faith that sees God in the fields and nature it is no different
from the person that describes an orange. He posits that in both cases that active seeing of the
world is in both cases a product of the imagination and life. Ortega y Gasset explains his
notion of transmundos en Meditaciones del Quijote:

20

Cuando dice el hombre de mucha fe que ve a Dios la campiña florecida y en la faz
combada de la noche – no se expresa más metafóricamente que si hablara de haber
visto una naranja. Si no hubiera más que un ver pasivo quedaría el mundo reducido a
un caos de puntos luminosos. Pero hay sobre el pasivo ver un ver activo, que
interpreta viendo y ve interpretando, un ver que es mirar. (p. 52)
Ortega y Gasset elaborates:
La dimensión de profundidad, sea espacial o de tiempo, sea visual o auditiva, se
presenta siempre en una superficie. De suerte que esta superficie posee en rigor dos
valores: el uno cuando lo tomamos como lo que es materialmente; el otro cuando la
vemos en su segunda vida virtual. En el último caso la superficie, sin dejar de serlo, se
dilata en un sentido profundo. Esto es lo que llamamos escorzo (p. 52).
In other words, abstract reflections and daily life descriptions lie on the same plane of
the imagination. Both are ways of seeing-interpreting the world around us. This means two
things for my research project. First, daily life activities are not just “objects of observation”
but they are the means through inquiry. Their words, repeated sentences, imagery, speech
become windows into their unique perspectives. These insights allowed me to bring lenses
that integrate the daily life into inquiry. I will explain this further in the methodological
chapter. Second, this means that my analyses as researcher whether pedagogical or
philosophical are not in a superior plane. This is a necessary insight to bring in humbleness to
the process of inquiry. Therefore, in my writing I attempted to weave my reflections with
their words. I did this through poetic inquiry.
Fourth, he argued that the substance of life is movement. Ortega y Gasset reasoned
that movement and change is the internal logic of life. Life is not substance that changes
accidentally according to its interaction with the surroundings. Instead, the “substance” of life
is change (Ortega y Gasset 2001, p.87). The subject of that life (that is happening) is not a

21

separate entity from life. He concludes that the logic of life is narrative, he coined the term
historical reason to describe this idea. Because of this narrative logic past and present
interact. “Life as reality is absolute presence (Ortega y Gasset 2001, p. 91).” Past manifests
itself as present. Reflecting on human nature he argues that there is no ultimate nature to be
grasped other that what it becomes clear through the past. Present is the past having an
influence on us. Ortega y Gasset suggest this reasoning can be applied individually as well
collectively. Identity is past. It is a history and not biology. Past is the “substance” of humans.
This notion connects with my research because it prevents me from imposing a causeand-effect logic onto what was happening in Plaza Comunitaria and the study group. His idea
that substance does not change incidentally evokes an image of a researcher studying objects
in which the outcomes of certain interventions can be fully abstracted. Epistemologically is
not possible to make essentialzing statements about human matters since life does not follow
that logic. It needs to be captured narratively. That does not mean that we should not attempt
to capture meaning. Rather, it prompts the researcher to capture meaning through a narrative
logic, recognizing that life is still moving. That is why narratives and the poems of Plaza
Comunitaria attend to the past. Tomasita, Alicia, and Vero foreground some of their past
experiences as interpretive lenses of their present. For instance, Alicia talks about her early
experiences attempting to continue her education, and later become the leader of Plaza
Comunitaria. Tomasita reflects on the profound effects of linguistic marginalization, and
Vero reflects on how the story of the group explains their familia ethos.
Vital reason
“Life is rush” – posited Ortega y Gasset (2001, p. 75) in Historia como sistema. He
defended that life cannot be studied as object, but as movement. Ortega y Gasset understands
the tensions between rationalism and relativism as one of most important philosophical
dilemmas. The former embraces logic and reason, while the latter emphasizes the mobility of

22

existence. Ortega y Gasset foresees the possibilities and shortcomings of both philosophical
systems. He envisions a synthesis that is now known as raciovitalismo, or the system of
thought that starts with the vital reason.
He positions raciovitalismo as a system capable of sorting out the consequences of
subjectivism and realism. This helped me to think about my own assumptions of inquiry. I
realized that my reflective practice, while important was not the ultimate goal of conducting
research, as if I could represent perfectly my experience with my mental efforts. Also,
prompted by his ideas, I realized that my interpretations carry my own perspective, and thus I
cannot claim to be making an exact representation of Plaza Comunitaria, the students I met,
or the village.
How did I research the experiences of rural women enrolled in adult education
programs? The notion of vital reason creates tools to uncover life in the varied experiences
that I had documented with women of Plaza Comunitaria at Agua Clara. From the beginning,
it became evident that women of Plaza Comunitaria had taken on a life project that had
consumed their lives. I started writing field notes highlighting certain aspects of life and
education in the village. Themes such as excitement, commitment, passion, joy, tears and
laughter started to populate the lines of my field notes bringing a lively dimension to the
inquiry - rush and movement started to emerge.
In his thought, culture, knowledge and science need to serve life. He articulated
notions to sustain a method of inquiry able to attend to such rush of life. The radical
experience of life is the basis for his method of history, and the approach that I took in
working with the people of Agua Clara. There are three notions that help in framing this
research project: mundo patente [sensible world], vivencia [lived experience] and creencia
[belief].
The first notion that I want to consider is the idea of el mundo patente. He wanted to

23

account for reality as the first experience that people encounter. His notion of mundo patente
makes evident that he saw the sensible world as the first step towards making sense of life.
This is what he would call circumstance. Those circumstances can be understood as the
immediate circumstances but are also composed of the larger circumstances. In that sense, it
is possible to interpret Agua Clara and Plaza Comunitaria as the circumstances of Tomasita,
Vero, and Alicia. They also talk about their circumstances growing up. Eventually the crucial
circumstance is that due to different reasons they do not attend school. It is in their tackling of
these circumstances that their dramas unravel.
The second notion in Ortega’s philosophy is the vital experience. Ortega is credited
with coining the term vivencia in Spanish to translate the German concept of Erlebnis
(D'Olhaberriague, 2006). He advocated for vivencia as radical experience of life as a function
to intellectual pursuits. Vivencia receives meaning from the experience of the sensible world.
This made a difference to my research by helping me see lived experience in the context of
their circumstance rather than as an isolated interpretation of experience. In thinking through
their vivencias I had to look at how they talked about their circumstances while explaining
their experience studying. Also, vivencias needed to be presented in ways that honored that
vital aspect of their experience. Although vivencias are not limited to, but are present in the
several poems presented for each Plaza Comunitaria women. Each poem presents a part of
the mosaic of their vital experience.
Finally, I appreciate the idea of creencia. Ortega y Gasset suggests that to understand
vivencias it is necessary to understand the system of beliefs. For example, Alicia speaks of
how the people of Agua Clara are not lazy or ignorant, and that outsiders need to grapple with
this before making judgements. In Tomasita, I see how she reflects on her life redefining the
labels that had been imposed on her. In Vero, I see the systems of beliefs that sustain the
study group in solidaridad and familia.

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Historical Reason
Ortega y Gasset contrasted the physical-mathematical reason with his idea of
historical reason. The physical-mathematical reason builds on a mechanic of the world. The
nature of things can be analyzed and taken apart, the relationship between things found. In
contrast, the historical reason is a narrative reason. Building on the notion the “substance” of
humans is its “past” manifest as presence, Ortega y Gasset (2001) argues that “to understand
something that is human, whether personally or collectively, we need to tell a story" (p. 92).
He elaborates “An individual or a nation is this or does that because before has been this or
done that" (p.92).
The notion of historical reason is an effort understand the individual through this
individual’s past, and narrating its past. According to Ortega y Gasset humans do not have
nature, only past. History is to humans what nature is to things. If an individual analyzes the
past random events and details will be part of a first investigation. However, in those details
“the major lines that reflect society" (p.95) will start to emerge.
Ortega y Gasset posited that we can only understand life when we see it as drama.
Past, present, and circumstances are key points to understand life as movement. The method
to understand such life then should bend to accommodate our investigation of life. In my
study, this approach allowed me to pay more attention to how that drama in the lives of
students of Plaza Comunitaria evolved. First, that drama is introduced as they expressed their
goals in the context of their circumstances and past along with the multiple obstacles. Second,
drama is present as I saw it evolve over time as they kept studying.
For Ortega y Gasset the physical-mathematical reason distances itself from the object
of study it seeks to understand, it attempts to studying it as a mere fact. He argues that
historical reason is more rigorous because it does show the historical processes that undergird
those unquestioned facts:

25

La razón histórica no acepta nada como mero hecho, sino que fluidifica todo hecho en
el fieri de que proviene: ve como se hace el hecho. No cree aclarar los fenómenos
humanos reduciéndolos a un repertorio de instintos y “facultades” - que serían, en
efecto, hechos brutos, como el choque y la atracción -, sino que muestra lo que el
hombre hace con esos instintos y facultades, e inclusive nos declara como han venido
a ser esos “hechos” - los instintos y las facultades. (p. 101)

Historical reason, on the other hand, it does not accept anything as a mere fact, but
fluidifies all facts in the fieri where it comes from. It does not seek to clarify human
phenomena reducing it to a repertoire of instincts and “faculties.” – that would be,
effectively, raw facts, such as impact and attraction -, but it shows what humans do
with those instincts and faculties, even it tells us how those “facts” came to be – the
instincts and faculties. (p.101; my translation)
In his book En Torno a Galileo Ortega y Gasset (2005) posits that historians approach
data with a notion of what life is (p.67). A purely empirical history would be a compilation of
facts, and not history at all. In Plaza Comunitaria, I learn to see the aspiration to learning as
vital experience. Women of Plaza Comunitaria take on the task (faena) of tackling their
circumstances. Without changing their quehaceres [to-do] they adopt the task of attending
school as quehacer. The structure of human life consists of that dynamic of person and
circumstances. History seeks to understand the changes in that drama. Ortega y Gasset (2005)
explains in En torno a Galileo:
La vida es lo contrario al utopismo y al ucronismo – es tener que estar en cierto aquí y
en un insustituible ahora. El presente del destino humano, presente en el cual estamos
viviendo- mejor dicho, presente que somos nosotros; se entiende, nuestras vidas
individuales – es el que es porque sobre él gravitan todos los otros presentes, todas las

26

otras generaciones. Si estos presentes pasados, si la estructura de la vida en esas
generaciones hubiese sido otra nuestra situación sería también distinta. En este sentido
cada generación lleva en sí todas las anteriores y es como un escorzo de la historia
universal. (p. 94)
The Plaza Comunitaria stories are generative narratives. They can be interpreted, they
can be felt, and they can give many meaning to our own experiences. They are essentially
stories-history. Each narrative, and vivencia contributes another perspective to what I
witnessed in Plaza Comunitaria. Along with Ortega y Gasset we can appreciate that the
individual is destiny and not substance. I articulate my methodology to attend to this drama,
and not see the human experience as a substance.
Cartesianism of life
According to Ortega y Gasset the first philosophy is an invitation to engage with the
day-to-day tasks of life, in other words, life engaging with quehacer. In the naturalist
tradition, the individual is an object of study. Ortega y Gasset proposed we study the
individual as facing the circumstances, the human in the making. Individual as biography that
turns into history.
To live is to engage with a faena. It defines who are as humans. Faena is that which
humans engage as a task of our life. In Plaza Comunitaria, women take on the circumstances
that are presented to them, and they engage in a life project. To live is not being, is happening
(vivir no es ser, es acontecer). To live is to act in a world-scenario that one does not choose.
My quehacer reflects how I deal with my surroundings, and I act accordingly. This is
what I see in the stories of Plaza Comunitaria. Ortega y Gasset starts a philosophical
anthropology that I believe can become a vitalist ethnography. Ortega y Gasset (2001)
advanced his idea that life cannot be understood as “a thing (p.77).” He eloquently continued
his argument about thinking about life:

27

Human life, therefore, it is not a thing, it does not have a nature. Consequently, it is
necessary to be determined to think about life, with categories, with concepts radically
different from those that we use to clarify phenomena of the matter. It is a difficult
undertaking. (p.77 my translation)
La vida humana, por lo visto, no es una cosa, no tiene una naturaleza, y, en
consecuencia, es preciso resolverse a pensarla con categorías, con conceptos
radicalmente distintos de los que nos aclaran los fenómenos de la materia. La empresa
es difícil.
Life is quehacer. Life is always in the making. Life is drama and its circumstances
present themselves as stage in which the drama of the individual takes place. This also means
we can write our own novels out of our lives (noverlarnos), whether those novels are original
or plagiarized. Life projects are a response to our circumstances. Life projects demand the use
of our imagination, because the individual creates, in this process, the character to be played
(p.86).
Convivencia and Plaza Comunitaria
Ortega y Gasset’s thought has already assisted in developing the notion of
convivencia. In a transnational ethnographic study of rural women in México, Galván (2015)
explained her research methodology of convivencia. She discusses the foundations
convivencia through the morphology of the word (con-vivencia). The first part con (with)
expresses the communality of experience. Women study in community, they help each other
and live their pedagogical experiences together. Galván (2015) then takes on the notion of
vivencia and traces the history of this word to Ortega y Gasset. Galván (2015) connects
vivencia to lived experience. Vivencia also coincides with Ortega y Gasset’s starting point:
the individual. In the individual life, he would pay attention first to belief (la creencia). Belief
guides the system of life. In Historia como Sistema Ortega y Gasset (2001) explains:

28

We can now say: the diagnosis of the human existence – whether is an individual, a
group, or a time period – has to start understanding the system of convictions, and for
that, before anything, establishing the fundamental belief, the decisive, that which
carries and enlivens all others (p. 68 my translation).

Así podemos decir ahora: el diagnóstico de una existencia humana —de un hombre,
de un pueblo, de una época— tiene que comenzar filiando el sistema de sus
convicciones, y para ello antes que nada, fijando su creencia fundamental, la decisiva,
la que porta y vivifica todas las demás. (p.68)
Convivencia is important to my research because as I became more familiar with
Vero, Tomasita, and Alicia, their beliefs driving their efforts started to emerge. At first, they
would express their passion in what they did. Eventually they expressed fundamental beliefs
about who they are and how those beliefs guided their actions. Those beliefs helped them
make sense of their vivencias, and their circumstances. Santos Baez (2013) explains: “beliefs
position us in the reality, in life. It is through them that we solve our circumstance” (p. 58).
The concept of historical reason is comprised of the systems of beliefs, the mental
schemas of the individual, the past, generation and culture. This work builds on Ortega’s
notions. He lays out a foundation for considering life as the key to inquiry and provides the
ideas that will inform such inquiry. Each chapter contains several poetic pieces that stem
from the transcribed interviews. I used those pieces to interpret, and present the narratives,
and as the basis for my analysis of those narratives. Those pieces project the narrative. The
words of women of Plaza Comunitaria are the starting point. Each piece is a window into the
Orteguian categories of historical reason, that is, beliefs, and the mental schemas of the
individual, the past and culture. Through the unique vivencias portrayed in those poems we
can understand how women of Plaza Comunitaria take on the challenges posed by their

29

circumstances.
In Ortega y Gasset we can appreciate a movement towards the circumstances and
toward the individual with vivencias at the center. His ideario is rich in notions that situate
experience of life as the basis to construct a method of inquiry. He offers a philosophical
anthropology full of analytical tools that enable the ethnographer to find the vital streams
throughout the process of inquiry.
In this chart, I summarize the major ideas from Ortega y Gasset that drive this
chapter. It is inspired in some of the most significant works of Ortega y Gasset such as
Meditaciones del Quijote (1914), En Torno a Galileo (2005), and La Historia como Sistema
(2001). I also draw from the work of Lasaga-Medina’s explanations to En Torno a Galileo,
particularly I am indebted to Ilundáin-Agurruza (2014) theorization of raciovitalismo in
sports. The work of Granell (1960), a disciple of Ortega, contributed some reflections
regarding the pedagogical implications of Ortega’s ideas. I created the chart “Cartesianism of
life” to help me visualize and connect a vast array of complex ideas that emerged from
Ortega y Gasset thought (Gonzáles, 2002). I have diligent in making sense of those ideas, and
I am responsible for any confusion.
In this chart, his ideas parallel each other. This chart flows from bottom to top. The
first level is the level of the individual. The second corresponds to the historical reason where
vivencia and convivencia take place. This is also the level in which the individual faces life as
drama and confronts the decision of living an authentic life. As the individual attempts this
task the reason becomes a function of life. The third level, accounts for the stage of the
circumstances that confront the individual. The chart below stands as an ideario because it is
about the “world of ideas” derived from Ortega y Gasset.

30

Figure 2. Cartesianism of life

31

CHAPTER THREE
Methodological Notes
“The potential power of poetic inquiry is to do as poetry does, that is to synthesize experience
in a direct and affective way, although a certain amount of contextualizing may be necessary
for the fullest appreciation of poetry in a research setting, it is my contention that the best
examples of inquiry poems are good poems in and of themselves”
Monica Pendergast
Poetic Inquiry (2006 p. xxii)

“La cultura nos proporciona objetos ya purificados, que alguna vez fueron vida espontánea e
inmediata, y hoy, gracias a la labor reflexiva, parecen libres del espacio y del tiempo,
de la corrupción y del capricho.”
José Ortega y Gasset
Meditaciones del Quijote (1914, p.39)

Ortega’s Cartesianism of Life and Plaza Comunitaria
In the previous chapter, I explained the philosophy of Ortega y Gasset regarding my
epistemological approach to research, and uncovered rationalist assumptions that would run
counter to a vitalist approach to ethnography. My next question is: How does his philosophy
connect to my research methodologies in Plaza Comunitaria? To criticize the agenda of
modernity, Ortega y Gasset proposed the notion of life as the center for reason and inquiry.
His thought shifted the role of reason: life as a vital experience guides reason, not the other
way around. He considered the classical cultural values insufficient and elaborated on the
principles that can guide the cultural imperatives. He posited complementary values that he
coined vital imperatives (Ortega y Gasset, 2004).

32

Esfera del sujeto

Imperativo cultural

Imperativo vital

Sentimiento

Belleza

Deleite

Voluntad

Bondad

Impetuosidad

Pensamiento
Verdad
Table 2. Cultural and vital imperatives according to Ortega y Gasset

Sinceridad

Academic endeavors may align with cultural imperatives when those endeavors seek
truth and goodness. Educational researchers are not foreign to this attitude, for example they
strive towards the common good, reaching out to marginalized communities, changing our
mental frames, and constructing pedagogies that stem from the intellectual resources of
communities. Those practices resonate with the cultural imperative that Ortega y Gasset
called bondad (goodness). I sum, I see that academia has built-in research practices that
gesture towards ethics. Through those practices, I have learned the importance of the clarity
of argument, being mindful of my audience, organizing my writing, designing research
protocols, and foreseeing ethical concerns.
However, scholarly practices can turn into using arguments as “técnicas de
laboratorio mental” (Granell, 1960), that I see as consequence of a rationalist logic. In other
words, academic discourse becomes a mental exercise that resembles a calculated response.
Language educators call this phenomenon linguistic enabling (Ranney, 2012) to describe
when students learn how speak or write academically without concern for inquiry and
discovery. In both cases, learning how to use scholarly language does not necessarily leads to
a sense of awe (Granell, 1960). I resonate with Ortega y Gasset’s idea that the pure
application of a method is not sufficient. Research efforts are not complete without the vital
imperatives. I will elaborate on how those cultural and vital imperatives connect to Plaza
Comunitaria research. Women of Plaza Comunitaria had taken on a life project that had
consumed their lives. That was a very salient connection to raciovitalismo.
Deleite came into play when I started playing poetic inquiry. Looking at the artistry of

33

their voces cotidianas focused me on the struggles and visions they portrayed (i.e., Alicia’s
struggles with the administration, Tomasita's struggle being labeled as ignorant, or reflecting
on the metaphorical language that Vero used to describe what sustained their study group).
Narrative relied on my experiences. It also explains how those interactions evoked feelings in
me as researcher (the description of Alicia’s house, and Plaza Comunitaria building-settings
of many of the events described, or the multiple references to the context). In both cases the
experience of writing connected to deleite.
Ethical Commitments
My four ethical commitments seek to explain how I responded to the impetuosidad I
encountered at Plaza Comunitaria women. In those commitments, I also explained my
particular perspective on bondad as it concerns this research project. To provide an account
of what I lived I recur to resources found in an ethnographic toolbox. I also made every effort
to write with sinceridad. My analysis consists in multiple reflections on how I learned to see
myself. I use decolonial research traditions to fuel such analysis.
An important aspect of my research project is the ethics of research that I express
through my ethical commitments. Those commitments provided guidance in what to
observe/witness (first stance: desire to highlight goodness), how to observe (second stance:
act respetuosamente), what should count as valuable data and knowledge (third stance:
mindful of colonialism), and how to respond to that (fourth stance: adopt an attitude of
learning).
As shown in the Table 3 “Ethical commitments and research” I position my ethical
commitments in dialogue with different aspects of research practices. Each of those
commitments impacted how I selected the site, interacted with the participants, collected and
analyzed data, and reflected on my positionality. I also summarize the practices those
commitments led me enact on the field and beyond.

34

What are my research
commitments?

What are the sources?

Desire to highlight goodness Site and Participants

Act respetuosamente

Mindful of colonialism

Adopt a stance of learning

Data collection

Data analysis, and
positionality, writing
process

Positionality
Possibility

How did I do it?
Letting them guide my
participation in their own
spaces, and remaining
attentive to their own ways
of working.
Adapting to their life
rhythm (sometimes fast,
sometimes slow). I had to
be welcomed first in any of
their spaces or events,
conversations. Which
emphasizes data collection
as a human/personal
endeavor.
Convivencia
Staying open to their
voices with capacity to
speak to privileged
educational settings.
Vox participare
Storying
Avoiding the assumption
that I had “gained” certain
knowledge to pass on to
them.
Convivencia

Table 3. Ethical Commitments and research
Desire to Highlight Goodness
The Oxford English Dictionary defines goodness in several ways. The first entry
states that goodness is: The quality of being morally good; virtue; worthiness. This first is
often in the context of piety. The second entry states: A good quality; a merit, a virtue. In
both cases the definitions move between goodness as virtue and goodness as something of
excellent quality. In that sense, I see goodness as an encompassing term that bridges my
observations about the ethics of the people and the products of their efforts. In Plaza
Comunitaria the observable aspects of their work cannot be separated from students’ ethics.

35

As I will explore later: solidaridad, compañerismo and convivencia are intertwined with
more specific aspects of their work such as enrolling students in Plaza Comunitaria, tutoring,
and the administrative responsibilities.
In my research highlighting goodness is an intentional effort to focus on the
excellence of work in Plaza Comunitaria as well the ethics stemming from their personal
lives, which I see as inseparable. When I write the narratives of their work and study efforts I
do not compare those to any other external measure (i.e., Plaza Comunitaria indicators of
success). I used to the visions they shared with me (and more specifically their own words as
poetry) as a guiding principle in interpreting their own work. For example, in Alicia’s
chapter, I contrasted Alicia’s critique of the program design emphasis on proving
effectiveness by the number of graduates with her own leadership project. That vision
included a description of what she sees as the need and her emphasis on knowing who are the
people. I see Alicia as an accomplished educator not because of measures of effectiveness but
because she had a vision that emerged from both her life’s circumstances and her
commitment to avoid blaming the people for not attending school.
However, some questions might arise: If we highlight goodness, then how can we
identify areas for improvement? Does that mean we turn a blind eye to what is inconvenient?
First, in the notion of improvement, I see Cartesian assumptions that life can be controlled,
and moved from point A to a supposedly better point B. However, if I define improvement
within a non-rationalistic framework, more specifically as the faenas people undertake, I find
that my commitment does not stand in opposition to improvement. Alicia’s critique that the
program evaluation standards does not mean she disregarded enrollment numbers. It means
that the framework to understand why we could see “numbers” in Plaza Comunitaria is Alicia
desire to share an experience she had enjoyed. Women of Plaza Comunitaria undertook their
life challenges with a desire to make things better, or as Alicia put it: saliendo adelante

36

[getting ahead]. They were always working on their life project. In Orteguian terms
novelando su vida [writing the novel of their life].
This ethical commitment also served as an intervention to resist any impulse to act as
some type of expert. Resisting this impulse did not mean that we could not learn mutually
from our interactions. On the one hand, I was learning as a researcher. Often times they
pointed at how some of my interview questions prompted them to reflect on events or ideas
that they did not think would be of interest. On the other hand, at some point they asked for
specific help when they wanted to prepare for their English test. One could say that I had a
piece of knowledge they wanted. Rather than an expert sharing knowledge, I see this as
mutually sharing unique experiences.
Act Respetuosamente: Data Collection
The women of Plaza Comunitaria modeled an ethos of respeto. One way of
understanding respeto is as a form of politeness, that on the part of the researcher would
require cultural competence. That sense of the word is evident in some of the dialogues of the
analytical chapters. In many conversations with Alicia, Tomasita and Vero they would call
me “maestro.” They consistently addressed me using the formal usted. I always called them
doña and addressed them using the formal usted. In the case of Alicia, we eventually
addressed each other using the informal tu. Another way of interpreting respeto is as mutual
admiration. Women of Plaza Comunitaria fueled their compañerismo with mutual admiration.
They recognized the strengths of their compañeras facing difficult circumstances. They often
talked about such admiration. I saw a very specific example when Vero and Tomasita
graduated, and Alicia posted heartfelt words of congratulation. This sense of respeto requires
on the part of the researcher not just cultural competence but reciprocity.
That reciprocity meant that data collection became a process of interacting
respetuosamente with participants. In other words, a process of developing an admiration of

37

their work and efforts. While I recorded and transcribed interviews, data collection went
beyond the interviews and the policy context to include my perceptions of Agua Clara,
recollections of conversations at the dinner table, at the school, and walking on the streets. I
remained attentive to any event that would help me craft a more holistic vision of Alicia,
Vero and Tomasita.
Alicia’s generosity and collaborative attitude made possible the data collection
process. She never hesitated in taking a break from her busy life to sit down with me, debrief
my experiences, answer my questions, and put me in contact with other students. The
admiration I developed for Alicia's work and hospitality sparked my desire to return the
village of Agua Clara to continue witnessing her ongoing work. In this process, I also learned
about Alicia’s study group and started learning from those efforts as well. Our informal
conversations over lunch or dinner inform my narratives as much as a the poetic analysis I
conducted using the interview transcripts.
Mindful of Colonialism
The stories are at the forefront of each analytic chapter. They unfold as they are. At
some points during the narrative, the reader will appreciate the words of the protagonists in
poetic form guiding the narrative. Poetry and narrative constitute the entry points into
inquiry. In the early stages of this research, the stories were more limited quotations
presented in a somewhat distanced fashion. These stories resisted that arrangement. Once
they emerged as stories, they resisted being disassembled as such. I, then, accepted the stories
of Plaza Comunitaria speak volumes on their own. Stories and poems are already an analytic
framework.
Decolonial research makes it possible to put the voices of women of Plaza
Comunitaria in direct conversations with the readers. When I shared the poem Vida entre las
Plantas with a native Spanish-speaking graduate student, he expressed that his first thought

38

was that poems came from an accomplished writer, and that I was using the words of that
accomplished writer as a starting point to the experiences of Plaza Comunitaria women.
While the latter is what I am doing through the poems, his interpretation of Tomasita as an
accomplished writer resonates with my goal of positioning the voices of Plaza Comunitaria
women on equal footing with readers. The mode in which research on marginalized
communities is presented can predispose readers to consider their stories with more openness.
The second comment he made was: "When I did not understand some words, I just
assumed it was my ignorance." His words highlighted some other decolonial potentialities in
this research. The poem Vida entre las Plantas that this graduate student had just read
precisely came from an interview where Tomasita expressed how even hearing the word
ignorancia caused her pain. The graduate student assumed there was nothing wrong with
Tomasita’s words. He wondered about what he did not understand instead. This interaction
helped me to appreciate the full circle of Tomasita’s journey, from her feelings being hurt by
listening to the word ignorancia to speaking as someone who asserts her own value without
apologies. In a way, reading narrative and poetry creates a mirror effect in which the reader
looks inwardly.
Poems and narratives generate thought and discussion every time I share them,
whether is with undergraduate students, graduate students or faculty members. Every reader
brings new insights and new connections to their own topics of interest. As reader, you are
invited to reflect on those stories and seek its reverberations. I will present my analysis,
reflections, and discussions as another voice.
Adopting a Stance for Learning: Researcher's Positionality
While conducting research in Agua Clara I was well positioned to “enter” my chosen
site and conduct research. I am a national Mexican, from the state of Yucatán. My parents
grew up in villages in the Yucatán Peninsula which gave me many stories about my past that

39

resonated with the study participants. I could communicate in Spanish.
In other ways, I was aware of my position of privilege growing up in the capital city
of the state with access to schools, universities, and businesses. I had graduated from college
there and became a high school teacher. I started this research project as part of a doctoral
program in a U.S. institution of higher education. Through my professional efforts, I had
developed personal and professional networks beyond anything I could have ever dreamed
of. While present in the village I was keenly aware of my ability to navigate privileged spaces
in the U.S and México.
While I was pursuing graduate studies at U.S. institutions, as a native speaker of
Spanish I came to better understand firsthand the frustrations of not being able to “get your
point across” or when some of my ideas would be “lost in translation.” All of this happens in
a context where you have lived in a second language, and switching back to your native
language is not an option. I realized I had to work twice as hard to compensate for what I did
not know. Those experiences gave me other sensibilities by the time I returned to México to
start my doctoral research on an adult education program. If I was going to write and present
this work at conferences it had to honor the voices of my participants. This research project is
a journey of finding ways of listening to the voices of the study participants and developing
as a researcher that attends to the human side of researching while still being intellectually
persuasive in the context of a US Ph.D. program
In this dissertation, instead of looking for pedagogies that can be implemented in adult
education programs in rural communities, I am looking for the pedagogies that women are
already living in practice. It was clear that I needed to practice methods other than those I had
studied in my university-based research methods courses to really “access” spaces of
learning, sensitive to learning and the ways of being in the village. I looked for methods that
captured the richness of the context in which these pedagogies are enacted. Every year, I

40

came back new lines of inquiry developed and the “plot thickened”. This dissertation is a
project that has evolved and keeps evolving with my development as a doctoral student.
Analytical Tools Through the Artistry of Voces Cotidianas
After spending several years reflecting and writing on data from Agua Clara, it
became evident that there was more to the stories than my analytical tools allowed me to
perceive. In many of my interviews, women studying in Plaza Comunitaria recalled their
experiences with tears. It was clear to me that those emotional and vital moments of the
interviews needed to be taken into consideration to understand what Ortega y Gasset (1914)
would call spontaneous life. At some point, I realized that many sections of the transcriptions
had poetic elements. After reflecting and investigating further, I found out that speech had
indeed been investigated through poetic lenses (Cahnmann, 2003; Prendergast, Leggo &
Sameshima, 2009), and particularly in relationship to marginalized youth (Görlich, 2016).
I eventually wrote the chapters that present the personal narratives of Alicia, Tomasita
and Vero based on the poems that emerged from those transcribed interviews. They guided
the structure and sequence of those chapters. The poems also helped me interact with the
ethnographic materials I had gathered through my fieldnotes. I see them as a form of “grid”
that assisted me in selecting what pieces from all I had written would go into each profile.
Each of the poems highlight experiences that Tomasita, Vero and Alicia connected to their
endeavors of going back to school. In this section, I will take one of those poems (SilencioSilencing) and use it to exemplify how it connects to conceptualizations of the poetics of
everyday talk. Those intrinsic poetic elements present in the speech of women of Plaza
Comunitaria guided me in composing the narratives, and later self-reflecting as an educator
and researcher.
Pendergast, Lego and Sameshima (2009) suggest that research carried out within the
framework of poetic inquiry can be classified in three broad categories based on the

41

precedence of the voice of poetry: vox autoethnographica, vox theoria, and vox participare.
The first one, vox autoethnographica, emcompasses poetic inquiry that is conducted through
the voice of the researcher. In this case, the researcher would create poetry. In this study, I
could have, for instance, looked at my field notes and analyzed them as poetry. However, that
is not how I approached my fieldnotes. In Vox theoria the researcher would look at texts that
build the theoretical underpinnings as poetry, all academic texts such as literature reviews,
books, articles, can be considered under this category. In the case of this study, an example
would be if I had studied the work of Ortega y Gasset as poetry. Tasks that others have
undertaken, and is not what I did in this study. Finally, poetic inquiry becomes vox
participare when the inquiry approaches the voices of the participants as poetry, and that is
what my approach to inquiry is about.
Once I had selected several pieces of vox participare poetry from transcriptions, I
spend time sharing it with different readers to get a sense of how they reacted. At that time, I
did not anticipated the range of responses that resonated with various readers in different
contexts. Görlich (2016) explains that poetic inquiry is a “method of creating evocative
analyses that are able to broaden understandings, create dialogue and increase understanding
of the polyvocality of experience” (p. 526). Throughout the chapters, I often refer to
readers/listeners because their voices eventually merged with my analysis when I put them in
conversation with Vero, Alicia and Tomasita. Once more, I perceived another connection
between between the notions of polyvocality and dialogicity with how my self reflections
wove the voices of readers, and women of Plaza Comunitaria. I understand this as a
multiperspectivism characteristic of razón histórica proposed by Ortega y Gasset.
Cahnmann (2003) explains that “another shared aspect of craft in poetry and
qualitative research is documentation of everyday detail” (p. 32). One of those details of
everyday life included accounts of events that endured in the memories of women of Plaza

42

Comunitaria. The following paragraph is a section extracted from Tomasita’s interview
transcription:
No, me pasaba fuera de acá, Mérida porque mis hermanas hasta por teléfono en maya
hablamos, con ellas, si pura maya, no español, ni nada, entonces nos oían hablar y se
reían de nosotras, ya viste cómo está hablando esa india y si me incomodaba y cuando
estábamos yo con ella, pues procurábamos no platicar, cuando teníamos a lado a una
persona que, en la combi que estábamos allá no platicábamos o así en voz baja
hablábamos, para que no nos digan cosas y así hacíamos, pero ahorita eso de que me
digan india yo creo que le contestaría, si me da orgullo ahorita saber maya porque, ya
le digo ahorita que estudio me ayuda mucho a entender muchas cosas, de antes tenía
yo mucha ignorancia. (June 2014)
A poem would eventually emerge from this section. Before that happened, I reflected
on this part noticing it was an instance of Tomasita experiencing linguistic discrimination.
Furthermore, as I will explain later, the repetitional patterns made this section discursively
less dense and thus easy to report as an incidence. However, that does not align well with a
poetic inquiry approach. Cahnmann (2003) explains that “a poetic approach to inquiry
requires a keen sense of noticing from data collection and analysis to descriptive writing as
foundational for an interpretive outcome” (p. 32). I realized that given the emotional
significance there was more than I could see at a first glance. Attentive to my ethical
commitments, I paid closer attention to this section as a unique experience, and those
repetitive patterns started to reveal a storytelling structure. I would eventually connect this
approach to inquiry to vital reason. I rendered the poem in Spanish in the following way:

43

Silencio
Por Tomasita
Mis hermanas y yo,
en Maya hablamos,
pura Maya,
no español.

Entonces nos oían hablar,
y se reían de nosotras.
-¿Ya viste cómo está hablando esa india?
¡Y me incomodaba!

Cuando estábamos… yo con ella,
pues procurábamos no platicar.

Cuando teníamos a lado una persona en la combi,
allá no platicábamos.
O así en voz baja hablábamos,
para que no nos digan cosas…
By thinking about the “lens” I used to inquire about this poem I concluded it helped
me accomplish three goals: focusing the analysis, magnifying Plaza Comunitaria women’s
voices, and projecting the narratives. In addition to that, as Görlich (2016) explains, the
importance of poetic inquiry lies in “its capacity to enhance the dialogue, embrace
complexity and include emotions" (p. 523). This approach resonates with my theoretical
framework in that the starting point are the life experiences that guide any inquiry. In

44

Tomasita’s chapter I uncover her story through this poem and others, that emerged from
multiple interviews. In all cases, I present poems in both English and Spanish. For now, I will
focus on making explicit connections between this section of the interview and the poetics of
everyday talk. To accomplish that, I will use the English rendition I made of the poem.
Focus
As I moved through the pages of transcription, I felt compelled to stop at places that
struck me by their emotional significance. The poems of Plaza Comunitaria emerged as clear,
delineated, and emotional lines that gave away the significance of an emancipation project. I
wanted my research to honor the vital experiences of women of Plaza Comunitaria, and
therefore my methodology needed some aesthetic and poetic mechanisms in order to
communicate what was already present in their language. I then decided to find ways to
explain why the voices of Plaza Comunitaria women were very artistic.
Tannen (2006) gave me the language I needed to make sense of those mechanisms
through her notion of the poetics of talk. She argues that there are several features evidencing
the poetics elements of talk in daily life conversations. Tannen (2007) explains that repetition
is a poetic element of language. In my study of Plaza Comunitaria repetition was a clear
element in the pieces of interview transcription I had chosen. Repetition caught my attention
and prompted me to inquire deeper into those sections. Tannen (2007) suggests five functions
of repetition as a poetic device of everyday conversation. Those functions are: production,
comprehension, connection, interaction, and personal involvement through coherence. In the
next section, I explain those functions, using the English version of the poem I presented
earlier as an example.
Production
Tannen (2006) states that “repetition allows a speaker to set up a paradigm and slot in
new information-where the frame for the new stands ready , rather than having to be newly

45

reformulated. (p. 58)” Such paradigm clearly emerged in Tomasita’s speech. I will take as an
example Tomasita’s poem Silencio:
A
1

My sisters and I,

2

speak in Mayan,

3

Mayan only,

4

No Spanish.

B
5

Then, they heard us talk,

6

- “¿Ya viste cómo está hablando esa india?”

7

They laughed at us.

8

It made me very uncomfortable!

C
9
10

When my sister and I were together,
we made every effort not to talk.

D
11

If someone was sitting next to us in the bus,

12

we would not talk.

13

If we did,

14

we would speak softly,

15

so they don’t mock us…

Tomasita’s production in this poem presents two patterns. The first pattern is about
who are the characters of the story. The second pattern refers to what they do. I want to take a
closer look at the first pattern. In this poem Tomasita uses the first lines of each stanza to

46

present the characters of the story, namely, Tomasita and her sisters. Tomasita consistently
presents in all the opening lines (1, 5, 9, 11) the characters of the story. The words: “sisters
and I”, “us”, “together”, and “us”, highlighted in this poem, show the repetition of the central
characters of the story. The second pattern has to do with the main action of the story which
is talking or speaking. The pattern emerges early in line 2 indicating they speak in Yucatec
Maya, their mother tongue. The action continues in lines 5, 6, 10, 12, 14 where she uses the
verbs talk and speak. This structure sets up a very clear paradigm that Tomasita used to
produce her story.
The first stanza (A) describes the communicative context. In the original version in
Spanish (line 3) Tomasita says pura Maya. Although pura can be translated as pure,
Tomasita is not using this word as an adjective as if she were qualifying her native tongue.
Her use corresponds to the colloquial use of the word in the context of Yucatán. She uses the
word pura as an adverb to mean only. Another way of translating this word could be purely,
in the sense of entirely or exclusively. In other words, when she is together with her sister
they speak no other than Maya. This sense becomes stronger she ends that stanza by saying:
“no Spanish.” The second stanza (B) presents the complication and disturbance of the story.
It introduces new characters. (see “they” in line 5) their actions (line 7 they laugh at Tomasita
and her sister), she quotes their words (line 6) and presents her own response in that moment.
The last two stanzas (C, D) continue intertwining the two overlapping patterns of
repetition. She weaves in the first pattern in lines 9 and 11, the opening lines of the last two
stanzas. Tomasita prefaces the last two stanzas them by describing a situation in which she is
together with her sisters. In line 9, Tomasita describes a general situation when she is
spending time with her sister. This situation becomes more specific when she depicts herself
being on bus with her sisters on their way to the capital of the state of Yucatán. Line 9 and 11
are connected by the words “together” and “us”. The second pattern that corresponds to the

47

main action of the story can be observed in the lines 10, 12, 13, and 14. In those lines, the
verbs talk and speak (platicar and hablar) become a paradigm for describing her experience.
In this case, the new information that is added to this paradigm of talk-speak is the process of
silencing. This silencing process moves from making efforts not to talk through not talking at
all, and ends with speaking softly to avoid shaming.
Comprehension
Tannen (2006) explains that repetition facilitates comprehension by “providing
semantically less dense discourse” (p. 59). Because of this feature the receiver of information
has more time to process the text. The reader/listener can focus on a central idea while the
information keeps adding. In Tomasita’s poem “Silencio” the paradigm is clear. The opening
lines 1 and 2 forecast the constitutive elements of the rest of the poem, that is the characters
of the story (Tomasita and her sisters) and main action of the story (talk-speak). Then, the
first line of every stanza starts with Tomasita and her sisters (lines 1, 5, 9, 11). In each stanza
the lines following each opening line depict a story with the verbs talk and speak. These
patterns are examples of the facilitation of comprehension. By overlapping two patterns
(together-us with speak-talk) Tomasita is able to convey the experience of being of shamed in
a few sentences creating an enduring memory in the reader/listener as well.
1

My sisters and I,

2

speak in Mayan,

Connection
Tannen (2006) explains that, at a surface level, the function of connection contributes
to the cohesiveness of the discourse. At a more deeper level this cohesiveness contributes to
amplify the new added elements. It intensifies the new parts that are also presented repeatedly
with small modifications. In the poem “Silencio” once the reader/listener imagines the two

48

central characters of the story the focus goes to the emotional charge embedded in the
evolving actions talk-speak. The structure shows a gradual move from happy talk in their
language to being shamed for how the speak, their efforts to remain silent and finally
resolving to speak softly as a compromise. Moreover, according to Tannen (2006) connecting
discourse enhances the evaluative aspects of what is described. The evaluative features are
also present in this poem. The repetition of her actions (talk-speak) from line 1 and up to line
5 set the stage for the new information (line 6) which are the words of those who shamed her.
She ventriloquized line 6: “Did you hear how that indigenous woman speaks.” The section
below shows three highly charged lines that Tomasita uses to show the disturbance of the
story. If one reads/listen attentively it conveys the emotions of Tomasita, and it makes
readers/listeners feel outraged.
5

Then, they heard us talk,

6

- “¿Ya viste cómo está hablando esa india?”

7

They laughed at us.

8

It made me very uncomfortable!

The other two functions in the poetics of talk are interaction and coherence as
interpersonal involvement. According to Tannen (2006) the first three “production,
comprehension, and connection all refer to the creation of meaning in conversation” (p. 61).
The last two functions emphasize the interactional nature of discourse. The speakers involved
in that interaction bond, and in my particular case, listening to Tomasita’s story enhanced my
appreciation of Tomasita’s efforts through Plaza Comunitaria and her study group. While I
had interacted with Tomasita before, this interview was a pivotal moment in my research.
Although this poem emerged in the context of one interview, its content builds from previous
interactions and influenced later conversations. From then on, Tomasita would share many

49

more stories. Similarly, the friendships built with Alicia and Vero and Tomasita are also
evidenced in their words.
Tannen (2006) explains that coherence as interpersonal involvement means that the
the creation of discourse coherence through repetition constitutes evidence of one’s
participation and of a sense of familiarity. It sends a metamessage that relationships have
been developed. Something I could not foresee at the time is that by reading and later
analyzing those patterns through extended periods of time during the school year I was also
developing a sense of familiarity, which in turn facilitated my visits every summer.
The series of poems presented throughout this research are inspired/written by
Tomasita, Vero and Alicia who assisted me during this time conducting research. I translated
the interview transcripts and arranged sections from those interviews into poetic form. I did
not rephrase or change their wording. In a few occasions, I changed the sequence in which
some sentences appear in the interview transcription. The poems are built with their words
and ideas and experiences, thus I credit them for the authorship. Once I had rendered the
poems in Spanish, I proceeded to translate those into English.
In the analytical chapters of Tomasita, Vero and Alicia, through the lenses of poetics
of talk I expand the stories they shared with me. Through analysis of speech, I find yet
another connection to my theoretical framework of vital reason. It helps me center my
analysis in life as a guide of reason. By analyzing interview transcripts through poetic inquiry
I started from the literal voices of Tomasita, Alicia and Vero recorded in the transcriptions
and project those into the narratives of studying in convivencia. Cahnmann (2003) put it this
way: “Images, anecdotes, phrases, or metaphors that are meaningful are those that keep
coming back until the researcher-poet is sure the concrete detail means something more than
itself” (p. 32 citing Wakowski, 1979).

50

Magnification
Voice comes through these poems. It is their words. I articulate my research inquiry
through them, and in them; not on them or about them. I seek to let them speak. And the story
that I found compelling over those summers if how they navigated education in their own
terms. I have much to learn from them. I experienced “data collection and analysis”
differently by paying close attention to the vitality of the voices of women of Plaza
Comunitaria.
Pendergast, Lego and Sameshima (2009) present poetic inquiry research that explores
the voices of participants by various scholars. In my work, I align with what they call vox
participare. In this project, it becomes a way of paying attention to the voice of Plaza
Comunitaria members, to open up channels to sense their experience. At the same time, such
sensing builds an appreciation on the reader regarding bias and oppressive attitudes. It is a
method that seeks to honor voices that have been labeled uneducated. It is a way of
magnifying what they tell us. There is artistry in the voces cotidianas of Mexican rural
women. Although a socially “not prestigious” dialect of Spanish it emerges with a strong
voice.
As I show in the Table 4 “The artistry of voices cotidianas” through voces cotidianas
I reinterpret elements of Tomasita’s speech that could be repetitive, awkward, and with
wrong word choices I also give examples of how those devices that Tomasita uses in her
speech make her message more powerful to reach a wider audience.

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Perception

Through vox
participare

Examples

Repetition

Parallelism

The main ideas of every stanza center
around the words “speak” and “talk.”
Every stanza amplifies the meaning of the
previous one.

Awkward phrasing

Tomasita uses many short sentences that
build up on emotional charge.
Occasionally there is a longer sentence
that centers the reading on events that
complicate the plot of the poem. The
sentence: ¿Escuchaste a esa india
hablar? Needs to read as a vicious and
shaming concept.

Rhythm

Her words also flow from happy bilingual
chatting (first stanza) at home to being
shamed because of how they speak
outside of home (second stanza) to a
gradual silencing (third and fourth
stanzas).
Linguistic
repertoires,
histories
Table 4. The artistry of voces cotidianas

Almud (in Vida entre las Plantas) and the
constant use of pretérito imperfecto
indicativo.

Odd word choices

I also wish to clarify that by doing this, I am not advocating for a-grammatical
language. I am rather proposing that this perspective allows us to appreciate the beauty of
expression within this speech community. Looking at speech of everyday rural women can
open more windows into their wisdom (Hymes, 1994; Cahnmann-Taylor 2003; Blommaert,
2006). Through these methodologies researchers can let data be driven by beauty.
It is commonplace, in the context of México, for people to say that the words of
speakers of indigenous languages are full of awkward word choices, and their speech is
repetitive. Through poetic inquiry, I can start perceiving rhythm and affect, and give more
attention to voice and experience. We can also start seeing the beauty in their words. Finally,
we can transform repetition into parallelism. Archaisms are also present in those poems. In
this work, I pay attention to those words as their repertoires of history.

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Projecting the Narrative
Narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 2004) or inquiry through narrative is a an
influential methodology in the imaginaries of teacher education (Huber, Li, Murphy, Nelson
& Young; 2014), and inspires ideas about resistance in education (Villenas, 2001; Villenas,
2005). Research approaches that focus on narratives and storying have gained recognition
among education scholars. Some of those are portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1997), life
histories, and testimonio (Delgado Bernal, Burciaga, & Flores Carmona (2012). While, I seek
to overcome the more prescriptive aspects of narrative research approaches, I also situate my
research among those voices.
Ortega y Gasset (2010) stated that “To understand something human, whether
personal or collective, it is necessary to tell a story/history (p. 91).” The term historia in
Spanish encompasses the idea of a story as well as history; thus, helping Ortega y Gasset
justify his idea of historical reason through the radical reality of the individual. Vital reason
attempts to comprender the individual as it tackles the surrounding circumstances. Ortega y
Gasset starts with comprender when it comes to understanding phenomena in which human
nature is involved. While the term explicar is the consequence of bringing a rationalist logic
into the social and human sciences (ficisismo), and it created what he coined as “the terrorism
of laboratories”. In this way, he makes a distinction between the terms explicar and
comprender. Ortega y Gasset argued that razón pura distances itself from the human
phenomenon it seeks to understand while razón histórica encounters the human aspects face
to face.
This style of narrative is an effort to connect to the Orteguian notions of vital reason
and historical reason. The narratives of Plaza Comunitaria start with the individual grappling
with her circumstances. The women of Plaza Comunitaria often reflected on the societal
constraints, discrimination, material poverty. They also reflect on their communities around:

53

their families, children, husbands, work. They speak about their schooling experiences often
reflecting on how this is a way of responding to their original circumstances, to their past.
From it, they engage attending school as a quehacer (Gonzalez, 2001). For Plaza Comunitaria
women, this engagement with school is also a faena. Also, even though I interacted with
Vero, Tomasita and Alicia I present three different chapters with their stories and insights to
be consistent with the perspectivism that Ortega y Gasset understood as inescapable.
Each analytical/narrative chapter (Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero) presents a profile of
women of Plaza Comunitaria through the different pieces of vivencias they shared with me,
and in which they made a participant. Each profile is a collection of vivencias. In the writing
process, I often draw from English and Spanish placing both languages on the same plane.
Translating their words, as recorded in transcriptions and in field notes became part of the
experience of doing research. Every new iteration of texts had renewed meaning even though,
every final version came out “cleaned up” and presented mostly in English.
Tomasita’s story, in particular, helped me understand the experience of silence and
marginalization with words that disturb and heal. The word talk becomes a dirty word, as a
reader of “Silence” expressed. She elaborated: I see talk as a completely natural word, it has
always been an empowering word to me. In an environment where certain forms of speech
are shamed. This is the space where, I committed myself to listen, and let their voices
emerge. Poetic inquiry helped magnify those voices. Since many people from the state of
Yucatán work in Merida, it is normal to travel. It is stressful for many people because
sometimes they get lost in the city, or don’t have any friends there. Other times people travel
to Mérida to do some shopping. These are the spaces where language discrimination keeps
taking place.
Tomasita invites readers/listeners into her world. In the lines analyzed above, she
opened up about crude experiences of marginalization as a Mayan woman. Several times, I

54

witnessed Tomasita and one of her sisters converse animatedly in Maya at her dinner table. I
always remember that dinner table as a space of conversation, food sharing, study and
laughter. In “Silencing” Tomasita made me feel the in the words of someone who says:
“Escuchaste a esa india hablar.” I reacted strongly as I imagined this person who could not
accept the presence of words accented with unfamiliar rhythms. Perhaps it is because in
certain contexts I could be that indio, but in other contexts I could be the oppressor. She
inspires me to keep my ears open to the multiple tones of Yucatec Mayan in the years to
come. Her story keeps reverberating through this poem.

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CHAPTER FOUR
Leadership in La Plaza Comunitaria
Alicia’s Story
In this chapter, I share insights from Alicia’s experiences, the local leader of the adult
education program. The educational leadership she forged in the community allows us to
appreciate an ethos of solidaridad and radical commitment to peer education. Alicia’s voice
emerges through narrative and poetic inquiry.
First Impressions
Alicia and Roberto hosted me during my first visit to Agua Clara. For 5 pesos, I took
a mototaxi to get to Alicia’s house from the main Plaza. Six blocks away from the Agua
Clara’s main plaza. "Take me to Alicia’s house, the Plaza Comunitaria coordinator," I told
the motaxi driver. He knew where to go. Once I got there, I paid for my ride and headed
towards a fence built with rocks, painted in white, marking the limits of her house. The shade
from the tree at the entrance offered some protection from the sun while I waited outside.
Alicia opened the doors of her house and invited me to settle in. The living room
featured several pictures of Alicia. One of the pictures is from the time she was dating
Roberto. In another picture, Alicia is posing in her wedding dress. A red couch contrasted
with the blue paint of the living room. On the right side of the living room, before you enter
the adjacent laundry room, is the dinner table.
Alicia’s house was not yet finished. Next to the living room, on the right side, there
were some cement foundations for another room, and some columns at the corners. On the
left side of the main room, there was attached another small room, a type of hut. Alicia and
Roberto use this space as a laundry and dish room. I later learned that Roberto had put some
cement on that laundry room, and moved his sewing machine so that I could stay in the living
room, the most comfortable room in the house. I could still see the building blocks that gave

56

a rustic look to the house. In one of the front corners of the property there is a running water
tap. From that tap they fill up their water container, and get a steady supply of purified water
for their daily activities.
To the left of the room, there is a bookshelf full of books. There are many books from
the National Institute of Adult Education. Alicia told me those are the books that she used to
get her middle school certificate. I saw another series of books. Alicia explained those are for
the high school curriculum, also known as Prepa Abierta. I glanced at the covers of all the
different subjects Alicia had been studying. Then, I saw a physics course pack. Alicia was
stressed out about it. On one of the shelves there is Bible with a black soft cover and worn out
red edges.
At the time, Alicia was studying through the Preparatoria Abierta program [Open
High School], a non-formal education system that grants high school diplomas. In June, of
2013 she was studying mathematics. In the summer of 2014 Alicia and her compañeras had a
study group to review their physics lessons. In the summer of 2015, she was ready to tackle
her last subject: English as Foreign Language.
In that living room I learned many things about Plaza Comunitaria. That first summer,
Alicia made me aware of tensions between the stated program goals and what she saw as the
local needs. I wrote in my field notes (June 4th 2013) “After a few hours living with them, I
realize that she is very active in several organizations in the community. Alicia is very
interested in education. This is a very important aspect in her life.”
Work at Plaza Comunitaria
Alicia’s official title in Plaza Comunitaria is promotora. It means literally someone
who promotes. Alicia explains that the program flexibility helps the Plaza Comunitaria to
invite adult students. Alicia explained that she sees her role as a person who raises awareness
of the importance of education. She makes door-to-door visits promoting the work of Plaza

57

Comunitaria in the village.
La Plaza opens Monday through Friday from 9am to 12pm and from 1pm to 5pm.
Alicia is there most of the time. Students can come in and out anytime as their schedules
permit them. They can study their modules in the computer lab for free. Adult students can
also use printed booklets of the study modules. In those cases, Alicia makes arrangements to
pair students with an asesor [tutor]. Alicia often had to advocate for the needs of Plaza
Comunitaria. She explained that the regional administration does not have a grasp of the
community needs. Inviting students, and growing the program is a local effort.
One of the majors points of disagreement between Alicia and the regional
administration is around the enrollment quotas. Alicia tells me that typically those goals are
set in terms of expected quantity of students to be enrolled. La Plaza has an enrollment quota.
Reaching the enrollment quota is one of the conditions to continue receiving funding.
Alicia works closely with the regional coordinator, who assists with administrative
issues. Regional coordinators also keep track of the enrollment statistics. The regional
coordinator communicates to the different programs of Plaza Comunitaria in the area the
enrollment goals. To Alicia certain statistics meant little to how she understood success in
Plaza. She wanted support to her local Plaza Comunitaria to be less attached to those
performance indicators.
The regional coordinator had told Alicia that funding would increase if she increased
the enrollment. Alicia sharply counters that point, “that means nothing it is really hard to
recruit and keep adult students whose lives are already complicated. They don’t understand
that. They tell us what numbers we need to reach, we never get strategies.” Alicia explained
that some strategies might work across different villages, but there are many things that are
specific. Inviting students requires several strategies that regional coordinators do not put into
effect, usually is up to the figuras solidarias of Plaza Comunitaria to come up with ideas on

58

how to grow the program.
“You have to know people,” she added. I kept inquiring about her strategies. Alicia
pointed that even having posters made by them, and not just the ones sent by the national
program was important. But Alicia went into more detail when she talked about her efforts
sustaining partnerships with certain programs external to Plaza Comunitaria. She first
mentioned a partnership with a non-profit organization called ProJoven [Pro-Youth] to
encourage women who dropped out school; due to financial problems, pregnancy, or any
other issue, to continue their studies.
Alicia's tone of voice changed to a more defensive one. She is upset just to think that
some people would think adult learners do not study because they are lazy. She talks about
the work of Plaza Comunitaria not only as curricular or pedagogical, but also in relationship
with other programs. Those programs would give me an idea of Alicia’s understanding of the
circumstances of the adults that come to Plaza Comunitaria.
She first mentioned Un Kilo de Ayuda [A Kilogram of Help] a program funded
privately that provides basic groceries to people in need. By enrolling in Plaza Comunitaria
adult students can request to be part of Un Kilo de Ayuda. Next, she shared about El Buen
Juez [The Good Judge]. This is an INEA sponsored program seeking to help government
employees [federal, state or local] to complete their schooling. Alicia then tells me how this
program can bring about societal good.
La Plaza, as Alicia refers to it, in Agua Clara is also working out a partnership with a
housing federal program (INFONAVYT). Partnership with the federal housing program
would allow students count credits they have earned studying in a Plaza Comunitaria as
installments toward their houses. For Alicia these non-profit organizations got at the heart of
why students drop out. A year later the following explanation from Alicia would put things
into perspective for me:

59

Por recursos económicos, mis papás no podían solventar los gastos de la familia, su
familia de ellos es grande y tenía yo muchos hermanos menores y eso complicaba que
nosotras pudiéramos seguir estudiando. Mi hermana y yo que éramos las que
terminábamos la primaria, entonces, estén, en esa época se tenían que comprar libros,
uniformes, pagar muchas cosas que requería porque no habían los apoyos que ahora el
gobierno da para que la gente se pueda estar apoyando de ello.

Because of [the lack] of economical resources, my parents could not afford daily
family expenses. The family was large. I had many younger brothers. That made it
difficult for us to continue studying. My sister, and I were then finishing elementary
school. Back then, you had to purchase books, uniforms, pay for many other things I
needed because there were not the social programs that now the government has to
support people. (June 2014)
Alicia understood adult students very differently from the regional coordinator. Alicia
herself had experienced what it meant wanting to continue, having the desire, and (due to her
circumstances) having to stop. Her family’s precarious resources forced her parents to
allocate the resources to her brothers who would go to school. Even though education was
tuition free, her parents could not afford other expenses associated with attending school. The
way she understood the circumstances of adult students explained why she did not care about
enrollment numbers. She had a clear picture of the students’ circumstances, and was
determined to make everything possible to give everybody a chance. Figure 3 below portrays
the Plaza Comunitaria building where Alicia pursued those dreams. I took this picture in the
Summer of 2013. From Plaza Comunitaria I could see the Catholic Church on the other side
of the main square.

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Figure 3. Plaza Comunitaria building
Pedagogical Encounters
Alicia was always walking from one house to another delivering paperwork to
students, or enrolling new ones. She went from one meeting to the next, talking to Plaza
Comunitaria regional coordinators, the major, or organizing her figuras solidarias. She was
also an active member of her local church. Along with her husband, she worked diligently on
house projects, and was completing high school through another program along with a group
of friends.
I had enjoyed accompanying Alicia to many of her activities during the summer of
2013. I wanted to learn what sustained Alicia’s unwavering desire to see Plaza Comunitaria's
mission fulfilled. To accomplish her vision, she worked diligently in the various tasks she had
set for herself. She always was walking up and down the four corners of Agua Clara, always
onto the next project. The following summer, 2014, sitting down in the wooden table where

61

we shared many meals and conversations, I had more questions. I wanted to inquire about her
history before Plaza Comunitaria. Who influenced her? How did she get there? What were
her formative influences? I, however, could not ask a question that could prompt her answer
those questions. I managed to open the interview by asking: What was your first contact with
Plaza Comunitaria? Alicia went back into her memories, and gave me a window right at a
genesis moment:
Entonces una compañera,
que estaba en ese lugar dando asesorías,
me mostró cómo se daban
y qué es lo que hacían.
¡Y me gustó!
Y empecé a ayudarla con algunos educandos
que no podían entender su libro,
querían aprender.
Y fue allí como que me gustó más la idea
de poder enseñar
de poder ayudar a gente que lo requiere.
After reflecting on Alicia’s words I translated them as follows:
Then a compañera,
who was there tutoring,
showed me how to do it
and what is the work that they did.
And I loved it!
And I started helping her out with some students,
who could not understand their books.

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They wanted to learn.

And it was there that I loved the idea
of being able to teach,
of being able to help people who need it.
The events and experiences described in the lines above happened when she was
thirteen years old. At that age, Alicia wanted to continue going to school after elementary
school was not old enough to enroll in an adult education program; and too old for continuing
with elementary education. "Quería yo seguir estudiando mi secundaria y no lo pude hacer y
fui a las instalaciones para preguntar si yo podía seguir estudiando,” Alicia recalled.
Determination came across very clearly in those words, a trait in Alicia I had come to be
familiar with.
Alicia walked to her local Plaza Comunitaria, then established as a punto de
encuentro. In the terminology of National Institute of Adult Education, is a space created
when a village has some people interested in enrolling Plaza Comunitaria, but not enough
students to establish a full Plaza Comunitaria program. "Y me dijeron que no." Alicia tells
me that upon arriving at punto de encuentro to inquire about the program she was told she
couldn’t be part of it.
Alicia was trapped. She was not able to return to school due to family financial
constraints, and was not able to join the Plaza Comunitaria program meant for youth 15 years
and older. Such was Alicia conundrum. Attending school was not option available to her at
this point. "Then a compañera who was there tutoring," added Alicia, hinting at a turning
point. Alicia’s compañera did not take regulations too seriously. She created an
apprenticeship opportunity for Alicia. The background of the first stanza describes the space
where Alicia was initiated in the work of Plaza Comunitaria. She first tagged along, then

63

acted as support in tutoring sessions; later she tutored students herself.
Alicia’s narrative delineated the elements of that apprenticeship as her words
expressed “she showed me how to do it and what is the work that they did.” Learning about
Alicia’s first encounter with Plaza Comunitaria shed a new light onto the Plaza Comunitaria
books I had seen on Alicia’s bookshelves. I now looked at those thinking that Alicia had not
studied them on her own, but with other people. She first read them as she was helping others
read.
In those early experiences as a teenager, Alicia learned quickly the people who would
come to adult education program, the curriculum, how the program works, and how students
move through the coursework. She learned about the challenges that students face in Plaza
Comunitaria. "I played a role [in punto de encuentro] even when I was not supposed," Alicia
explained. Alicia continues carrying the same message to adults who think they can’t do it, it
is too late, or there is nothing for them. Her compañera who was there tutoring certainly
made the right decision. It was a generous act. It was generative. It was formative.
The second stanza is "and I loved it!" I remember how Alicia enjoyed every moment.
She talked about the joy of seeing students graduate. I would witness this multiple times. One
day, as we make our way through the humid weather, Alicia walked steadily towards the first
house, and told me some stories about the people we will be visiting on that morning. Some
are people she has been inviting for a long time, and they finally have accepted her invitation
to join Plaza Comunitaria, some of them are old students who are finishing up their program.
When we arrived at the house Alicia called. I set aside the bicycle I was then using to
go around town. Alicia announced to him that she was delivering his documents. He smiled,
and Alicia proceeded to deliver his certificate and congratulate him. I pulled out my phone
and snapped a picture of Alicia. She stands next to the man who has finished Plaza
Comunitaria program. Alicia posed with pride and happiness. "Una satisfacción que no

64

cambiaría por nada," she later told me.
In the third stanza, I see another quality that became evident in Alicia’s work. I
picture Alicia seeing students wanting to read. For Alicia the printed word is not an
individual effort, it is always connected to other people. She looks at her Plaza Comunitaria
books and she thinks of stories of students who succeeded. She looks at her high school
books and then she talks about her compañeras who struggle with her in completing it. The
printed word is shared and lived with other people. Books are connections between people.
In the fourth stanza I can see an Alicia that is always attentive to the need. She
remained true to this even to this day. Her inspiration came from seeing adult students’ needs.
On those same walks, Alicia would give me some background information on the people we
were visiting: "I have been inviting this person for a long time, and I think she is going to
finally join," Alicia expressed. At a different time, she learned from a local teacher that a
young teenager had dropped school. "She is very smart," Alicia told me the day we delivered
her graduation certificate.
As Alicia had explained, her involvement in Plaza Comunitaria became possible
through compañerismo. From the very beginning Alicia saw Plaza Comunitaria as an
opportunity to help. She used her elementary education to the service of the community.
Alicia continued her participation with Plaza Comunitaria without being formally enrolled. In
those early experiences Alicia started outlining her pedagogical perspectives. In her
perspective tutoring, teaching or leading Plaza Comunitaria is about compañerismo. It is
about meeting people where they are. It is a pedagogical encounter. Later in that interview
Alicia continued describing her work to me. She reflected on what becomes possible through
this work she cannot contain her tears.
Leading
One year passed until I was able to return to Agua Clara. Alicia and Roberto hosted

65

me again. Alicia’s husband, Roberto, welcomed me into their house this time. He had set
aside his sewing machine. At that time he had stopped working manufacturing handbags and
backpacks. He took me to his backyard and showed me with excitement the new tools he was
using to set up a vegetable garden. He had cleared the backyard, and prepared the soil for it.
At the time, he also repaired sewing machines on call, sold pastries and baguettes
from a local baker every evening, and helped Alicia at the Plaza Comunitaria. Roberto was a
tinkerer. He was very proud of a sound system he had repaired. Roberto took it from a friend
who was about to throw it away. "If you can repair it, it is yours,” said Roberto’s friend.
Roberto had acquired his new cellphone the same way.
I always saw Alicia as a tinkerer as well. She was always figuring something out at
Plaza Comunitaria. Both had maintained their curiosity and attentiveness alive. When Alicia
had to drop out of school, she started working to support her parents, later married Roberto.
She first hesitated to continue her studies because life had changed for her. Later she took a
chance and enrolled Plaza Comunitaria. Because of her experiences working, she was able to
get half of the study modules waived. She finished middle school through Plaza Comunitaria
when she was 23 years old.
Later, another person starting a punto de encuentro, the first organizational step
before a full-fledged Plaza Comunitaria can officially operate. The person who starts a punto
de encuentro invited Alicia to be one of the asesores. Alicia recalls that she studied more to
get ready for her position as asesora:
Y allá empecé ya, a hacer mi función como asesora, pero no me quedé solamente con
el conocimiento que obtuve en cuanto a los módulos que me daban de secundaria,
tuve que investigar un poco más, estudiar un poco más, y ya, estén, introducirme más
en otros libros y me gustaba hacer eso, como que investigar más sobre los temas que
trataban los libros.

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There [meeting point] I already started to work as a tutor. I did not rely solely on the
knowledge I gained when I studied the middle school modules. I had to research
more, study more, and so, get immersed in other books, and I enjoyed doing all of
that, to do more research on the topics the book addressed.
Alicia was hooked. Alicia expressed her sense of responsibility as tutor. She kept
learning, and improving. She wanted to able to explain those topics she had already studied.
She prepared herself for the task. She soon was reading more, and collecting other resources
for her task. As Alicia put it, "I enjoyed doing all of that."
Alicia became an asesora of a punto de encuentro. During that time, a Plaza
Comunitaria opened with some local staff working there. Later when the local coordinator
[promotor/a] left the position Alicia was invited to be a promotora. Since Alicia had
completed her middle school through Plaza Comunitaria, worked as an asesora , and knew
the how a Plaza operated, she was the perfect fit. Among her daily responsibilities she goes
around town inviting people to join Plaza Comunitaria, manages the paperwork for students,
coordinates asesores, matches asesores with different students, organizes local campaigns to
talk about the work of la Plaza, organizes other Plaza Comunitaria events, and attends Town
Hall meetings.
One of the days I saw her deliver a certificate. Alicia told me that she had met her just
when this student had dropped out of school. She proceeded to explain how she visits local
public schools to request a roster of students who dropped out. That list then becomes a visit
list. She schedules her time to tell those students about La Plaza. While staying in Agua
Clara, I witnessed Alicia’s unwavering commitment to the work of Plaza Comunitaria. She
lived a busy life, not even mentioning her life as a wife, a friend, and a leader at her local
church. Alicia never hesitated to share her vision, “in the village 2000 people have not
finished their primary education” she shared this conveying a sense of urgency.

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She is appreciative of figuras solidarias who work with her towards that goal. Alicia
expressed, "I have great admiration for figuras solidarias. In spite of being housewives with
children, spouse, family, and sometimes with a job, they help out as tutors. They devote time
to help out people." Alicia considers giving up l while working toward her goals:
Es que el trabajo si es un poco cansado… lo has trabajado por mucho tiempo y a
veces el apoyo ves que no llega o cuando lo requieres de alguien, como que dices ya
lo voy a dejar, pero pues al final de cuentas, la satisfacción también que te queda de
ver a los educandos que concluyen o que alcanzan alguna meta o su propósito cuando
entran a estudiar allá te motiva a seguir, entonces es muy difícil decir si continuamos
o tiramos la toalla.
Work is demanding...you have worked for it so long, and sometimes financial support
[from the INEA] does not arrive when you really need it to pay off someone.
[referring to small compensations for tutors]. Then you tell yourself: I am just going
to give this up. In the end, you realize, that satisfaction comes when you see students
who finish, or reach a goal or an objective they had when they started their studies [at
Plaza Comunitaria]. That is when you get motivated to continue; it is then hard to tell
if one will continue or give up.
"The financial support does not arrive on time,” Alicia explains with some impatience
in her voice. Alicia explains that is the satisfaction of seeing learners accomplishing their
goals. It prevents her from throwing in the towel. Alicia's constant activity does not stop her
from reflecting on villagers’ circumstances. It is almost as if she has two codes of speaking.
The first one is a fast paced, high pitched voice that conveys how indignant she feels at how
the administration fails to understand the needs of Agua Clara people. In contrast, as soon as
she starts talking about the community her face relaxes. She tells me about life circumstances
of life of various Plaza Comunitaria students in a soft tone of voice. It is a person who can

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feel how hard it is to enroll Plaza Comunitaria. Alicia positions her work at the crossroads of
important decisions for adults.
At some point during their lives, when they [adults] face the consequences of all of
this [not going to school], they rethink their situation and decide to go back to school.
It means a lot [to them] the fact that you are there to tell them ‘I’ll support you.’
That made me think about the many conversations and interviews with community
members who would be shy about admitting they were attending Plaza Comunitaria. How did
they get convinced to enroll in Plaza Comunitaria then? Community members continually
referenced Alicia’s tenacious invitation. Alicia talked about demonstrations of appreciation
from students through small gifts (e.g., fruits, or popsicles):
A satisfaction I would change for nothing, is the fact that they perceive and respect
you as a teacher. An experience I lived on teachers’ day is that people came to me to
wish me a happy teachers’ day. They did so in spite of the fact that I am not a
teacher. It was unexpected. As they were greeting me some mentioned: even if you
are not a teacher, you assume the role of a teacher.
This work is intrinsically rewarding for Alicia. The fact that Alicia does not have a
degree in education, or works within a non-formal system of education has no bearing in the
perception of the community. Later, in the interview she explained that she sees community
recognition as a sign that she has made a real contribution for the betterment of people’s
lives. Through her work in Plaza Comunitaria, Alicia assumed leadership roles in the
community. She is recognized as a teacher in the community. As I recorded the interview I
could also notice Alicia’s excitement while talking about her job, for the people who study in
Plaza Comunitaria. I finished the interview with no doubt that Alicia felt fulfillment in her
work Plaza Comunitaria promotora.
Alicia’s work in the community does not go without any conflict. Alicia discussed

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conflicts she had with her mother-in-law. "She does not understand why I do what I do. She
argues that in her generation women would accept their husband's’ wealth. If they happened
to be wealthy women would enjoy it. If their husbands happened to be poor then they would
have to accept it," Alicia tells me while showing a confused face. "Both partners need to earn
money to make a living," is Alicia’s response. She rejects the implication that as a women
she has to stay at home and accept her fate. She concludes saying that many people hold on to
very old-fashioned views about the roles of women.
Summer 2015
Alicia and Roberto were not in their house when I arrived. The walls of the house
were finished and painted. The unfinished room, which I had become used to seeing, was up
and running. "The guest room is finished,” I thought to myself recalling what she told me
about that room the first time I met her. The house and bathroom had running water. Roberto
continued to grow vegetables in his backyard. The triciclo, Roberto’s means of transportation
in the village, had become a mototaxi. Roberto had some extra income.
I was not surprised to learn a few hours later that Alicia had guests. After two
summers being hosted by them I had assumed I could stay there. I had no place to stay, but I
was not frazzled. The joy of seeing familiar faces overthrew the need to make immediate
lodging arrangements. Instead, Alicia and I walked around the village under the scorching
Yucatán summer heat.
She texted our common friends Vero and Tomasita telling them, "Someone wants to
see you, guess who is here." I suggested we buy some paletas [popsicles] to share with Vero
and Tomasita. Alicia agreed. We walked uphill three blocks from the Town Hall to the
paleteria [popsicle store] next to the Catholic Church. We slowly found our way. I say slowly
because the humid 90F degrees weather made me feel it was a longer walk than it was.
In that short walk, I learned many circumstances had changed for Alicia. She no

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longer was Plaza Comunitaria promotora. I had spent the last two years reflecting on her
words, reflections, and insights as the local person directing this program. I had seen the work
that she had done, and her vision. I did not want her to leave Plaza Comunitaria.
Nevertheless, Alicia was always up to new endeavors and reaching her goals. Alicia was
always saliendo adelante.

Figure 4. Roberto and Alicia triciclo

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Figure 5. Alicia delivering a certificate

Reflections on Alicia's Education Through the lens of Ortega y Gasset's Philosophy
When I rendered Alicia’s description of her early contact with Plaza Comunitaria into
poetic form, I realized that it reflected an important formative moment in Alicia’s life. I am
intentionally using the word formative because of its connotations. It makes me think of the
word in Spanish. In a literal sense formativo would refer to the action of giving shape.
Formativo frequently appears in academic contexts in México to describe complex
paradigmatic processes of preparation. I see as an example of it formacion de maestros to
describe teacher education. The poem I shared about Alicia’s formative moment outlined the
shape of the pedagogies that I would later see her enact those summers in Plaza Comunitaria.
In that conversation, Alicia first described her formative experiences, in so doing she
explained the foundations of her educational philosophy. By telling her story she was
providing the rationale for educational efforts. In Plaza Comunitaria maintained this same
ethos. Her invitation to people in the community was broad and open. People were

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encouraged to join Plaza Comunitaria because they all have the intelligence. They can do it
because they want. And she always tried to persuade them to want it. She always aimed at
creating an environment without fear.
This is the setting I use to understand the Orteguian idea of life as drama and Alicia’s
emergence as educational community leader. I read her actions in the Orteguian sense of
seeing beyond the mundo patente into the transmundos through the lens of razón vital. I echo
Gasset’s idea that a pure rationalistic system can deprive us from a having a vital experience
of life and, in this case a vital understanding of the education of adults. Reading Plaza
Comunitaria with Ortega helped me appreciate what this community leader did to bring life.
Literal/Biographical

Describing her formative experiences

Pedagogical

Educational philosophy
Life as drama (for Alicia, Plaza
Comunitaria is a microcosm of how she
writes the novel of her life)

Narrative
Table 5. Interpreting Alicia's story

I now pose the question: What do I learn as an educator? I can outline some lessons
that emerge very clearly from Alicia’s narrative. First, Alicia shows that to study is to be in
community. I saw this through her early experiences as well her most recent ones. Second,
Alicia demonstrated a commitment to intellectual equality of all students. Third, she was very
determined about actively tackling systemic issues through her work. Finally Alicia, took
every opportunity dismantle the belief that students are lazy. In the following paragraphs I
expand on the meaning of those lessons for me.
As an educator I learn from Alicia that to study is to be in community. That the
printed word or that the concepts that stem out of the school curriculum can to be “processed”
in community. Learning can be an experience of awareness of those who surround us. As an
educator I can grow in being attentive and sensible. In Alicia’s study group laughter and food
became important ways to build community. I don’t take this to mean that every classroom I
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lead or participate in should have laughter and food. I means to me that every classroom can
be attentive to what are the elements that build bridges between the concepts studied, the
students, and their communities.
Alicia’s generosity guided her action. Alicia’s generosity and hospitality, that I
experienced first hand permeated her action. Alicia led out of sheer desire to share. That is
also reflected on how she invites students to join Plaza Comunitaria. Alicia brought her ethics
into her role as Plaza Comunitaria local coordinator. Her ethics is one of solidaridad. In
Alicia I see studying, not conceptualized as an individual effort, instead I see Alicia learning
by helping others read. She investigated more about the topics she had already learned
because she had started a role as an asesora. Then, I witnessed Alicia study her preparatoria
in the company of her friends laughing about their mishaps and confusions, and taking on
difficult concepts together.
In Alicia I see a commitment to equality. Alicia is aware of her own circumstances
growing up, and wonders about the circumstances of community members. She sees
possibilities for everybody. To mothers, she tells them “it is never too late, you can learn with
children.” To students who dropped of school she tells them that they can still finish their
school. To workers, she tells them Plaza Comunitaria will help them in the demands of their
day to jobs. Often times talking to community members I would hear Alicia’s name many
times. They often referred to her as an influence in enrolling Plaza Comunitaria.
I learn from Alicia that as an educator I need to enhance my sensibilities as an
educator by paying attention to possibility. She never assumed that what she considered
important about enrolling Plaza Comunitaria was equally important to everybody in the
village. She made efforts to reach out to all based on their own circumstances. As an educator
I want to think that perhaps students do not see these concepts in the same way I do. Perhaps
they do not see the same implications. What are the possibilities for them? How can I think in

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dialogue with my students? How can I present specific possibilities for each student?
Thinking about possibilities in Alicia’s pedagogy did not mean promoting the idea
that we will solve every problem with education. Alicia had a good sense that education alone
is not a panacea. She taught me that as I saw her passion talking about other programs that
Plaza Comunitaria students could access. Alicia did not go to school to learn about structural
inequalities, she experienced them. She talked about those experiences with me. Even though
she wanted to, there was no chance to go to school. She did not paint a Cinderella story
expecting people should make it on their own. She sought opportunities to connect Plaza
Comunitaria to other programs that addressed those inequalities she experienced.
As an educator, do I see myself ignoring the effects of structural inequalities? Do I go
by Cinderella narratives? Alicia teaches me that I can find opportunities to develop
partnership with other groups, systems, or organizations etc, that help address larger societal
issues. Alicia knows by first hand experience that when structural inequalities are tackled
students can focus on studying. Alicia stays in my memory as a good reminder, in case I want
to forget that are issues beyond school systems.
Alicia is very impatient with the belief that students or community members are lazy.
To an outsider, it would easy to reach such conclusion. A random visit to Agua Clara feels as
though life is slow-paced. There is not much visible activity on any given day. It takes time to
realize that youth commute to work every morning, others work in their houses sewing
handbags and backpacks, other people keep their businesses up and running, and children are
at school. The business of Agua Clara escapes easily from casual observation. Alicia's life
serves a good evidence of that pace. Alicia moves between her study group, the
responsibilities of her position, family life, and church responsibilities.
In relation to Alicia I learn to take time to learn about students, and their situations.
She teaches me to look beyond what is apparent. I learn with Alicia’s pedagogy to especially

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not label students as lazy. She challenged this false belief every time she could. As an
educator I need to take my chances to challenge beliefs that position students as deficient.

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CHAPTER FIVE
The Voice of Resistance: Learning in Exclusion
Tomasita’s Story
Tomasita’s story is a heart-gripping portrayal of exclusion in the state of Yucatán:
exclusion that occurs at many levels: linguistic, social, political, and economical (Bracamonte
& Lizama, 2003). At the same time Tomasita’s voice is one of joy and resistance. In
Tomasita’s narrative voice I ask: What are Tomasita’s circumstances of exclusion? How does
she resist marginalization? How does Tomasita reframe her life experiences? How does
Tomasita help us confront racism? In this story we can confront linguistic marginalization,
and learn how Tomasita responds to her circumstances and transforms them.
Vida Entre las Plantas
I had just set up the recorder on the old wooden table along with two sheets of
interview questions when Tomasita walked into the Plaza Comunitaria classroom rushed, and
expressing confusion in her face said, “Maestro, what are you going to ask? Do you really
need this?” “Nothing to worry about,” I replied while her friends teased her that my questions
were going to be on her next exam. She looked at her compañeras and chuckled with her
characteristic joviality.
I was well aware she had paused her quehaceres (to-do list) for a moment. Her fastpaced speech enhanced my sense that she soon would go back to them. Mindful of her time, I
started recording. I explained that I had prepared a set of questions to inquire about her
experiences studying in Plaza Comunitaria, and perhaps talk about topics beyond Plaza
Comunitaria. Tomasita expressed with eloquence what interrupted schooling meant to her.
Her vivid description of those memories took me by surprise:
Ya no seguí la secundaria.
Hace mucho tiempo:

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Yo viví en ese rancho;
pues allá muchos trabajos hacía,
en eso de las pencas.
Nosotros íbamos a escorar las pencas,
y lo cargábamos.

Estábamos chicas.

Nos enseñaron a desyerbar,
a desgranar.
Nos pagaban, en eso, cincuenta centavos.

Y desgranábamos por almudes.
Y así se nos pagaba.
Y desde chicas nos enseñaron a tener nuestro dinero.

Muchos tipos de trabajo hicimos:
lo de la penca,
desgranábamos,
desyerbábamos,
íbamos a llevar los ganados al monte.

I translated her words as follows:

I did not go to middle school.

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Long time ago:
I lived in that farm;
where many sorts of jobs I did,
we worked with henequen leaves.
We used to go to the farm to line the henequen leaves up,
and carry them on our shoulders.

We were little girls.

They taught us we had to weed our farm,
and scrape the kernels off the corn cobs.
Back then, we made, 50 cents.

We were little girls.

We scraped the grain off by almudes.
That is how we knew how much we would make.
As little girls we learned we had to earn our money.

Many sorts of jobs we did:
henequen leaves,
scraping off maize kernels,
weeding,
and feeding the cattle into the woods.
In these lines, Tomasita shared her first schooling experience. I titled this poem as

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Vida Entre las Plantas because it evoked a lush tapestry of plants in the surroundings of
Tomasita as her childhood unfolded in the day-to-day work of a Mexican farm. The poem
opens with a reference to her middle school, mandatory level for all children in México. La
secundaria, an educational experience many children take for granted, in this poem la
secundaria features briefly. I see this as symbolic of how distant the secundaria schooling
experience was in Tomasita’s life. This poem is resolutely about early educational
experiences.
The poem depicts her experiences outside of school as educational experiences. Her
life started as a life of hard work. Even to this day her life remains a life of hard work. She
recalls her experiences working en eso de las pencas. Chopping down the henequen plant
leaves as a child, lining them up, and carrying them over her shoulders all the way to the
farm. As she spoke I thought to myself that henequen plants are thorny and that she had to be
careful carrying them out. Henequen once provided Yucatecans with the raw materials to
create textiles used in daily life (i.e. hammocks, and ropes) Later, the economy of state of
Yucatán would thrive through business with henequen processing.
Along with the work of las pencas, Tomasita also learned to prepare the land for
sowing and harvesting. Two verbs show her participation in this cycle of land preparation and
harvesting: Desyerbábamos y desgranábamos. The verb tenses convey a sense of nostalgia.
They describe actions that happened continually in the past. Tomasita snaps two pictures of
the cycle of farming life. As children, they would work uprooting weeds from the soil, and
scraping the kernels off corn cobs. Tomasita’s imagery has far removed us, as readers, from
la secundaria, teachers, and textbooks. Tomasita has taken us into her early life in the farm,
out in the woods, henequen plants, weeds in the soil, leaves of grass, and corn plants. It is a
life of work. Fifty cents were paid for that hard work.
The sentence desgranar por almudes registers, to someone distant from the rural life,

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as an archaic expression, particularly the word almud. Perhaps found in history books,
literary writings, or the Reina-Valera version of the Bible in Spanish. It is a unit of
measurement that remains in the rural vocabulary of México as a heritage from the Arabic
language. Tomasita calculated the amount of corn kernels she gathered using almudes as a
unit of measure. Based on the number of almudes she could estimate how much money she
would make. She earned her money, and learned desde chica the ethos of having money. Nos
enseñaron a tener nuestro dinero. The verb tener in this context implies not only having
money but also the process of earning it and the stewardship of it. It is a statement that money
must be earned with hard work, and once you have it, it is important to take care of it.
Tomasita’s poem closes by reminding us the types of work she did as a little girl. It is
a series of actions in some distant past: Hicimos, desgranábamos, desyerbábamos. She then
offers one last depiction of her life rhythm as a little girl: leading the cattle into the dense
jungle to feed them. Even to this day, her life continues enumerating many sorts of jobs.
Tomasita gets up early every day. She travels to Mérida, the capital of the State of Yucatán,
where she cleans houses and apartments. The summer I met her, she also she would also get
up very early to sweep the streets of Agua Clara dutifully at 5:00 in the morning, at that time
she was hired on a non-contractual basis by the Agua Clara Town Hall.
She takes great pride her cooking skills, integral to her hospitality. Tomasita also
prepares some deep-fried pastries (buñuelos) she sells in town as per request and works at a
local restaurant located in the main plaza that serves hamburgers during night weekends
when villagers hang out at the village’s center. Tomasita continued demonstrating such
qualities working day and night all types of jobs, in the village and in Mérida. Although she
does not live with plants anymore, I continue to see the same personal character that she
forged living with las plantas.

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Silence
Tomasita often sits at the table of her kitchen-dinning room. She converses
animadamente with one of her sisters in Mayan, while her sons stick around her. They can be
cooking or eating together or just sitting. There are always conversations going on at her
table. Tomasita enjoyed the fellowship time with the sister that visited regularly. Tomasita
does not hide the fact the she is a native speaker of Maya. “Soy mayera,” she says referring to
herself. I particularly enjoy that expression because it merges the phrase “speaker of Maya,”
in one word: “mayera.” There is no separation between the speaker and the language. The
speaker and her mother tongue are one. Such stance is no small achievement given the history
of marginalization of indigenous Mexicans. After Tomasita’s masterful description of her
early life as a little girl, she shared another heart-gripping experience. She recalled her
feelings of exclusion while traveling to the capital of the state of Yucatán: Mérida.
Mis hermanas y yo,
en Maya hablamos,
pura Maya,
no español.

Entonces nos oían hablar,
y se reían de nosotras.
-¿Ya viste cómo está hablando esa india?
¡Y me incomodaba!

Cuando estábamos… yo con ella,
pues procurábamos no platicar.

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Cuando teníamos a lado una persona en la combi,
allá no platicábamos.
O así en voz baja hablábamos,
para que no nos digan cosas…
I translate as follows:
My sisters and I,
speak in Mayan,
Mayan only,
No Spanish.

Then, they heard us talk,
They laughed at us.
- “¿Ya viste cómo está hablando esa india?”
It made me very uncomfortable.

When my sister and I were together,
we made every effort not to talk.

If someone was sitting next to us in the bus,
we would not talk.
If we did,
we would talk softly,
so they don’t mock us…
The background of the first stanza is conversation. Through her opening lines she
presents the main characters of her story. Mis hermanas y yo. She continues by describing

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with precision her relationship with her mother tongue: en Maya hablamos, pura Maya. The
word pura in this sense does not translate as pure, as in pure water. I translate it as always.
However, some connotations from that first meaning of pure transfer into the conversations
she mentions: a conversation 100 percent in Mayan, unadulterated by Spanish. This is
Tomasita’s way of stating this is our mother tongue, this is the language with which we are
most comfortable, and it is how we communicate as a family. Spanish is not part of it.
In the second stanza Tomasita recalls experiences traveling to Mérida. People all over
the state of Yucatán commute often to the urban centers of the Yucatán Peninsula for work,
conducting business, shopping, to go to school, leisure, and a variety of other activities.
Given this context I expected she would also have had some experience traveling to Mérida
on a regular basis. I also knew she had a job cleaning an apartment there. Tomasita
remembered sitting in old Volkswagen Vanagon, common transportation to and from
villages, while talking to her sister on her way to Mérida.
I want to add that speaking indigenous languages in public spaces is not a common
occurrence. Tomasita's short sentences in the first stanza build up towards a more emotional
moment. The longer sentence in this stanza portrays the complicating event of the plot.
Tomasita sets up her narrative to describe reactions she and her sister would encounter: “So
when people heard us talk, they would laugh at us.” Then, her intonation mimicked people
from Mérida talking about them: “¿Escuchaste a esa india hablar?” [Did you hear that
indigenous woman speaking?]. Tomasita recalls almost recreating the vicious and shaming
tone. Her following words complement the feelings that emerge in this recollection: - it made
me so uncomfortable! This event remained ingrained in Tomasita’s memories. This stanza
contrasts with the first in that a process of silencing starts. Those happy conversations with
her sister encounter reactions from people around her.
Tomasita and her sister experience traveling to Mérida as a down spiraling experience

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of censorship and self-silencing: “When my sister and I were together, we made every effort
not to talk. If we did we would talk very quietly so they don’t mock us.” In the first line of
the stanza, Tomasita goes back to that image of being with her sister (cuando estabámos).
That moment of fellowship with her sister gets interrupted with the feeling of being judged
because of the language they speak. The word procurábamos expresses a deliberate effort to
not talking, to not saying anything in front of others. A conscious effort of self-silencing.
The main ideas of every stanza center around the words “speak” and “talk.” Every
stanza amplifies the meaning of the previous one. Her words also flow from cheerful
conversations at home (first stanza) to being shamed because of how they speak outside of
home (second stanza) to a gradual silencing (third and fourth stanzas). As one reader of this
poem put it: I feel that in this poem the word talk becomes a dirty word, strongly associated
with shame. The experience of being different, of fearing, of being cautious led to an eventual
process of silencing. Tomasita expresses her feelings of this process succinctly and
poignantly. The poem Silence introduces the reader to Tomasita’s life at the margins. An
experience of closed dialogues, where no one gets to have a conversation. Nobody speaks.
To read this poem following Tomasita's experience is debilitating. The poem emerged
in the context of Tomasita described how in the past she perceived herself as ignorant. La
palabra ignorante me dolía, she said almost hinting at a new perspective on that word. It is
the reason I decided to end this poem with an ellipsis. While this poem captures the silencing
process Tomasita, she does not end it this conversation with pain. She positions the poem in a
distant past that only explains why she cemented the conviction that her knowledge is worth.
“If they call me india, I think I would challenge them back, I am very proud of knowing
Maya,” Tomasita concluded with a tone of victory. Tomasita’s voz cotidiana shed a new light
into my understanding of living life in another language where that language is not
welcomed.

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Exclusion
Tomasita spoke openly about her experiences of exclusion. “Pero le digo me crié en
un pueblo soy de esas personas que, soy muy explosiva. Y como tenía yo mucha ignorancia.”
[I am telling you, I was brought up in a village. I am one of those people who is very
explosive. I was very ignorant]. In that statement Tomasita presents the dimensions of
exclusion in her life. In her experiences, there is a geographic dimension (I was brought up in
a village) of exclusion, a social dimension (I am an explosive woman), and school knowledge
dimension (I was very ignorant).
I was very puzzled when Tomasita described herself as being an explosive woman in
the past. Tomasita, explained that she used to curse (mal hablada), and that cursing was her
manner of being explosive. I became even more puzzled. She seemed to describe explosive
and cursing as fixed traits of her personality independently from her circumstances. It was not
until later that she contextualized those responses through her experiences commuting to the
capital of state, and being shamed because of her language. Tomasita never hesitated to talk
about those memories: “When people heard me talk, and laughed about me, I would turn
around and curse at them in Mayan.” It was then that I came to understand such
explosiveness as a reaction to express her frustration when people laughed her for speaking
Mayan.
The word “explosion” captures her response to such shaming, and mocking. Her
response to that process of silencing in public spaces. I remained pensive absorbing the
weight of Tomasita’s experience. “Not anymore,” Tomasita expressed with relief. “I am
proud of knowing Mayan. I used to be ashamed. Not anymore. Bendito sea Dios.” Tomasita
continues speaking of Plaza Comunitaria illustrating those same dimensions of her
experience of exclusion. This time she talks about it in terms of her current circumstances.
She starts sharing her new perspectives. Tomasita refers to Plaza Comunitaria as both a

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geographic/physical space and relational space. Finally, it was a place where doors to school
knowledge opened:
Y hasta la palabra ignorancia me dolía, porque era una palabra que no entendía
todavía y [en] la Plaza Comunitaria he aprendido muchísimas cosas. Me ha abierto las
puertas, el estudio, en muchas cosas. La Plaza Comunitaria me ha ayudado mucho.
Even the word ignorance used to hurt because I did not understand that word yet. In
Plaza Comunitaria I have learned a lot of things. It has opened the doors, to studying
and many more. Plaza Comunitaria has been very helpful to me.
Opening those doors I can picture her dear compañeras Alicia and Vero cheering for
Tomasita. Her stream of thoughts touched on the notion of ignorancia several times. She now
contrasts ignorancia to her experiences being part of Plaza Comunitaria as space where she
can freely engage with ideas. The meanings conveyed in her use of the word ignorancia
change subtly. Ignorancia is no longer described as a fixed trait (tenía ignorancia), but as she
reads more she realizes we always ignore many things; it is the inevitable consequence of
constantly learning.
Ignoro muchas cosas, que ahorita que estoy en Prepa pues. Pero la Plaza Comunitaria
me ha ayudado muchísimo, porque de antes cuando entré no sabía nada, muchos
conceptos no sabía, he aprendido, vengo a la Plaza y veo que hay unos, ya ve que
tienen sus cartelones allí pegados, leo en eso y hay algunos que me gustan.
I ignore a lot of things even now that I am in High School. But Plaza Comunitaria has
definitely helped me a lot. Long time ago when I first started I did not know anything.
There are many concepts I did not know, [and that] I have learned. I come to La
Plaza, as you have noticed there are posters hanging on the wall. I read them, and
some of them I really like.
Tomasita presents knowledge not as something to be solved by adding more

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knowledge through schooling (“I ignore a lot of things even now that I am in High School”)
rather as an experience that takes place in a space where she can engage with ideas.
Trust
“In Plaza Comunitaria I have learned a lot of things. It has opened the doors to
studying, and many more. Plaza Comunitaria has been very helpful to me,” Tomasita tells me
with certain tenderness in her voice. Before Plaza Comunitaria she knew no specific place
that served as a school. There was no school building in the farm where Tomasita grew up.
Teachers visited her farm and taught children there how to read and write. They would
improvise their classrooms in any space available. Tomasita, like many of her compañeras,
dropped out of school after completing her elementary school level. By participating in Plaza
Comunitaria, Tomasita also experienced many of the rituals that go along with schooling. For
instance, graduation ceremonies. In one of those, Tomasita would receive more
encouragement. Tomasita expressed how Alicia´s deep trust on her intelligence inspired her:
Yo no tenía mucha fe de que podía yo estudiar, digo no voy a [estudiar], y doña Lety
me decía, venía cuando se hacían los eventos, cuando estaba yo estudiando cuando se
hacían los eventos se daban sus certificados y si me emocionaba verlos. Sí puededoña Alicia me decía- sí puede. Si ellos pudieron porque usted no.
I did not have much faith that I could study. I said [to myself] I won’t go. During the
graduation ceremony events I attended while I was still a student. I would be very
touched seeing [students graduate]. Yes, you can do it- doña Alicia would tell meyes, you can do it. If they could do it, why can’t you do it?
Alicia understood well that graduation ceremonies as important events that excite
adult students and their families about the possibilities. Alicia would not miss a chance to
make sure students know she trusts in their intelligence to go through the program. She seized
the opportunity to assure Tomasita she will one day be part of that ceremony receiving her

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diploma. These types of actions on the part of Alicia emerged from her deep trust on students
intelligence of Plaza Comunitaria. It is an ethos that was also present in their compañerismo
and convivencia. Tomasita left this graduation ceremony touched and ready to continue with
her goals. Tomasita, as many of those compañeras, would continue studying together beyond
Plaza Comunitaria to earn their high school diploma.
Veronica, another compañera, who was always with Tomasita and Alicia would
summarize this ethos of compañerismo: “el esfuerzo que hacemos es unánime.” They act
together, they carry the same goal in mind, and helping the other to achieve that goal is
essential to those unanimous efforts. I was later invited to witness those efforts through their
study group.
Grupo de Estudio
I walked up the hill where the building of Plaza Comunitaria was located. Tomasita,
Alicia, Vero and her daughter had organized a study session. Alicia, Vero and Tomasita all
had their own bundle of photocopies of the study guide for high school physics. Tomasita ask
many questions. Sometimes a confused look accompanies her questions. When her
compañeras, Alicia and Vero, keep discussing without her, she looks at both of them and
they promptly help her catching up with the topic at hand. To them, stopping helping their
peers had been an essential part of the process of learning. While one explains the topic to the
other repeatedly they grow in their familiarity with the topic. Since the exam was
approaching they decided to focus on the exercises. They reviewed the formulas, and what
they meant, they looked at the charts, and discussed them. They spend the next couple of
hours doing that. Such was their discipline once a week, on top of attending their classes
twice a week.
Finding teachers and tutors had always been difficult to them, but it did not stop them.
They drew from any network available to get people to help them. During those days, I

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learned that they knew that the daughter of one their neighbors was studying chemistry in the
University of Yucatán. And Alicia, Vero and Tomasita connected with her, and she became
one of their teachers. The evening I tried to help them a bit through their physics session, I
could not help but think about the countless obstacles they had to overcome. Obstacles that
they used as an occasion to laugh. Laughing those obstacles off did not only relaxed them but
cemented in their memories the importance of their achievements. They helped each other
without hesitation. They collaborated with each other to understand any concepts. Leticia told
me they sometimes stayed more than two hours. When they knew they will stay longer they
ensured there is food for dinner.
Justice
After walking around Agua Clara’s main plaza looking for popsicles, Alicia walked
me to Tomasita’s house. Her house is one block away from the Town Hall. The house
resembles some of the houses in the old neighborhoods of Merida, a colorful, rectangleshaped house with spacious living rooms and high ceilings. Tomasita texted Alicia letting her
know that we were on our way to her house. We waited for some time outside her house.
When Tomasita arrived she welcomed us into her house with that characteristic jovial
manner I had come to feel familiar with. “We brought some popsicles,” I said. “Maestro - no
se hubiera molestado,” she replied. I opened the plastic bag and let Tomasita and Alicia pick
their popsicles before the scorching heat of that day melted them away. “Maestro: you still
remember I want to be a lawyer,” Tomasita expressed in response to my first comment. After
reading the transcription of my first interview to Tomasita in the summer of 2014 , I never
forgot she wanted to be a lawyer, so I had mentioned it to her. After our conversation on my
first day back in Agua Clara I had learned that Tomasita’s, Alicia’s and Vero’s enthusiasm
for finishing their high school had not dissipated. My last summer in Agua Clara in 2015, I
would learn more about Tomasita perspectives on local politics and insights on political

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action. Days later, I was placing my recorder and some pieces of paper to interview Tomasita
again. This time it happened on the table of her kitchen-dinning room. That day Tomasita
returned to some of the topics she had shared before. She again took on the notion of
ignorancia. This time, she used that word in connection to her desire to fight for justice.
Por eso yo peleo mucho por la justicia digo, ser justos y también que mis hijos me
respeten y yo ser respetada porque pues creo que muchos años dejé que me falten al
respeto pero porque yo lo permití, posiblemente también porque, por ignorancia, que
no, si tenía claro lo que yo quería pero lo permití.
That is why I fight for justice, I say, also being just people. I want my sons to respect
me, and be respected. I believe many years, I allowed people not to do so. Perhaps
because, because ignorance. I was always very clear about what I wanted, but I let it
happen.
Tomasita hints at a time when she would let people disrespect her. Even though she
clearly knew what she wanted, she did not advocate for herself. That day she told me how
much it meant that one of her teachers did for her study group. This teacher helped them
apply to a program that was giving away computers to students in need. That teacher walked
them through the process, helping them write a request letter, traveling twice to Mérida with
them to submit their requests, and helping them navigate government bureaucracies. This is a
process that built a new sense of traveling to Merida, not of staying quiet and speaking softly.
It became a trip to make things happen to advocate for herself.
Tomasita explained more: “They [local politicians] know we are troublemakers
[revoltosas], we would start a revolt and complain, we won't stay silent.” She continued with
an assertive tone: “They know that if they don’t do things right we will complain and they
will get in trouble.” Those words seemed to speak back to the current political campaign
happening that summer. Campaign advertisement colored many walls in town making many

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promises: support to students, free internet. Another one read with capital letters: for the
benefit of the population there will be a doctor on call, medicine, and hospital transportation.
The last line in capital red letters read: Everything free.
Walking around town taking pictures of the campaign ads took me back to the words
of Tomasita’s English teacher: “You don't have to go say thanks to politicians for what they
have done. All that money comes from us. It comes from our taxes. We are supporting them,
so they are accountable to us.” This campaign ads featured a dinosaur. It became the mascot
for the campaign. An innocuous mascot to the casual observer that stops being innocuous
when I take into consideration México’s political history. Political opposition disparaged the
PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party] as an everlasting dynasty of rulers calling them
“dinosaurs”. This reference became part of the Mexican political imaginary with negative
connotations. Tomasita did not like the fact the campaign spun the reference to dinosaurs to
mean they had all the experience in governing, and thus needed to be brought back. Tomasita
opposed this candidate.
Tomasita, Vero, and Alicia each shared about their times attending different events in
Agua Clara Town Hall. The days I walked around the Town Hall, I quickly learned that youth
would gather during evenings outside the Town Hall to catch a public Wi-Fi. It did not take
long for me to bring my phone and do the same. One of those days while I waited the replies
to my messages, I started thinking about this space as the site where Tomasita, Alicia and
Vero came to advocate for themselves and their group needs, requests more support for Plaza
Comunitaria, attend meetings with the major and present their complaints, a place of civic
participation for them. Tomasita was happy that she and her friends had built a reputation of
keeping leaders accountable.

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Figure 6. Agua Clara Town Hall

Figure 7. Political ad promising free internet to students

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Figure 8. Political ad promising on-call doctors for the community

Empezar y Terminar
In our multiple conversations, Tomasita not only responded to my questions; she was
also speaking back to the multiple voices around her. Some of those voices were supportive,
some not. Some of those voices were immediate voices, as when Alicia inspired Tomasita to
finish her secundaria by telling her that one day she would walk on graduation day like the
students graduating at that time. Those voices can be interpreted as resonances from a larger
societal message that dictated her boundaries. Tomasita spoke passionately as if she was
always responding to those voices. In the following Poem I can see those voices. Tomasita
presented those voices in parallel:

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Cuando empecé,
-Él me decía:

“¿Para qué lo sigues haciendo?
Eres muy ignorante,
de allá no vas a pasar,
no sé para qué lo estudias,
vas a seguir siendo lo mismo.”

-Mis hijos me decían:

“Usted ha dicho, mamá, que cuando se empieza algo,
se tiene que terminar.
Tiene que terminarlo mamá, por algo lo empezó.”

“Usted nos ha dicho que cuando se hace un compromiso
hay que terminarlo, sea cual sea el compromiso.”

Ellos han sido mi apoyo.
A veces a ellos no les gusta que yo vaya a la escuela.
Pero ellos me dicen así:

“¡No te preocupes mamá; el examen, lo va a pasar!
Usted ha dicho que lo que se empieza hay que terminarlo.”

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Pero sí, gracias a Dios he aprendido muchas cosas.

I translated it as:
When I started,

- He used to tell me:

Why are you still doing this?
You are very ignorant,
You won’t make it beyond that point,
I don’t know why are studying that,
You will remain the same.

- My sons told me:

Mom- you have told us, that you start something,
you have to complete it.
You have to finish it, there is a reason you started it.

Mom- you have told us, that you make a commitment,
We have to finish it, no matter what the commitment is.

They have been my source of support.
Sometimes they don’t like I go to school.
But they tell me the following:

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Do not worry mother; you are going to pass the exam!
You have told us that you have to finish what you start.

Yes, thanks be to God, I have learned many things
Tomasita here interacts with two voices, and contrasts the words of those two voices.
The voices are situated by her opening lines: Cuando empecé. She tells us that when she
enrolled Plaza Comunitaria, the first voice was one of opposition. Somber words that
delineated her boundaries. “You won’t make it beyond this point.” That point was the point
of ignorance, understood as an abject categorization of a person. You are this, and you belong
here. Do not move beyond this point. It came from someone close, someone familiar, and
although it was familiar it also carried a larger societal message she had heard before. The
last two lines of the first voice question the purpose of studying (no sé para qué lo estudias),
and the hopelessness of the effort (vas a seguir siendo lo mismo). Those statements enclose a
crude pronouncement.
At the moment I heard these words from Tomasita it was already clear that herself
was a living statement against those crude words. She found purpose in every turn of her
journey in Plaza Comunitaria learning with her compañeras. It was clear she had started a
process of transformation. Tomasita is now the only person in her family to have completed
middle school, and at time she uttered those words she was well on her way to finishing high
school. Tomasita, Alicia and Vero continued studying high school through another nonformal system of education (Preparatoria Abierta).
The second set of voices came from her sons. They expressed more than
encouragement. They framed her efforts within the ethics that she had taught them growing
up. That is prefaced by the sentence: usted nos ha dicho. Tomasita’s son addressed his mom

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as usted, a more formal way to speaking to adults or people in authority. They merged that
respectful form of speaking with tenderness and encouragement. “There is a reason why you
started this,” the sons tell her. Without expressing the purpose, they trust this makes sense for
their mother. They bring up the code of ethics Tomasita had taught them. You made a
commitment, you have to finish it.
“A veces a ellos no les gusta que yo vaya a la escuela,” Tomasita reflected on the
consequences for her sons having a mother who goes to school. Later, she reasserted that her
sons showered her with unwavering support. Her sons told her a third time: “when you start
something you have to finish it.” The words of Tomasita’s sons allude to a constant reminder
of support, exam after exam, page after page, and class after class. That is why she repeats
her son's words of encouragement several times. It is a voice that is sustained, and keeps
resonating. It casts a shadow on the first voice to the point until the reader forgets.
After walking me through how her sons encouraged her, Tomasita pauses for a
moment: “Pero sí, gracias a Dios he aprendido muchas cosas.” Not too long after that
Tomasita would fulfill her own dictum that her sons constantly reminded her: finish what you
start. And when that happened, Alicia did not miss this opportunity to celebrate this milestone
in Tomasita and Vero’s life. This time, I was not in the village seeing Alicia hand down
diplomas, or listening to students at Plaza Comunitaria tell how Alicia was an welcoming
voice of their efforts. By reading her words on social media I could still picture Alicia’s joy:
Comparto la gran felicidad de dos grandes amigas. Vero and Tomasita. Que
demostraron que los sueños se pueden alcanzar con esfuerzo y dedicación . No en un
programa especial de certificación. Ellas sí merecen nuestra admiración. Muchas
felicidades a las dos.
I want to share the immense happiness of two of my great friends: Vero and Tomasita.
Who worked tirelessly to achieve their dreams. This is not just a mere certification

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program. They do deserve our admiration. Congratulations to the two of you!
Every sentence was packed with meaning. Behind those words there were hours
working, laughing, helping each other, traveling to Mérida to take exams, and retaking failed
exams. When Alicia shared her joy for such an accomplishment, she made clear that “this is
not just a certification program.” By saying this she was highlighting that is was their high
school diploma. Alicia’s picture on social media complemented her message. The setting was
what looked like an office of the Ministry of Education. I reached that conclusion based on a
picture of the governor of Yucatán hanging on the walls in the background. I could also
distinguish the main features of their diploma: A colorful green piece of paper with seals, lists
of subjects, grades, names of the granting organisms, with the pictures of students on it, and
officials’ signatures. Tomasita and Vero held it with pride.

Figure 9. Vero and Tomasita holding their High School certificates
Figure 9 above depicts Vero and Tomasita holding their High School certificates. Alicia
shared on social media of Tomasita and Vero’s graduation. From right to left. Tomasita and
Vero holding their Preparatoria diplomas. I never met the other two people in the picture,
who I think work for the Ministry of Education.

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Tomasita's description of how she was raising up her two teenage boys seemed to
continue what she had shared about her process of emancipation, a vision that challenges the
circumstances in which she grew up. She expects to create a ripple effect so that the women
around her sons are treated with respect and not as esclavas de la casa.
I want my sons to be independent, marry,
and treat their wives respectfully.

I teach them everything.

I teach them how to cook,
to do their laundry,
to clean the floors.

I teach them how to treat me with respect.

so when they marry,
they love their wives.

And they don't expect their wives to be their esclavas.

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Pedagogy with Tomasita
Storying the educational experiences of Plaza Comunitaria women has a mirroring
effect. Often crafting the stories and reading their words as poems made me look at myself. I
have observed this effect on the readers of the poems as well contained in the stories. Often
times they would make comments that evaluated their own circumstances. In this section, I
will continue applying this effect. I write this section following this question: How do these
stories guide my self-reflection as an educator?
Earlier I discussed my positionality growing up in the capital of the state. Tomasita
opens our eyes to linguistic discrimination. Tomasita’s story is an invitation to grapple with
our own subtly racist practices, but also other more openly racist behaviors such as laughing
at indigenous languages. But it also hints at other subtler behaviors that fall on the same
category. When someone speaks in an indigenous language does it registers in our minds as
funny, awkward, less-cultured? Do we take seriously their words? Even if we act respectful
in front of them, do we make jokes after they are gone? Do we treat native speakers of
English accent in Spanish differently from the accent in Spanish of an indigenous person?
Are our day-to-day expressions filled with expressions that carry a colonial heritage (eres un
indio/india, se te sale lo indio)? Do we pay lip-service to the importance of cultural and
linguistic heritage but look down on indigenous people struggling in public spaces? Do we
see indigenous people as explosive? Can we think in ways our behavior has prompted those
reactions?
Tomasita struggled with the word ignorancia as a label attached to her. The word
ignorance was thrown at her from all fronts. It had come from society, and even from her
family. She felt assigned into this category over and over. She experienced pain in this
category, and her story eventually breaks away from it. She redefined her relationship with
that word. Tomasita concluded that we cannot know everything. We inevitable ignore

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something. She focuses now on the discovery, and in her search for justice, and letting people
disrespect her. If we think of the classroom, are we prone to put students in categories? Do
we see them as in a curve? Some of them more capable than others? Some destined to fail no
matter what we do? Can we create an environment like that of Plaza Comunitaria of radical
acceptance? Do we consider that what students don’t know as a hinder to discovery and
search for common good?
Tomasita and many of her compañeras make us more aware of structural inequalities.
She grew up in a family that could not afford to send all of the family members to school. In
the time she grew up, the decision of who gets to attend school was clear. Men do often
attend school. Women stay home. Can I look at students circumstances and biography to
respond to our students better? Can I invite my students to bring their biographies into their
intellectual pursuits? I hope reason becomes a vital endeavor by seeking the answers to these
questions.
In Tomasita’s story, there are many dimensions of exclusion. She is excluded from
economic developments of the region because she grew up in a village. She is excluded
socially, and finally schools closed their doors to her. Can schools be more open to
communities around them? Do schools see those communities as problematic? Tomasita
eagerly feels connected to what her sons are studying and reading, she wants to respond and
converse with the knowledge they engage with at school. Are schools places that encourage
those conversations?
Tomasita returned to words that had been painful: ignorante, india. In facing her
circumstances, she took on those words and gave them new meanings. Ignorante had no
effect on her as it did before. She joked around the word india, as laughing at her
circumstances, and not distrusting her self-worth at all. This experience challenges me to
think about setting up educational experiences that encourage students to break away from

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words that trouble them, to question their own histories, and emerge from them. In Orteguian
terms life as biography as a window into the different meanings of words at various points of
our lives.
As an educator, I am challenged to ask what are the circumstances of students’
biographies that inform their actions, words and attitudes in classrooms? 'Rationalist
assumptions of education shape pedagogy in such a way that educators tend to see subject
areas or study themes separated from biography. This is not the case for Tomasita. Her story
shows the societal, political, and economical aspects of exclusion that occur beyond
classrooms are woven into her educational efforts.
When I witnessed the study group of Tomasita, Vero and Alicia, it was truly a group
effort. The ethos of the group is that nadie se ahoga a la deriva (no-one drowns adrift).
Students stopped their study with no hesitation. It was never a lone effort. Whatever concept,
idea or theme each of the women of the study group mastered she saw it as belonging to the
group, and generously shared. As an educator I learn that leaving students behind is not an
ethical teaching practice. I am challenged to create classrooms where understanding of
concepts and subjects is always in a context of solidaridad. As an educator I am challenged
to see students’ stories as a more complicated picture of who my students are - Tomasita
shared with me the multiple voices of her life as a woman, indigenous, student, mother,
worker, friend, churchgoer. Tomasita invites me to keep my privilege in check.

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CHAPTER SIX
Somos Familia: Unanimous Efforts
Vero’s Story
In this interview, Vero explained to me what her study group familia meant to her. I
use this conversation as the basis for interpreting the significance of her efforts in the
community, and the friendship with Alicia and Tomasita. In this conversation, Vero shares
several metaphors of familia and gives new windows into their lived experience of
convivencia as an indispensable component of education. Through those metaphors, we can
understand the ethos of being familia. The questions that I address are: How do those
metaphors give a more complex picture of compañerismo in education? This chapter explores
the instances of studying in convivencia.
Familia de Estudio
Vero blended very well with Tomasita and Alicia. She laughed a lot with Alicia and
Tomasita. Tomasita and Alicia always saw Vero ahead of them in what they were studying.
She was the only one who had completed her secundaria and continued studying in
vocational school. Often times Tomasita sat next to Vero. Tomasita explained jokingly she
did this because she wanted to “peek at Vero’s homework.” Vero enjoyed those comments.
Eventually Vero made them laugh as well. One of those moments was during an English
session. I asked them to introduce each other in English, and Vero’s answer was, "I kill
chicken." That day, I learned that she lived a few blocks uphill from the main Plaza. She
owns a pollería [chicken shop], and part of her job includes purchasing chickens from a local
provider, slaughtering and skinning them.
Although Vero finished her secundaria through a regular school, not Plaza
Comunitaria, she is very close to Plaza Comunitaria. At the time of this interview she had
become an asesor in Plaza Comunitaria, and met there regularly with Alicia and Tomasita.

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Vero took her teenage daughter with her to the study group meetings in the Plaza
Comunitaria building. Vero’s daughter often sat next to her observing all of them study, quiet
and observant, almost hiding behind her mom. Perhaps my presence had something to with it.
Vero’s daughter eventually mingled with them more, and started offering help as they
studied.
I had met Vero during my first visits. Eventually, I interviewed her at home. When I
requested an interview, Vero had a similar reaction to Tomasita’s. She seemed skeptical
about what she could contribute. I told her that I wanted to learn more about what they had
done as study group. Once she agreed, it was difficult to find a time that worked for her. We
finally agreed to have the interview on Saturday night. Vero explained to me how to get to
her house. Tomasita also gave me directions. Anticipating any confusion Tomasita suggested
I take a mototaxi to Vero’s house. “Maestro when you take the motaxi, tell them Vero’s
husband's nickname, they will know immediately, mention you are going to the pollería. And
don’t forget to go to the town’s plaza where I will be working selling hamburgers. No es por
nada pero están muy ricas.” I could not wait to try those hamburgers. Once in the mototaxi, I
followed Tomasita’s directions. After the driver went around the block a few times, we
finally stopped at her house. It was a two-story green house. Vero came out, moved the dogs
away and opened the fence made from metal rods painted in white. Her family was curious
about the interview so they stayed around to listen to the interview.
In the summer of 2015 I noticed Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero’s excitement that they
were so close to their goal: the high school diploma. That summer, when I had the chance
interview Vero, I was interested in the dynamics of their study group. How did it start? What
are some of their most memorable moments? How they manage life and study? How did they
keep the study group afloat? Vero’s answers opened my eyes to the ethics of their study
group. Vero helped me take a closer look at how each member of the group was aware of the

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needs of the others, how they recognized their individual talents and encourage each other,
shared information that can benefit the group, listened to each other struggles and joys,
supported the members of the group. Vero put it in very clear terms: “ The group, you can
say we are familia, that is how we treat each other, como una familia.” Such statement
summarized the ethics of the study group. Through a vision of each other as a familia they
generated an environment that protected the women who wanted to continue their program.
Vero adds,” right now we are approaching our goal". She continued explaining:
Compartir…como tres de nosotras somos amas de casa.

Compartir nuestras experiencias de la casa y todo,
y el esfuerzo que hacemos.
Yo creo que eso más une.

Porque el esfuerzo que nosotras hacemos para estudiar,
es casi unánime,
así lo sentimos.

Y entre nosotras mismas nos apoyamos,
es un apoyo mutuo,
por eso sentimos,
que es como un tipo de familia,

que tenemos formado.

I translated Vero’s words:

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To share…because three of us are housewives,

To share our experiences, in the house and all experiences,
and the efforts we make.
I believe that unites us even more.

Because the effort we make to study,
is almost unanimous,
that is how we feel it.

All support emerges from us,
it is support that is mutual,
that is why we feel that,
it is a kind of a family,

that we have, that we have formed.
Vero summed up how they understood their familia. In this poem, that I titled familia
de estudio, Vero expressed three aspects of their shared vivencias: shared experiences, shared
study efforts, and shared support. There are also clear parallels along the poem that enhance
her message. I noticed this by paying attention to the central words in every stanza: First
stanza share, efforts, unite; second stanza efforts, unanimous, feel; third stanza support, feel,
family. Vero expressed that their shared experiences started with shared experiences de la
casa. This phrase signaled a space that is traditionally for women. By stating that their
experiences are de la casa Vero reveals these shared experiences as women. She does not

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stop there. She adds y todo. Vero does not confine shared experiences to la casa only. The
experiences that resonate with each other go beyond the spaces of la casa.
Towards the end of the first stanza Vero brings in their shared study efforts. It
introduces what comes in the next stanza. Their study efforts are almost unanimous. And
they feel it is that way. Those efforts are clear. They met together several times a week after
their quehaceres to attend class and discuss, figured out how to bring teachers connecting to
friends, families and social networks, gave each other tips on how to ace tests, celebrated
their failures and accomplishments. Vero said in the third stanza, “Y entre nosotras mismas
nos apoyamos.” In this sentence Vero explained that the support they need to continue comes
from each other; it emerges from them. “Entre nosotras mismas” conveys a sense of a selfsustaining group that generates support for everybody.
Those are the constitutive shared experiences of their familia. Finally, Vero talked
about her group as a “familia que tenemos formado.” A reader of this poem pointed out that
the use of present perfect here did not seem to make sense with the verb tenemos. The reader
asked me, shouldn't she use hemos formado (have formed) instead of tenemos formado? The
reader suggested that this was a grammatical error. Vero’s use of tenemos formado instead of
hemos formado did come across as a grammatical mistake. However, Vero’s words made
sense communicatively. I reflected on the meaning of this sentence in the context of the
interview and my observations. Then, I realized that Vero’s words communicated both, the
sense of having a familia (they can hold onto it as something secure) as well as having
formed a familia (developing this relationship over time). From a purist perspective on
language this colloquial usage has been discouraged. I believe that is the reason the reader of
this poem pointed it out. In the case of Vero I realized that her usage captured a complex
phenomenon that defied the correct grammatical structures. I decided to render the translation
as “that we have, that we have formed.” I did this with the intention of keeping Vero’s

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communicative intent as well as her words.
High School
After Tomasita and Alicia had finished their secundaria through Plaza Comunitaria
they wanted to continue studying. Vero had completed her secundaria though one of the local
schools and studied at a vocational school, but wanted to obtain a high school diploma. She
was looking for an opportunity. She recalled that the mayor of Agua Clara at the time
promoted the idea of establishing a high school in town so that local students wouldn’t have
to commute to neighboring villages. Those plans faded away and remained in Vero’s
memories as more unfulfilled promises. Then the mayor brought “Preparatoria Abierta”
[Open High School] program to the village as way to cover for this failure. Vero remembers a
very enthusiastic invitation that captivated her:
Pues cuando llega el coordinador de prepa abierta a hacer la invitación al municipio,
yo acudo a la junta y pues la forma en que él explicaba y el entusiasmo que
demostraba pues me llegó, igual a mí me entusiasmó mucho y como no habían
edades, o sea un límite de edad, para estudiar, pues es en que me inscribí.
When the coordinator of Prepa Abierta came to town to invite the municipality, I
attended the session. The way he explained it, and the enthusiasm that he
demonstrated was very touching. His enthusiasm was contagious, and since there was
no age limit to study, I enrolled. [July 2015]
The Preparatoria Abierta program started with approximately 40 students in town.
Vero and Tomasita remember that students were mostly younger students who had dropped
out of school. Vero did not know Tomasita and Alicia back then. She met them through
Preparatoria Abierta. They became closer friends as classes progressed. Vero recalled those
times as fun reliving their days as students. Later, little by little students dropped out over
time. The group of women who stayed became closer to each other. They treated each other

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as familia.
Studying English
They transformed every place and time into an opportunity to study in convivencia.
Study time did not go without a regular dose of laughter. It allowed to take their mistakes
lightly, as an opportunity to laugh at themselves. Review sessions were very intense. I could
feel the tension as they reviewed unfamiliar concepts. In those moments, tensions would be
relieved by one of their ocurrencias (witty and funny remarks).
Laughter and their ocurrencias continued during break time. They all contributed
towards snacks. Even though they did not expect me to do so, I also made my contributions.
We would walk to the convenience store around the corner to buy French baguettes, cheese
spread, soda drinks. On our walk two blocks from the school where they held their sessions,
they often talked about their experiences with different teachers, and subjects. They shared
about what subjects were more difficult, and who were the teachers who had provided helpful
explanations. I came to realize how perceptive they were about their teachers' pedagogical
moves.
Eventually, they invited me to participate. Tomasita, Vero and Alicia had difficulties
finding teachers who would go to the village; due to issues of pay and distance it was difficult
to find teachers. They, however, had managed to find new teachers, often drawing from their
own networks. On top of that, they had expressed that English as a Foreign Language had
been the most difficult to exam to pass. Knowing that they needed to pass English before they
could receive their high school diploma, I offered help.
I did not want to teach them to the test. At the same time, assuming a pragmatic
stance they needed some quick tips to ace the test. I led several activities in which they had to
speak completely in English, our target language. I had them introduce themselves and talk
about themselves. After the activity, they said it was a challenge, but came out of that activity

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satisfied to know how much English they managed to understand and speak. I also gave them
some explanations using some of the practice tests they used to prepare.
We agreed to meet every night during my stay. Since they worked all day, we would
meet at 8:00pm when all of them had finished their daily activities and work. It was perfect.
That schedule would give me enough time to prepare the lesson, and reconnect with other
people in the village during the day. When the time came, they were all ready to study. They
had texted each other reminders that we would meet at Tomasita’s place. They were ready to
study. I experienced an environment where I was welcomed. It was festive. Laughter filled
Tomasita’s kitchen, the place we had selected as the study place. While I was posting some
big pieces of bond paper to the refrigerator using some magnets, they kept chatting about how
rusty their knowledge of English was at the time. I did not see nervousness. They were
excited about learning English as a Foreign Language.
We had created a classroom that was unlike anything else I had experienced either as
a student or as the instructor. A kitchen served as our setting. We used the big table at the
center of kitchen to sit around. The fridge had been adapted to be the board with some big
pieces of paper attached to it. Alicia brought some markers from her church. That is all we
needed.
As I taught that class every night for the study group I observed how they enjoyed
getting together, studying with a good sense of humor; creating new memorable moments,
and helping each other to understand the ideas of the sessions. Sometimes, they talked about
their efforts as something impossible to accomplish. They felt they were not meant to study.
Fortunately, those feelings would not stay for long. As soon as they start studying they would
forget them. They are very determined to study.
They showed respect for each other's progress without making anybody feel bad. It is
not a competition. It is about supporting each other. One day, Tomasita told me that even

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though she already passed the music exam, she did not want to tell the others because she did
not want to come across as a show-off and make the others feel bad. She was being respectful
of the pacing her compañeras take to study. They pushed each other. One of the nights when
we studied English, Tomasita was having trouble in English class, and Vero stopped and
helped her.
This group truly enacted a kind of classroom I had advocated for, a classroom where
students felt comfortable to come for learning. Except I did nothing to make this happen. This
group of women created this learning environment over years of friendship and studying
together. I was welcomed into the group, and throughout my time there I was showered with
kindness. An ethics of familia helped Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero endure.
The more time I spent teaching and conviviendo with the study group, the more I
realized how comfortable they are with each other. This leads to have a safe environment for
learning. Vero, Alicia and Tomasita never shame others because of mistakes, there is a true
sense of community. They have lived many hardships together and listened to each other.
That time together helps them through stressful moment. Later, as I walked with Alicia to her
place, she told me that this is a "therapy time" for them. She said that getting together to
study does not cause them any stress.
They told me they always tried to use what they learned. If they learned new words,
new concepts, they often brought that up in their conversations with other people. For
example, Alicia shared with me about how they would discuss textos politicos in the context
of Agua Clara events. I have witnessed trust in the group. They also talk about each other
highly. They always express sympathy for any trouble they have experienced, and admiration
for their friends' accomplishments. This is a very compact group.
Vivid Images
Vero shared imagery that can serve an interpretative lens to understand the ethics of

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studying together. It helped me make sense of what I observed over time. Vero's lenses
helped me uncover their commitments. Vero explained two about two types of communal
action. First, she talked about actions prompted by perceived need. The two ideas she offered
were: “Una se ahoga sola a la deriva” and “Me pongo en los zapatos de la otra persona.”
Second she described actions that encompassed joint efforts in pursuit of their goals. Those
actions are: “Nos echamos porras,” “Jalamos parejo.”
In the summer of 2015, they decided that I was going to help them out in their
preparation for the English exams. This is an instance when they performed jalando parejo.
Jalar parejo means they act together, get organized, and make things work for all of them.
That summer, they made the decision as a group to get together during the evenings to study
English. They acted based on that decision. Another way I can paraphrase Vero’s words is
that they do not bail on each other. The group decisions overwrite individualism. Jalar parejo
means that when they all push or pull at the same time, the combined strength creates
synergy. They tackle any challenge as a group better than attempting to solve them
individually.
Jalar parejo does not mean they drop their responsibilities to attend to the group
needs. This is not what I observed when I interacted with them. Vero, for instance,
consistently talked about how she attended to her responsibilities as a mother, wife, friend,
and worker. Alicia and Tomasita were also very committed to their endeavors and families.
They also see how what they do in their group helps them be better in their families, work,
and as citizens. Vero, Tomasita, and Alicia performed jalando parejo in every turn of their
educational efforts. Whether it was small actions such as splitting the bill of their snacks or
passing on their study notes, or traveling to Mérida together to take a test together.
Vero also expressed that in their daily effort echar porras is key to their ethos. This
aspect of their convivencia is very clear in moments when some of them get ahead in their

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program. Instead they assumed the position of cheering for the other person. They
encouraged their compañeras and did anything on their hands to help the other. Vero recalled
moments when they had to take an exam, whenever anyone passed the exam, she would pass
the study notes. In Veronica’s words, “Here is my study material, use it, and go pass that
test.” Vero’s explanation reminded me of the sessions I led in English. If somebody was
going to answer, the rest would not say anything, but look at the person, and if they knew the
answer, they would not say anything, just make expressions assenting or telling the person to
think harder. In other words, when someone had to perform, they would stand around that
person and offer some help, or cheer for the other person.
Veronica’s words created a powerful image. She said: “All by yourself, you drown
adrift.” In Spanish she said, “Una se ahoga sola a la deriva.” It communicated the sense of
urgency to rescue someone who is in trouble. It also serves as a signal for them when they are
not acting in convivencia. They know that there is a problem is someone is having trouble
and they forgot about her. If one of them is having problems with a topic or a concept, they
stop and walk together through the concept. They make sure the other person understands
before continuing. Sometimes, they keep discussing the ideas in their study sessions as they
walk home or during their break. Tomasita, Vero and Alicia are very perceptive of each other
needs.
Finally, Vero explains, “Me pongo en los zapatos.”Through this words Vero
expressed the deep sense of empathy. Vero, Tomasita and Alicia have many experiences in
common. Those similarities built a sense of compañerismo. But that sense it is also built
around their differences. It is through those differences that they grow a sense of empathy
towards each other. They all know that Alicia is always busy with all her activities and they
are empáticas of her schedule. They all know that Tomasita faces like as a single mother with
two teenagers, and low income, and they all put themselves in Tomasita’s shoes. Alicia

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constantly reflected on how her students had faced tough circumstances, even harder that the
ones she had faced.
Vero eloquently explained what it means to be committed to study.
La disponibilidad del tiempo.

Eso es lo que a mí se me ha complicado más.
pues soy esposa,
madre,
el trabajo que hace la ama de casa,
y todo.

El estudio tiene que ser por las noches.
Después de terminar con el trabajo del día,
y todo el cansancio,
aun así hay que estarle dando.

El tiempo para dedicarle a mis estudios,
es lo que me hace falta.

Yo casi siempre en las noches,
después de todo el trabajo del día,
es cuando yo agarro mis apuntes,
y me pongo a estudiar.

I rendered the translation as follows:

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Time availability.

That is what is more complicated to me,
because I am wife,
mother,
the work a housewife does,
and all.

Study time has to be at night times.
After finishing the work of the day,
feeling all that tiredness,
even then we have to keep getting at it,

Time to devote to my study,
that is what I need.

Usually, I study at night,
after all work during the day,
it is then that I grab my notes,
and I get to study.
As I read Vero, I felt time slipping off my hands. Vero takes on her quehaceres
moving clockwise. One activity after another, aware that the day is passing. Tackling
laboriously one task at a time. Taking on different hats as a mother, wife, worker, friend, and
student. If I imagine those activities, commitments, and tasks, I can start feeling the

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commitment as she grabs her notes at the end of the day. This interview opened my eyes to
the commitments Tomasita, Alicia, and Vero had demonstrated, and that I had witnessed over
three summers. I headed out of Vero’s house. I rode another mototaxi to the town’s Plaza. On
that Saturday evening I had some time to pause and reflect on Vero’s words. It was an active
evening since a lot people were back in town for the weekend. Light, music, street vendors
were all over the Plaza. I headed to the town’s Plaza to try the hamburgers Tomasita had told
me about earlier.

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Pedagogy with Vero
The summers that I visited Agua Clara, I came to know Vero as an inseparable
compañera of Tomasita and Alicia. Her perspective helped me realize how they had
developed a sense of familia over time. One of the most inspiring moments from getting to
know Vero was the opportunity to hear about what sustained the group over time. They had
made their study group familia. She did not mean this in romanticized way. It did not mean
they abandoned their families to form a new one. It meant they had a set of principles, and
practices that sustained them.
It was also very inspiring that, because they treated each other as familia, their study
sessions blended conversations that could happen at a family gathering with their
conversations about school, and conversations about school subjects. Oftentimes to study
school subjects was in fact a conversation. References to contents they had studied blended
with their daily conversations.
Vero depicted their study group ethos in several vivid images that I have shared
above. Those images capture two broad actions, being attentive to urgent need, and working
with a group mindset. Their study session could stop anytime to help someone who was
lagging behind; there was no blaming on the person for making everybody stop. The effects
of those actions were very tangible; 40 people started Preparatoria Abierta and only three of
them-- Tomasita, Vero, and Alicia--had continued and in 2015 were very close to finishing.
It was also very refreshing to see a place where competition was completely out of the
picture. Vero had talked about how at the beginning of Preparatoria Abierta she had the backto-school feeling. However, as they continued they felt more comfortable to be themselves.
As students dropped out of the program they brought more of their personal lives into their
classroom. Even though this program gives grades and is organized around passing the tests,
there was no slight indication of competition. On the contrary, they had sustained their group

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on mutual respect, generosity, and support.
Studying for the test had some washback in their study group. Oftentimes they felt
frustrated about the test, and focused on the study guides. However, their study did not end
up there. While trying to figure out concepts, ideas, exercises, they did not hesitate to look
around and look at their realities through those concepts. A vivid example was when I heard
them talk about the major of the town by referring to Machiavelli.
Laughing mishaps off is also a key part of their study group. Galván (2014)
encountered similar attitudes with a group of rural women in México, in Galvan’s study
women called themselves mujeres desjuiciadas. Galván (2014. p. 605) translates this literally
as “lacking sense, reason or sanity.” However, this expression reveals something about their
characters beyond the literal translation. She further explains that “This fusion of dedication
and impulse, una inquietud, is what inspires women of these rural communities to act upon
their community’s problems.” In my experiences in Plaza Comunitaria, Tomasita, Vero and
Alicia laughed off their mishaps as they were making things happen.
This group effort once more made reflect on the concept of historical reason. Ortega y
Gasset does not make the mass or the individual the center of his understanding of history,
but an interaction of both in which everything starts from the radical realities of the
individual. This perspective does not separate heroes from the masses. His notion of
historical reason posits that our experiences are not lonely experiences isolated from the
mass. We live those experiences with other people, our encounter with our circumstances. I
see in Vero an enactment of Ortega’s notion of historical reason. Vero explains the
circumstances of her life, and the circumstances of studying on top of all her responsibilities.
However, through her creencias and vivencias she builds along with her compañeras over
time, a familia de estudio. In this process, the individual and the group are fused together, or
in Ortega y Gasset’s words “historical life is convivencia (2004).

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Villenas (2005), drawing from literature that addresses the interactions of Latinos and
education captures the importance of convivencia:
Latinas manage to ‘mother,’ to teach and learn, to know, and to inscribe their words in
the world within/against the all too often dehumanizing relations in the larger society.
The technologies that emerge -sobrevivencia, spirituality, and humor casero (humor
of the space home) to name a few- spur innovation, improvisation, and cultural
production, enabling dynamic communal pedagogies of personal and social
transformation.(p. 275)
Vero illustrated this interaction between the personal and the social towards transformation.
This transformation is possible when their familia ethos overwrote individualism, when they
did not hesitate to act from their generosity, and when their ways of conceptualizing study
took any remnant of competition out of the picture.

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CHAPTER SEVEN
De-limitations
I have often confronted the question: How does this study connect to my work as a
language educator? I have resorted to answering it in a way that feels artificial: “Those
applications are not the primary goal of this study." I reply with my acquired polite academic
manners. After further reflection at the close of this study, I have been able to elaborate: “I
intend to move readers more than give them prescriptions.” My elaboration to the answer has
been tricky as well because still does not explain why I find the question problematic. Adding
to that, I am not convinced that it is epistemologically possible, or even ethical, to abstract a
certain episteme from this experience and then inject that into another educational setting
with the intention of norming it. Particularly, considering what Ortega y Gasset eloquently
expressed in En torno a Galileo: the substance of life is movement. If I attempt to capture life
as I capture objects, that which I call life slips off my hands; stops being “spontaneous life” to
become a “purified object” to put it in Ortega’s terms in Meditaciones del Quijote. I read that
often-confronted question ethically: Why should I norm other classrooms based on what I
learned in this classroom? However, given that I am the common denominator between those
classrooms, I imagine a different way of posing it: Can I be transformed through this inquiry
in such a way that this transformation reverberates in other classrooms where I participate,
whether as teacher or student? If I face my conundrum through my re-interpretation of the
question, in a broader sense, the task at hand is one of possibilities. Through the second
question, I find myself more inclined to suggest what is next because possibilities suggest,
outline, and prompt imagination. And there is something about prompting imagination that is
more compelling than my first artificial answers.
In this final chapter I have two intentions that allude to the title of the chapter “delimitations.” The prefix de is used to invert the meaning of a word. As examples of it I take

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the words construct and deconstruct. By separating the prefix from the word “limitations” I
can invert its meaning. In that sense, it would stop being about setting limits. This in turn,
prompts me talk about possibility. I also read this title as one word: “delimitation.” In that
case the prefix de brings another possible meaning, that of reducing, similar to demarcating
or the not so happy word deforestation. Following the second sense of the prefix de in
delimitation, this chapter refers to the exercise of making explicit my values, epistemology
and my practices as they emerged in the making of this research project. By naming it, I can
establish some boundaries to the issues I do not want to address, or I that want to approach
differently.
Early in my research project I encountered two sources of inquiry that seemed to be in
opposition to each other that is fieldwork and philosophical work. It would not be until later
that I would start making connections between these two apparently opposed camps. One of
those aspects of my research that became more explicit are the fields that are involved in my
work. I want to echo the words of Hansen, Wozniak, & Diego (2014) explaining how their
project fused fieldwork and philosophical reflection: “Anthropological and educational
imagination in the project derives inductively from a kaleidoscope of actual human voices
and acts” (pp. 161-162). In my research, one of those voices is also mine. I came to the
realization that I also needed to look at myself in the process of inquiry. I proceed now to
explain what has happened to me in the process, while the reader can imagine other
possibilities. I will let the reader be, if desired, the common denominator between this text
and other possible situations.
What I Learned as a Researcher: Nomenclatura
I learned through this research the process of naming. Thinking about this evokes in
my mind that mythical time in Macondo when things had no names. That process of naming
emerged when I asked the question: can I read the words of the women of Plaza Comunitaria

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as poetry? At first, I had the sense I could, but I had no words to explain it. I then wondered
what is the difference between the language of a poet who uses metaphorical language to
express ideas, and the scholar who relies on a certain form of language to express the
concepts, arguments, ideas? While I cannot solve that issue, I see how some of those
processes at times overlap. It was by learning about the overlaps between the poetic
imagination and research that would prove to be a fruitful space for making my ideas more
explicit.
The awareness that the recorded words of women of Plaza Comunitaria could be
studied through poetic lens became possible in the summer of 2016. I was reading the
transcripts again. I perceived a certain beauty in the words of the women of Plaza
Comunitaria. They evoked images, used metaphors, themes appeared repeatedly as if they
were intentionally highlighting some issues. I could not explain what that meant. Fue una
experiencia inquietante. I did not know how to react. Through multiple conversations, I
found scholars who have experienced the same issues. Different names appeared, poetic
inquiry (Pendergast, Lego & Shameshina, 2009), ethnopoetics (Hymes, 1994; Blommaert,
2006), the poetics of everyday conversation (Tannen, 2007). This is a process of articulation.
Once this articulation was done, then it became possible to bring language from the poetry
and literary analysis to speak to those experiences. I can now say that the patterns of
repetition I observed are artistic because of their ability to condense a story and communicate
effectively, conveying a sense of beauty and enhancing creativity.
I learned to look at the assumptions behind what I say and do. Taking those apart and
putting them back together, disassembling and reassembling those ideas. Through this
process, I learned to explain my decisions, and gained the courage to stand by them. I found
ways to express my ideas and perspectives in intellectually persuasive terms. This process, in
the nomenclature of streets, allowed me to chart certain geographies on my ideas, that in turn,

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let me make more connections. Making connections between old and new parts of the text,
recombining and rephrasing became a generative thinking process of articulation, which
makes me think of the original meaning of articulation: a connecting point, a joint. This
process also made me more conscious of the limitations of my experience and the
incommensurability of reality.
I discovered the possibilities for the ethics of research beyond standard research
ethical procedures. Plaza Comunitaria taught me how to elaborate a pedagogy starting from
the people. I don’t claim this as my novel idea. Education scholars have theorized culturally
relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), funds of knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll, Tenery, &
Rivera, 1995; Gonzalez, & Moll, 2002) decolonial education in indigenous contexts
(Absolon, 2011; Tanaka, 2016), and literacies in spaces outside of school (Bernal, 2001;
Majors, 2016), and how cultural resources can inform pedagogies (Espinoza-Herold, 2007).
Those ideas frame the participation of researcher and educators in ways that are sensible with
the communities where research takes place. In my case and research, an array of concepts
would be fleshed out with the stories of Plaza Comunitaria: familia, respeto, convivir,
compañerismo, vivencia, jalar parejo, nadie se ahoga sola. In my vivencia of the iterative
process of research I found out that I can encounter an educational phenomenon and build my
inquiry starting from that research encounter.
What I Learned about Being an Educator
As an educator, I am now more articulate in questioning my assumptions. I am now
looking for ways to expand my pedagogy by bringing vital aspects into it. As an example I
find the words of Granell (1960), a disciple of Ortega y Gasset, helpful. He said that Ortega y
Gasset had three main pedagogical moves: seducir, inquietar, asombrar.
Inquietar, in Ortega y Gasset’s pedagogy, according to Granell means the educators’
main purpose is not teaching a subject matter per se. The educator shows the need of the

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subject of study in the life of the student. The student then stops, ponders, and discovers.
When students can make the connection between their life and what is studied learning
becomes a vital experience. Educators work consist in generating this environment. In my
case, I did not act as an educator in Plaza Comunitaria. When I arrived at Plaza Comunitaria,
I found that Tomasita, Vero y Alicia had already found their “need” or in other words, they
were already making connections between what they studied and their own lives. They were
already mentes inquietas. But since the work of their mind was not separate from the work of
their lives I will translate that expression as lives full of curiosity.
I learned to pay attention. I started looking more carefully into their words, observing
their actions, listening to their stories and visions, as everything was happening. Being
present meant to attend to the movement. It prepared me to gather materials to construct
pedagogies. Those actions tie back to one of Gasset’s arguments that educators use
anachronistic pedagogies, distant in time, distant from the people, and distant from us,
educators. He finds disturbing that educators do not develop their own pedagogies, and that
they end up using ideas far from them. I had heard that pedagogy can emerge, but I had not
experienced how. The words and experiences of women of Plaza Comunitaria are still
informing my thinking. The time I spent thinking though the data, I learned how generative
the words of Plaza Comunitaria scholars were, in conversations, helping people reflect on
themselves. As an educator, I learned to be more open perceptually to the strengths of
students. I learned to stop and listen, before making conclusions.
Students of Spanish read these poems attentively in courses I taught with students of
Arts and Humanities. Through those poems, they asked questions about the adult education
programs, noticed the relational nature of learning in the context of Plaza Comunitaria in
contrast to how they have experienced school. They translated words, and lines and complete
stanzas to make better sense of their reading. It is in the contexts of those readings that one of

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the students asked me about Vero’s use of tenemos formado una familia. The discussion we
had then prompted me to look for ways to explain this, and make sense of it. I can see the
content of this dissertation interacting with my work as language educator.
Furthermore, those poems served as a window into experiences of Spanish speakers
that can transform the foreign language classroom into a more human experience. They can
take the foreignness out of Foreign Language pedagogies. I read those poems as lively texts
that capture spontaneous life. In my own experiences during my analysis, reading “found
poetry” has sparked good conversations about different speech communities in Spanish, and
the effects of standardizing Spanish. Because women of Plaza Comunitaria do use Spanish
creatively and within a context of generosity, I learned to challenge the notions that we need
to learn a language for domination and outcompeting others. In sum, as learners of a foreign
language, we can experience foreignness in a more human way.
What I Learned from Plaza Comunitaria
I want to start my closing section with a final story: The generosity of my hosts. The
summer of 2013 I had attempted to find lodging in Agua Clara and failed. The annual
celebration in honor of the Patron Saint gathers many people in Agua Clara. People return to
their hometown for these celebrations. Alicia and I asked around town, we could not find
available rooms. Alicia and Roberto did not hesitate to invite to stay at their house. Later, I
learned that Roberto asked his brother (a construction worker) to put cement on the next-door
room. Roberto moved his sewing machine to free up space in the living room, where I stayed.
At the time it was the most finished room in their house. Multiple times, I offered to
contribute with the costs of accommodations and for the times they provided meals. They
refused to accept it. They never accepted any money, and reluctantly accepted the groceries I
bought for them.
From the beginning, I was the person on the receiving end of help. However, I was

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the person doing research, and I could have ignored this moment as a tangential event to what
I was interested in learning. Experiences like this prompted me to see myself and reflect on
what I had to learn from those experiences. I considered a crucial move since often times
adult education program operate within a development logic that ignores the human
relationship dimensions (Bartlett, 2007). I was also glad to find that there were similar
research experiences to mine. In a study of rural literacies of resistance Meyers (20111, p.
859) explains that a Reflexive Critical Ethnography is “an ethnographic field study that
requires the researcher to constantly (re)consider her own assumptions and actions.” This
considering and reconsidering became key in the process of thinking about research, and the
stories that I had told many times started to create new meanings.
I want to end up with more questions. I am particularly interested in learning about
what it means for indigenous students to take on learning in their own terms. if I think of
Tomasita who is interested in many subjects, what does it mean for her to engage with
Physics and Mathematics and English in her own terms? What does it mean to think about
them as scientists or scholars in their own terms? To use some of Biesta’s (2012)
terminology, instead of transferring academic language onto marginalized students for
empowerment, what would academic language look like if each student studied in their own
terms (emancipation)? What are the research possibilities of daily life talk and conversation
for comprehending the relationship between indigenous students and knowledge? For the
purposes of this study, I focused on the various recollections of vivencias women expressed
and that I also lived in Agua Clara. I believe this is a space for more research in which
researchers can look at themselves and bring what they learn to their own communities, not
as a curious object of study, but as seeds for transforming our own places.
I came to appreciate people of La Plaza for their unwavering commitment to learning.
Women used different spaces to engage communally and pursue their educational goals.

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Women in Plaza Comunitaria were very different from each other in their educational
experiences, age, marital status, and religious affiliations. Despite what made them different,
they organized themselves and brought their ethics to Plaza Comunitaria and Preparatoria
Abierta. They continually faced new challenges hindering their educational goals. They took
on those challenges as a faena through their quehaceres. During my last visit in the summer
of 2015, I learned the women of the study group were excited to being so close to finishing
high school. I later learned that Vero, Tomasita and Alicia had obtained their high school
diploma. That made me think of one of the last conversations when they expressed wanting to
obtain a Licenciatura [Bachelor's degree].
My reflections of the Alicia, Tomasita, and Vero’s vivencias enlighten my
understanding of convivencia as pedagogy. In a pedagogy of convivencia there is a strong
desire to learn together nourished by their generosity. Many times, women asserted:
“maestro, en lo que pueda ayudarle” [teacher, I am happy to do anything to help out]. This
assertion holds true for their peers as well. Thanks to my friends in Plaza Comunitaria of
Agua Clara, I came to encounter adult education as a decolonial undertaking, and how
attention to ethics and life dimensions can help me decolonize my own assumptions and
practices. I am deeply indebted to them for their generosity, without them this project would
not have taken off.

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