Living and Co-constructing Liminal Pathways for Latinx Preservice Teachers

Abstract

Teacher preparation curriculums must consider the increasing multilingual student representation in our schooling systems. In Latin America, the publication of libros cartoneros reveals agentic movements toward democratizing uses of literacy through self-representation and social representation, disrupting power-laden assumptions about literacy. The process of creating libros cartoneros enabled preservice teachers to engage critical literacy practices in previously unthought ways as they flexibly and freely drew from their deep conceptual, cultural, and linguistic knowledge to create books constructed of recycled cardboard. The process constructed liminal, hybrid positions, and understandings within/for/by preservice teachers about what counts as literacy and holds social value.