Más allá del fútbol : Teaching Highland Afro-Ecuadorian Culture and Engaging Race and Racism through Documentary Film

Abstract

This study presents strategies for teaching highland Afro-Ecuadorian culture and for broaching the topic of race and racism through the documentary film Más allá del fútbol . Produced in 2008 by the author, this film explores afrochoteño identity and culture as well as the issues of race and racism in Ecuador through a discussion of bomba , a genre of song and dance. The film’s narrative and discourse speaks to the current afrochoteño struggle for social equity and also indexes recent shifts in perceptions and representations of national and ethnic identity in Ecuador. As such, Más allá del fútbol provides educators an opportunity to go beyond grammatical structures and to address not only Afro-Ecuadorian history and culture, but also relevant social, cultural, and political issues. The instructional strategies presented therefore attend to the film’s context, content, and discourse through a variety of critical and reflexive assignments and activities, including readings, viewing guides, journaling, songwriting, dance, and discussion. These activities allow students to reflect on the epistemological value of such oral and embodied traditions as music and dance. Taught in this way, Más allá del fútbol advances the goals of translingual and transcultural competence.

The presence and absence of race in world language education literature

“…Similar efforts followed for multiple languages: French (e.g., Gross, 2007; Murphy, 2015); German (e.g., Chen, 2022; Divers, 1995; Nenno, 2019; Putnam, 2008; Schenker & Munro, 2016; Uca et al, 2022; Willeke, 2001); Latin (e.g., Kennedy, 2022; Masciantonio, 1977); and Spanish (e.g., Granda, 2021; Rogers, 2006; Watson, 2013). These articles presented lessons that engaged students with race as a theme in authentic texts such as film (e.g., Libbon, 2008; Ruggiero, 2015), classical and contemporary music (e.g., Howards, 2014; Sosulski, 2013), and canonical literature (e.g., Frackman, 2011; Hopkins, 1992). Including race as a topic in WL learning can help contest the norms of whiteness embedded in WL education.…”

African Americans in World Language Study: The Forged Path and Future Directions

“…Equatorial Guinea is a Hispanophone African country, and there are large black populations in Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. We have simply made choices in many K-12 and postsecondary Spanish language programs not to represent Afro-descendants as principal or even relevant cultural agents of the target language-speaking communities, and certainly, we can improve (see Abreu, 2016; Dahl, 2000; Kennedy, 1987; Moeller & Ashcraft, 1997; Ruggiero, 2015; Watson, 2013 for ideas in diversifying instruction; and Anya & Randolph, 2019 for diversifying learners and educators).…”

History, violence and collective memory: Implications for mental health in Ecuador

“…Arte.g. graphic art and hip-hop in North America (Crawford, 2014;Sheffield, 2004); multimedia-exhibits in Korea (Liem, 2007); films in Argentina (Peller, 2009) or in Ecuador (Ruggiero, 2015); and murals in Northern Ireland (McDermott, Nic Craith, & Strani, 2015); IV. Commemorative expressions in traditional and online media platforms -e.g.…”

“…work with African migrants in Italy, which aims at linking individual suffering with history and culture (Beneduce, 2016); workshops, e.g., the Latin American tradition of “liberation” community psychology, which aims at unmasking ideological mechanisms and recovering historical memory (Chauca-Sabroso & Fuentes-Polar, 2013), sociodramatic approaches (Bello, 2004); art, e.g. graphic art and hip-hop in North America (Crawford, 2014; Sheffield, 2004), multimedia-exhibits in Korea (Liem, 2007), films in Argentina (Peller, 2009) or in Ecuador (Ruggiero, 2015), and murals in Northern Ireland (McDermott, Nic Craith, & Strani, 2016); commemorative expressions in traditional and online media platforms. e.g.…”