Minoritized language education and youths' aspirations in a multilingual region

Many youth in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, are more comfortable speaking Spanish than they are speaking Isthmus Zapotec, the Indigenous Mesoamerican language which their grandparents prefer to speak. Language shift has been fueled by education policy which has excluded Indigenous languages and cultures in Mexico. However, in recent years there have been an increasing number of initiatives and policies which promote Indigenous languages and intercultural education (López Gopar, 2007).

In this paper I explore whether, and how, recent Isthmus Zapotec education initiatives support the aspirations of youth growing up in a multilingual and increasingly globalized region. I draw on ethnographic research in Isthmus Zapotec education settings conducted between 2013 and 2017, as well as interviews with young adults who choose to participate in these settings. Using narrative analysis of interviews I discuss the insecurity that many young speakers and learners of Isthmus Zapotec experience, and the aspirations that they have as emerging multilinguals.

I further analyze how interactions in the classroom have the potential to serve as a space in which youth acquire greater authority and confidence as Isthmus Zapotec speakers, or in which their insecurities are reinforced. In conclusion, I highlight practical and ideological challenges which impede Isthmus Zapotec youth from achieving their aspirations of multilingualism, and which may be relevant in other settings of minoritized language education.

Reference

López Gopar, M. E. (2007). El Alfabeto Marginante en la Educación Indígena: El Potencial de las Multilectoescrituras. Lectura Y Vida, September, 48–57.