Description
Book SynopsisExplicit discussions of race and racial identity have traditionally been omitted from Spanish language education in the US – especially in curricula designed for imagined 'native' speakers of English. Consequences of this de-racialization of Spanish language learning include the perpetuation of institutional racisms and missed opportunities to build productive conversations about the ways race and power are enacted through language. Spanish So White is written specifically for secondary and post-secondary teachers who identify as White and second language learners of Spanish. It supports the development of language education that centers a racially dynamic Spanish-speaking world and challenges interpersonal and institutional forms of racism. Author Adam Schwartz shares stories of his own socialization into Whiteness and Spanish-English bilingualism. He invites readers into the work of reconciling privileges they too may share as White Spanish-language learners and teachers.
Additional resources for the book are available to download here: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/ssw/.
Trade ReviewAdam Schwartz offers a groundbreaking reflection on how Whiteness and White supremacy have shaped his experiences as a student and teacher of Spanish. Part critical autoethnography, part analysis of race and racism in Spanish language education, Spanish so White invites readers to engage with antiracist scholarship in examining their own practices and to participate in a much-needed rethinking of how Spanish is taught in US schools. * Jennifer Leeman, George Mason University, USA *
This is a groundbreaking contribution to our raciolinguistic understanding of Spanish and Spanish language education. Schwartz deftly outlines the weight of whiteness in language education and by doing so points us towards a new kind of Spanish language education. This book will be essential reading for sociolinguists, higher education and school administrators, and language teachers for years to come. * Glenn Martinez, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA *
This book brings to light how Spanish as taught in US classrooms is, despite the best of intentions, inextricably tied to the ways in which native Spanish speakers are racialized and stigmatized in America. Destined to be essential reading for language teachers and students, the analysis in Schwartz’s book is carried out with sensitivity, insight, humility and erudition, while packing punch after surprising punch. * Norma Mendoza-Denton, University of California at Los Angeles, USA *
The book is at the same time broadly applicable and highly specific [...] this is a comprehensive work that takes on countless difficult issues in serious yet sensitive ways. Schwartz ventures on an introspective journey in which he is completely forthcoming and vulnerable. He is setting the example for the reader. As the cliché goes, he is being the change he wants to see in the world. Whether White Spanish teachers will follow his lead is another question. For those of us who want to try, his approach—self-reflection, active listening, calling in, and radical love—is our best option.
* Benjamin Puterbaugh, University of South Florida, USA, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2023 *
As a Spanish teacher with nearly 50 years of teaching experience, I can definitively state that, in my classes on language and social justice, Adam Schwartz’s marvelous, deeply personal, and well researched text will be de rigueur for reading, analyzing, and understanding topics of language teaching, language usage, and linguicism in the US context.
* Thomas Stephens, Rutgers University, USA, Hispania, Volume 106, Number 4, December 2023 *
...one of the most unique, soulful L.A. memoirs I’ve read in years [...] Schwartz tracks his scholastic life with hilarious and touching photos and tales from elementary school to junior high [...] through helping students cope with COVID and Trump. The profe, an applied linguist whose specialty is Spanish language education in the U.S., argues that his journey to becoming an acolyte and advocate for the language of Cervantes is one anyone can take — and one that betters us all.
* Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 16, 2023 *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1. Nombre y fecha: First things first or 'Francisco', que en paz descanse (1993-1999)
Chapter 2. Sitting Down and Showing up: Guiding Principles and Non-Negotiables
Chapter 3. Conversations with Ourselves: Inheritances, Ideologies, Identities
Chapter 4. Conversations with Each Other: Whose Voices, Whose Wisdoms are We Showing up For?
Chapter 5. Conversations with Our Students: Care In, Care Out
Chapter 6. Conversations with Other White People, Including Family and Friends: From Socialization to Liberation
References
Index
