Zaynab Amelia Gates

ZAYNAB GATES, then a graduate student at University of California – San Diego, La Jolla, California, was awarded a grant in April 2022 to aid research “Writing Our Futures: Cultivating Biliteracy Practices with and by Pre-Service Indigenous Teachers,” supervised by Dr. Alison Wishard Guerra. To identify biliteracy practices employed in two Indigenous teacher education programs in Northern Argentina the grantee conducted storytelling interviews and classroom observations. The interviews elicited personal stories which showed the interplay between grief, resilience, and hope. Indigenous teacher educators related a process of re-discovering their language, cultural knowledge, and pedagogical skills which nurtured their desire to become teachers. Based on their experiences, Indigenous language classes were constituted as spaces to retell the younger generations what Qom and Wichi peoples believed, and how the members of these communities acted, established relationships among themselves, the community, and Nature. Funding allowed the grantee to invite two Indigenous professionals to collaborate as part of the research team. They met several times to discuss the research goals, train themselves in the research instruments, but most importantly to reflect and discuss what the conversations and observations were making them think about. Understanding of the data collected was enhanced by discussions and sharing of possible interpretations about the research work and how it is being perceived by the participants, how these bonds are enveloped in longer relationships, sometimes inter-generational and other times across geography.