| My inquiry seeks to understand the life experience and agency of Latina/o immigrant adult workers who participate in community based workers centers and how curriculum based on culturally responsive language practice can foster dialogue and voice, realigning power/knowledge, leading to worker praxis. I planned and implemented a total of nine informal, conversational learning sessions called charlas in Spanish. Francisco Montalvo, Jr. and I held three charla sessions at each of Latino Union of Chicago, ARISE Chicago, and San Lucas Workers Center (UIC IRB 2006-0809).;I provided evidence, through sociolinguistic analysis, that participant outcomes show a range of supporting, questioning, and resisting social agency in the exchanges, highlighting ambiguity. Gramsci's goal of collective activity and solidarity was sometimes expressed and acted upon, and the element of power/knowledge described by Foucault seems present in most exchanges, primarily for the benefit of the individuals expressing their views on action. Baktin's notion of voice was clear as an important element of the evaluation of praxis. The charlas presented here show that workers' center participants are making meaning related to their action, and that solidarity, trust, and funds of knowledge can, in some ways, be seen as a result of this curriculum activity. |
