Culturally Relevant Care Through the Lens of Duoethnography

Authors

Jacqueline B. Koonce, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Karin A. Lewis, University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Abstract

Our study endeavors to explore how culturally relevant care manifests in our teaching at a predominantly Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Through duoethnography and collaborative interpretation of narrative data from our former students, we seek to better understand our own and our students’ learning experiences. Collecting our own and our students’ perspectives and stories about lived experiences with us as professors in narrative form allows for us and our respondents to reflect and express freely--to share views, impressions, interpretations, and experiences in our/their own words. Analysis of narrative reflections provides an opportunity to craft a story, to give voice to those living within the intersection of race, ethnicity, and cross-cultural teaching–learning relationships at a predominantly Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Findings intend to illuminate personal epistemologies (Hofer & Bendixen, 2012) and dispositions for transcending cultural, racial, and linguistic boundaries in higher education, thus providing a multifaceted collective story of cultivating care in cross-cultural teaching–learning relationships.

Keywords

Culturally Relevant Care, Critical Race Theory, Latinx Students, Duoethnography

Author Bio(s)

Jacqueline B. Koonce is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bilingual and Literacy Studies at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Koonce’s work has appeared in the International Journal of Multicultural Education, The Qualitative Report, the Journal of Literacy and Technology, Annual Editions: Multicultural Education, 17^th Edition; Journal of Language & Literacy Education; and the Language Arts Journal of Michigan. Her current research focuses on early literacy development and the impact of caring on all students, but particularly, students of color. She is also studying African American women’s language and literacy practices. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: BMain 2.110; Department of Bilingual and Literacy Studies; UTRGV; One West University Boulevard; Brownsville, Texas 78520; USA. E-mail: jacqueline.koonce@utrgv.edu.

Karin Ann Lewis is an associate professor in The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Teaching & Learning Department. Following a 27-year teaching career in public education, she received a Ph.D. in Educational and Counseling Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2010. Dr. Lewis teaches undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in cognition, learning, human development, curriculum and pedagogy. Dr. Lewis’s scholarly focus takes on complexities of identity and agency from a social justice perspective meant to challenge the status quo and open up transdisciplinary discourses by seeking ways to transcend the current educational paradigm through transformative, culturally responsive pedagogy. Her scholarship is grounded in qualitative, collaborative, collective ethnographic methodologies. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: BMain 1504A; Department of Teaching and Learning; One West University Boulevard; Brownsville, Texas 78520; USA. E-mail: karin.lewis@utrgv.edu.

Publication Date

6-27-2020

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2020.4489

Recommended APA Citation

Koonce, J. B., & Lewis, K. A. (2020). Culturally Relevant Care Through the Lens of Duoethnography. The Qualitative Report, 25(6), 1721-1735. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2020.4489