| This is a qualitative, collective case study designed to assess how students in a Latino/Latina Literature class begin to think dialectically about issues of social justice with a direct focus on the world around them. By using individual and focus group interviews, audio-recorded class discussions, pre/post questionnaires, and classroom artifacts, I attempted to ascertain how the students' thoughts and perceptions of Latinos/Latinas in this country changed over the course of the study. I introduced the students to both print and nonprint texts which, when presented through Marx's dialectical method, was intended to help them see social justice issues (e.g., racism, poverty, subjugation), more clearly and critically. Ultimately, my goal for the students was to begin to think in a more critical and dialectical manner and eventually move from a position of dialectical thought to a point of engagement in the fight for social justice.;After analysis, several important themes emerged from the data: stereotyping and invisibility in the media, immigration, the notion of power, racism and discrimination, education, anger and frustration, and questioning. By the end of Latino/Latina Literature, all of the students in the study were able to identify particular social justice issues, explain the historical context which framed the current debates (e.g., immigration reform), and articulate their opinions of the issues. Each student participant began to use social justice terminology, which I introduced and used frequently in class (e.g., equity), and these words became a part of the students' everyday vocabularies. Furthermore, by the completion of the study, the student participants began to realize that they had their own individual voices and could help transform societal issues in order to make the United States more equitable for all. |
