Aspiring nepantleras: Conceptualizing social studies education from the rupture/la herida abierta

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article engages Gloria Anzaldúa’s concepts of nepantla and nepantleras as a conceptual framework for social studies classrooms that is attuned to the lived experiences of border-crossing—living in-between national, ethnic, racial, and gender worlds—and the grietas y rajaduras (cracks and ruptures) of dominant narratives of colonialism, whiteness, and heteropatriarchy. Nepantleras, those who live, breathe, and challenge the antagonization of people through imposed borders, drive such cracks and ruptures by resisting assimilation and by centering already existing possible worlds. In critically examining social studies education—classroom, field, and educator—through a lens of nepantla, we conceptualize aspiring nepantleras as our scholarship horizon—the place we navigate toward where we center the undeniable grietas in dominant narratives made visible by the presence of nepantleras in the social studies classroom, as well as the scholarly field. Such work is essential to healing and to the formation of healthy communities that care for and embrace all students.