Cómo están y'all?: Investigating the experiences and subject formation of K-12 Latinx teachers in the New Latino South

Timothy Monreal

The "New Latinx South" describes recent demographic shifts that make the United States South home to the fasting growing Latinx population in the country. To get an idea of this change, South Carolina where I work(ed) as a researcher, doctoral candidate, and middle school teacher, had a 172% increase in its Hispanic population from 2000-2014 (Stepler & Lopez, 2016). Despite the resulting increase of Latinx students in the South, K-12 Latinx teachers are severely underrepresented in Southern schools. For example, in South Carolina only 1% of all teachers identify as Hispanic. Yet while there are burgeoning, and separate, lines of research about the shifting demographics in the U.S South generally, as well a lack of teacher representation nationally, there remains a dearth of research on how these two phenomenons intersect. Therefore, the dissertation addresses this gap in our understanding by using a spatial-poststructual lens to qualitatively investigate the identity/subject formation of Latinx K-12 teachers in one Southern state, South Carolina. In order to examine teacher's micro-level experiences data was collected with interviews rooted in ecomapping and photovoice methods. Findings provide insight into the experiences and subject formation of Latinx teachers in South Carolina so that stakeholders might better recruit, retain, and support teachers in key areas of need. The research challenges both practitioners and academic researchers to think about how Latinx teachers are simultaneously made in, and are (re)making, the New Latinx/Nuevo South while also laying the foundation for further research about Latinx K-12 teachers in the South.

About Timothy Monreal

Timothy P. Monreal is a Ph.D. candidate in Foundations of Education at the University of South Carolina. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from U.C. Santa Barbara and an M.A. in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University. Tim has been a middle school teacher for the past 11 years, mostly in California and more recently in South Carolina. His research interests include the New Latinx/Nuevo South, Latinx teachers in the Southeast, social studies teaching, and teacher subjectivity. His dissertation investigates Latinx teacher identity/subject formation in the spaces of the Southeast. In addition to a number of book chapters, Tim's work has appeared in journals such as Educational Policy, Latino Studies, Current Issues in Comparative Education, Journal of Latinos and Education, and Middle Grades Review. Tim is active in the community working on the leadership team at SC United with Immigrants and as an organizer/area representative for South Carolina for Education (SCforED) in addition to many other committees and task forces. He works on the American Educational Studies Association Graduate Coalition, launching a podcast and peer-reviewed blog for the group. Tim was recognized with a 2019 University of South Carolina Stand Up Hero Award and received the 2018 Outstanding Doctoral Student in Educational Studies at University of South Carolina. Tim is the eldest of nine children and was raised in California's Central Valley. His proudest accomplishment is being dad to two little kiddos and husband to his wife, Liz. He enjoys baseball, running, and falling off ocean waves.