“Somos El Sur”: Mapping the collective experiences and dreams and of Latinx/é teachers across the U.S. South

Timothy Monreal

This research project uses semi-structured interviews, freedom dreaming maps, and group pláticas to examine and center the knowledges and narratives of Latinx K-12 public school teachers across the “Lower” or “Deep” United States South. The project aims to both identify the strengths and assets Latinx teachers may bring to the classroom as well as identify barriers to increasing Latinx teacher representation across the region. Such research is crucial because the Latinx student population continues to rise across the U.S. South, but most states in the region have an Latinx teaching force of between 1-4% (Lindsay et al., 2017). This project is significant to education, and educational research, because even as scholars, community activists, and practitioners (see Guerra & Rodriguez, 2022; Maxwell, 2016; Monreal, 2022a; Roth & Grace, 2015) attest to the need for increasing Latinx teachers in this quickly diversifying region, there is a dearth of research the centers the collective experiences of Latinx teachers in this part of the U.S. South (Colomer, 2019; Salas & Portes, 2017).

About Timothy Monreal

Tim is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at The University at Buffalo, SUNY. Tim earned his PhD in Foundations of Education at the University of South Carolina in 2020. Tim embraces an interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching. His research broadly asks how (self) knowledge about Latinx is created and reproduced (in schools). More specifically, he is interested in the intersection of space/place on Latinx teacher identity and subjectivity, and the teaching of Latinx history and content in social studies education. Tim increasingly uses (and develops) post-structural, post-humanist, and spatial theories and method(ologies) to understand and nuance these concepts. His work has appeared in journals such as Race, Ethnicity, and Education, Educational Studies, Latino Studies, Educational Policy, Urban Review, and Journal of Latinos and Education. He is the recipient of the AERA's Latino/a/x Research Issues SIG Best Dissertation award, a Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, a Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Fellowship, and the 2018 Doctoral Student of the Year in Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina. He is a research fellow with the Latinx Research Center at Santa Clara University and the Communication Director for the American Education Studies Association. He was previously a middle school teacher for 11 years, proudly born and raised in the Central Valley of California, and the eldest of 9 Monrealitos. He is now a dad to three girls.