ERIC Number: EJ1188986
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2377-9187
EISSN: N/A
"Too Much Cream on the Tacos": Narrative and Moral Personhood in "Transfronterizo" Experience
O'Connor, Brendan H.
Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, v12 n2 p153-181 2018
Building on prior analyses of storytelling in migrant and transnational contexts (e.g. Baynham, 2014; De Fina, 2003; Haviland, 2005; Warriner, 2013), this article draws on research with "transfronterizo" (border-crossing) university students in South Texas to explore how transnational speakers use narrative to craft moral arguments in trying times. The article focuses on a single, lengthy narrative from a "transfronteriza" undergraduate named Araís in order to demonstrate how her narrative practice contributes to her "ideological becoming" (Bakhtin, 1981). That is, the analysis shows that the structural, textual, and dialogic features of Araís's narrative are connected both to her emergent, dialogic understanding of her self and to value projects, or efforts to (re)shape the social world, implied in her narrative (Agha, 2015). The analysis illuminates the ethical affordances of "transfronterizo" narrative--i.e., the opportunities that storytelling offered "transfronterizo" students to evaluate their own and others' actions in moral terms. Based on this analysis, I suggest implications for our understanding of narrative and moral personhood among "transfronterizo" students and other migrant and transnational subjects.
Descriptors: Story Telling, Moral Values, College Students, Mexican Americans, Immigrants, Foreign Countries, Cultural Differences, Persuasive Discourse, Spanish Speaking, Ideology, Identification (Psychology)
Association of Mexican American Educators. 634 South Spring Street Suite 908, Los Angeles, CA 90014. Tel: 310-251-6306; Fax: 310-538-4976; e-mail: executivedirector@amae.org; Web site: http://amaejournal.utsa.edu/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas; Mexico
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A