Hola amigos, I wanted to share my excitement with all of you. Our new Resources page is a gold mine of information. I recently looked through the UC Links Readings and am inspired by all of you and your work in communities and universities. I found and particularly enjoyed a review of Marjorie Orellana’s book, Immigrant children in transcultural spaces: Language, learning, and love The article provided an overview of Marjorie’s work and furthered my interest in Freire’s theories and perspectives, such as the pedagogy of love (Orellana, 2015). I’m wondering, if we are meant to humanize learning in an ongoing process of self-exploration then isn’t it our duty, as educators, to intentionally choose to value and present love onto our students and into the pedagogical process? How can we do this without hesitation?
I am also fascinated by Cuban Scholars Lidia Turner Martí and Balbina Pita Céspedes notion of “la pedagogía de la ternura,” which is based on the “centering of affection and human relations in education” (Trigos-Carillo, Bonney, and Dorner, 2018, p. 6). I look forward to expanding my knowledge on the work of these scholars, as well as Marjorie and her colleagues.
Once, again thank you for all of your efforts. I appreciate your past, present and future work. I look forward to dialogue and expanding my knowledge on the programs, activities, and communities that are part of this network. How wonderful to be a part of something that is most needed in our world today!