Working En Comunidad: Service-Learning and Community Engagement with U.S. Latinas/Os/Es

Working in community is critical to several fields. Working en comunidad focuses on service-learning and Latina/o/e communities within a variety of institutional contexts. It provides a practical framework grounded in theoretical approaches that center Latina/o/e experiences as foundational to understanding how to prepare students to work in the community and en comunidad.

The volume tackles three major themes: ethical approaches to working with Latina/o/e communities within language courses and beyond; preparing Latina/o/e students for working with their own communities in different environments; and ensuring equitable practices and building relationships that are mutually beneficial for students and community members. The editors forward two central arguments: (1) Equitable community engagement in higher education is a reflective and reciprocal process that develops empathy and personal and professional growth in students; and (2) service-learning is most transformative when it explicitly guides students and the community to build cultural humility and recognize Latina/o/e experiences and agency as foundational to the learning process.

Many of the contributors and editors are Latina/o/e-identified scholars, practitioners, and researchers, who lend a rich body of experience and a personal dedication to this work. They present distinct approaches and geographies, as well as range of institutions, to offer a wide scope of engaged work that builds on the concept of comunidad to advance a critical new conceptual framework of equitable education and racial justice.

Contributors
Stacey Alex
Elena Foulis
Christina García
Catherine Komisaruk
Kelly Lowther Pereira
Glenn Martínez
María Luisa Parra-Velasco

Elena Foulis is an assistant professor and program director of Spanish Language Studies at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and director of the oral history project Oral Narratives of Latin@s in Ohio since 2014.

Stacey Alex is an assistant professor of Spanish at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, the co-author of a Mi idioma, mi comunidad: Español para bilingües, and a researcher who examines how undocumented Latina/o/e communities create a sense of belonging through cultural and narrative resistance.

Glenn Martínez is a professor of Spanish, bilingual/bicultural studies, and public health, and the dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio.