Collectively Building Bridges for First-Generation Working-Class Students: Pláticas Centering the Pedagogical Practices of Convivencia in El Puente Research Fellowship

Abstract

El Puente Research Fellowship is a transformative program that uses culturally relevant and reflective pedagogies, curriculum, and praxis for first-generation, working-class college students beyond the traditional classroom. Drawing on the Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies of plática and convivencia, we argue that the practice of convivencia facilitates a relational and collective learning environment that allows students to learn from one another, build relationships of authentic caring, and support one another academically and holistically. Through our plática, we illuminate the ways convivencia manifests in our pedagogical and curricular approaches. As a teaching framework, the implementation of convivencia in classes, research programs, and learning environments paves the way for new forms of teaching and learning that value and center collective and cultural learning practices from the home. We conclude with practical tools, strategies, and reformulations of classroom environments that can be applied in sociology classrooms and beyond.