Bailando Historias: Abuelita Epistemologies and Cultural Resistance in Education

Abstract

Background or Context:

In many schools in the United States, students from Latinx backgrounds, cultural knowledge, and histories remain marginalized within standardized curricula. Schools reinforce dominant Eurocentric narratives that erase intergenerational ways of knowing. In this article, I explore the role of abuelita epistemologies—the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, storytelling, and cultural traditions—as a tool for cultural resistance in education through baile folklórico.

Purpose and Research Questions:

This study centers abuelitas as knowledge keepers and cultural educators. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How does the integration of abuelita epistemologies within folklórico create opportunities for students to engage as co-creators of knowledge and develop critical literacies that challenge dominant school structures and pedagogies? (2) How do abuelitas’ teachings shape students’ understanding of culture, history, and identity? (3) In what ways does the integration of abuelita epistemologies challenge dominant school structures and pedagogies?

Research Design:

This study took place in an after-school pre-kindergarten through third-grade baile folklórico program at a Central Texas Title I school. Through testimonios, participatory observations, and reflections, this study explores how teachers, abuelitas, and students collectively engage in meaning-making through dance, oral histories, and embodied learning.

Results and Conclusions:

Findings demonstrate how students engage in the intergenerational exchange of knowledge transmission as critical literacy, drawing on authentic cariño and the politics of care in cultural education, and constructing counter-narratives through movement and storytelling. The presence of abuelitas in the school fosters authentic cariño, cultivating an intergenerational learning environment where students not only learn dance steps but also deepen their historical consciousness and sense of identity. It argues for an expanded definition of literacy, one that recognizes oral traditions, embodied practices, and relational knowledge as legitimate forms of meaning-making. By positioning baile folklórico as more than an extracurricular activity, this study advocates for its recognition as a transformative educational practice that fosters critical consciousness, historical reclamation, and community-engaged learning.