"Latina Pedagogies of Care is the book our hearts and minds have been waiting for. Rooted in lived experiences of Latinas, testimonio, and ancestral wisdom, it offers a soulful yet incisive response to the deep wounds in our education system. With cariño as both method and meaning, this work dares to name the pain, bear witness to our communities, and offer strategies to rehumanize teaching from the inside out. Its not just a pedagogyits a lifeline for tired educators who refuse to give up on their students, their spirits, or themselves. I cant think of a more timely or vital offering for our fieldand for our collective healing and liberation."
Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Professor in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring
"The book Latina Pedagogies of Care is timely and relevant in todays pressure cooker classrooms where high-stakes assessment where teachers who are expected to do more with less has taken its toll on teachers as well as children. Chronic teacher burn-out and how to combat it has become a central issue for schools and districts. This book is beautifully and eloquently written from deep in los almas (the souls) of its two authors. It is rooted in the emotional issues that surround being a teacher who is Latina, and expected to take care of the academic, and social needs of children while rarely being advised to take care of herself. With emotion at its core, the book then generates a pedagogy about teaching (bi)literacy, but more importantly about how a pedagogy of cariño (care and nurturing) can help to re-energize and nurture the resolve in tired maestras (teachers) who are so critical to the future of our education system."
Kathy Escamilla, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder
"Through vivid vignettes, honest testimonios, and rich attention to the legacies of Latina/Chicana feminists, Rocio y Ale invite their readersespecially overworked and tired teacherson a journey of self-reflection, self-discovery, and healing. Their ground-breaking, genre-crossing, translanguaging exploration of their decades of lived classroom experiences as bilingual maestras illuminates how educators can cultivate the wisdom and strength necessary to sustain their bodymindspirits and keep on keeping on in the beautiful struggle to shape a healthier, more caring, and more just world. In the dark and dangerous times we find ourselves today, this book is the medicine we need to reclaim and remember our collective humanity."
Marnie Curry, Ph.D., Author of Authentic Cariño: Transformative Schooling for Latinx Youth
"The book Latina Pedagogies of Care: How Cariño Can Give Tired Teachers Power and Hope beautifully weaves a much-needed net of support for our dedicated bilingual teachers whose strong commitment and advocacy for their students continuously face dehumanizing approaches and deficit orientations in schooling systems. When frustration and discouragement leads the way toward depletion and exhaustion, the caring nurturing of teachers' bodymindspirit in means that honors our authentic identities, and ways of being and knowing is primordial. This book brings together pillars of cariño to hold and sustain bilingual educators' experiences and pedagogies, and cultivate the power of community and healing strengths; its content is a beautiful soothing whisper of cariño and love with a mighty embrace and unity for la lucha that we walk on together."
Adriana Álvarez, Associate Professor at University of Colorado-Denver
"Healing, humanizing, and hopeful, this book is a form of therapy in itself. The authors name the feelings at our core and identify practical, hopeful, collaborative ways to overcome the exhaustion and burnout inherent in teaching. Warm personal stories move us toward collective action, toward our own power, toward becoming an empowered guerrera. Practical strategies support the reader to thrive while continuing to engage in the ongoing struggle. This book is timely and important; anyone and everyone would benefit from reading it!"
Allison Briceño, Ed.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Teacher Education, SJSU
In education, we often focus on what students need, however, Dras. Babino y Almanza have called attention to the importance for Latina educators, across educational settings, to first care for themselves, in order to care for the needs of their students. In this timely book, the authors offer Latina Pedagogies of Care to Latina teachers to center their own well-being alongside collective healing. The teaching profession is already fraught with challenges and obstacles, such as high-stakes testing, that often lead to teacher burnout. However, for Latina educators, the historical sociocultural conditions and struggles of Latine communities in the U.S. amplifies the burnout experience. This book affirms the Latina teacher experience and provides a guiding path towards sustaining and thriving praxis.
Ganiva Reyes, Associate Professor and Chair at Miami University y Racheal Banda, Assistant Professor and Literacy & Language Graduate Coordinator at Miami University
Written in an engaging style that radiates warmth and enthusiasm, this book is a joy to readclear, inviting, and accessible even to the most exhausted educators. The authors share their cariño with us by making complex ideas feel like a conversation with trusted colleagues who truly get it.
Laura Chávez-Moreno, Assistant Professor at University of California-Los Angeles, and author of How Schools Make Race: Teaching Latinx Racialization in America
"Latina Pedagogies of Care: How Cariño Can Give Tired Teachers Power and Hope seeks to restore the bodymindspirit of educators. Drawing on the concept of cariño, Babino and Almanza name the challenges teachers face, acknowledge their experiences, and offer strategies for collective healing. Nos recuerdan que para sanar, tenemos que seguir palante. Each chapter provides heartfelt wisdom and practical tools to rehumanize education and sustain teachers in their vital work. A timely contribution to conversations about resilience in education, this book is a call to care, connect, and move forwardtogether."
Soria E. Colomer, Associate Professor at Oregon State University
