Reconfiguring the borderlands of identity: Preparing social justice educators

Abstract

This article offers multiple pedagogical approaches for mobilizing Gloria Anzaldúa's metaphor of borderlands to prepare social justice educators to address issues of justice and equity in increasingly diverse classroom settings. It describes an experiential course in multicultural education, including innovative processes through which Education students analyze the borderlands of identity, society, and geography through critical self-analysis, fieldwork, and social action. By investigating the intersectionality of social justice issues and the social construction of identity, students attempt to transform the borders of their own identities and engage in action projects to begin a process of bridging the edges of cultural inequity.