Education Across Borders: Language, Identity, and Justice
We're excited to invite you to our upcoming panel discussion: "Education Across Borders: Language, Identity, and Justice".
Our distinguished panel features researchers from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California—María Guadalupe Tinajero Villavicencio and Juan Páez Cárdenas—as well as UCLA Ph.D. students Amanda Giuliano and Jackson Gzehoviak, and UCLA postdoctoral scholar Kyle Halle-Erby. Together, they will explore critical issues in Indigenous education, language policy, and educational equity, particularly in contexts shaped by migration, multilingualism, and structural inequality.
The panel will discuss ongoing research projects in Baja California, experiences of first-generation Oaxaqueños, language policy for immigrant youth, and community-based pedagogical practices. Expert commentary will be provided by Dr. Teresa McCarty, Distinguished Professor and George F. Kellner Chair of Education and Anthropology.
Speakers Bio
María Guadalupe Tinajero Villavicencio
Guadalupe is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Educativo at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Pedagogy from UNAM and her doctorate in Education from the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa. Her academic work has been closely tied to the socio-educational processes of Indigenous schools and the training of teachers in the Indigenous education service in Baja California (since 1991). Her research interests include educational subjects and discursive practices. Her research projects currently involve how the 2022 curricular reform is being implemented in Indigenous education schools in Baja California.
Her latest publications include El servicio de educación indígena en Baja California: una caracterización y El Consejo Técnico Escolar como dispositivo formativo: la experiencia del ciclo escolar 2022-2023.
Juan Páez Cárdenas
Juan Páez Cárdenas is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Educativo at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. He holds a Bachelor’s in Communication and a Ph.D. in Educational Research from Cinvestav in Mexico City. His research focuses on education for marginalized groups, pedagogical management, and educational ethnography. His research projects currently involve Indigenous education in Baja California, education of international migrant children, and the children of migrant agricultural workers.
His most recent publications include Desafíos lingüísticos en un contexto de superdiversidad: el caso de una primaria en Tijuana (2024) and El servicio de educación indígena en Baja California: una caracterización.
Kyle Halle-Erby
Kyle Halle-Erby is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Education at UCLA. He engages Indigenous and Black knowledge traditions to study language policy in schools for immigrant young people. His research is supported by fellowships from the Haynes Foundation, the Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education, and the UC Office of the President. Before graduate school, he taught high school for 7 years in San Francisco.