Spanish So White

Conversations on the Inconvenient Racism of a ‘Foreign’ Language Education

By: Adam Schwartz

Narrated by: Adam Schwartz

Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Explicit discussions of race and racial identity have traditionally been omitted from Spanish language education in the US—especially in curricula designed for imagined 'native' speakers of English. Consequences of this de-racialization of Spanish language learning include the perpetuation of institutional racisms and missed opportunities to build productive conversations about the ways race and power are enacted through language. Spanish So White is written specifically for secondary and post-secondary teachers who identify as White and second language learners of Spanish. It supports the development of language education that centers a racially dynamic Spanish-speaking world and challenges interpersonal and institutional forms of racism. Author Adam Schwartz shares stories of his own socialization into Whiteness and Spanish-English bilingualism. He invites listeners into the work of reconciling privileges they too may share as White Spanish-language learners and teachers.

©2023 Adam Schwartz (P)2023 Multilingual Matters

Required reading for all Spanish teachers!

This is an engaging book that unpacks race and language ideologies in the US context. Using his own experiences as a student, teacher and professor of Spanish, Adam Schwartz brilliantly unpacks the challenging topic of race and its influence on foreign language instruction, particularly that of Spanish in the US. Teachers and future teachers of foreign languages, and ESL for that matter, would particularly benefit from a reading / listening of the text.