Resumen de On Interdisciplinary Presentism in Hispanic Studies: Notes on Service-Learning with the Latinx Community
María del Puy Ciriza, Esther Teixeira
In this article, "presentism"-bringing current events into the classroom to discuss historically rooted structural inequalities (Spratt and Draxler 2019)- is examined as a pedagogical tool in the context of a service-learning class in which students participate with different Latinx partnerships. During COVID-19, this service-learning class has been restructured as a distance learning experience where students meet synchronously with different schools organizing projects that range from bilingual readings to university and career orientations. A presentist pedagogy is employed to explore how COVID-19 has exacerbated the inequalities in Latinx communities and how these inequalities relate to current and historical issues of access, language, and race. It is argued that embracing a presentist perspective in Hispanic Studies is necessary to make our courses relevant to the present crisis.
