Authentic Cariño

As the population of Latinx students grows in U.S. public schools and our nation seeks to address systemic inequities, racism, and xenophobia, this counternarrative provides inspiration to those wishing to reinvigorate schools and build a more caring and just world. Authentic Cariño documents the innovative practices, successes, and struggles of a full-service community high school serving mostly low-income Latinx youth in an economically depressed California city. Based on 4 years of qualitative research, the author examines how educators, families, and community members established and sustained a social justice school that immersed youth in authentic cariño—a holistic blend of familial, intellectual, and critical care. By nurturing students’ moral, social, personal, and academic development, the school produced college-bound graduates ready to be agents of change in their own lives and in their communities. This case study synthesizes and extends scholarship on color-conscious, healing-centered educational care and offers rich portrayals of praxis that illuminate how schools can equip marginalized youth to thrive. All royalties from this book will support Molina High School and a college scholarship for urban youth.

Book Features:

• Advances a fully elaborated model that specifies three fundamental dimensions of care: familial, intellectual, and critical.
• Provides an in-depth account of a high school that successfully institutionalized authentic cariño schoolwide.
• Advocates for “college and community readiness,” conveying to students how additional schooling would enable them to become community change agents capable of contributing to collective uplift.
• Offers insights into the structures, processes, and complications that arise when a school commits to authentic cariño as a path to promote engaged learning and social transformation.
• Shows what is possible when educators in partnership with local communities dare to care deeply and widely for Latinx youth.

Marnie W. Curry is an associate researcher at the University of California–Santa Cruz.

“In Authentic Cariño: Transformative Schooling for Latinx Youth, Marnie W. Curry builds on and extends care-based theories, capturing the practices that one urban high school employed, exemplifying values of social justice and culturally responsive pedagogies.”

—Teachers College Record

“Now more than ever, we must infuse authentic cariño into our schools to press forward toward a pluralistic, multiracial democracy where ‘liberty and justice’ prevails for all. For this reason, I genuinely welcome Authentic Cariño: Transformative Schooling for Latinx Youth and hope that readers will be inspired to use it as a resource to advance additive, as opposed to subtractive, schooling.”
—From the Foreword by Angela Valenzuela, professor, University of Texas at Austin

"Not since Jeff Duncan-Andrade's powerful work on critical pedagogy and youth participatory action research have we seen the concept of cariño used to reinvent and revitalize pedagogy for students who have traditionally been marginalized in our schools. Although directed toward Latinx students, this work will benefit all students! Curry has provided us with a masterpiece.”
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison and president, National Academy of Education 2018–2021

"We are a society that has experienced massive trauma and deep uncertainty. As we move into a post–COVID-19 world, our schools will need to cultivate deep healing and caring relationships. Marnie Curry’s Authentic Cariño offers us a clear and compelling roadmap about how to respond to collective trauma and create 'networks of care.' Curry’s book offers a fresh lens for us to envision how teachers can build partnerships based in love and care. This book is a must-read for teachers, researchers, and practitioners searching for a fresh and deeply authentic model for transforming schooling. “
—Shawn Ginwright, professor of education and Africana Studies, San Francisco State University

“The kind of engaged, grounded, and community responsive scholarship found in this book is sorely needed in the research community. Through the voices of educators, youth, and community engaged in their own beautiful struggle, Curry illuminates what we can and should be doing in schools to grow, maintain, and protect the wellness of our children and our communities.”
—Jeff Duncan-Andrade, professor, San Francisco State University

Contents

Foreword Angela Valenzuela, PhD  xi

Acknowledgments xv

1.  Welcome to the Beautiful Struggle 1
Embracing Students With Authentic Cariño From Day One 2
Why This Case Study Matters 5
What Does it Really Mean to Care? 7
Authentic Cariño 11
The Study 15
The School 17
Preview of Chapters 20

2.  Familial Cariño: Deeply Knowing and Supporting Students 23
Familial Cariño: Life-Affirming, Healing-Centered, and Authentic 25
Institutionalizing Familial Cariño 27
Firewalks: Schoolwide Rituals That Exemplify Familial Cariño 45
Tensions in Familial Cariño 49
Closing Reflections 55

3.  Intellectual Cariño: Cultivating Engaged Pensadoras 57
Intellectual Cariño: Analytic, Responsive, and Rigorous 59
The Four Pillars of Intellectual Cariño 60
Institutionalizing Intellectual Cariño 68
Tensions in Intellectual Cariño 92
Closing Reflections 96

4.  Critical Cariño: Nurturing Strong Sociocultural Identities, Political Awareness, and Civic Engagement 97
Critical Cariño: Political, Liberatory, and Humanizing 98
The Relation Between Critical Cariño and Critical Pedagogy 102
Critical Cariño Enacted 105
Institutionalizing Critical Cariño 125
Tensions in Critical Cariño 130
Closing Reflections 136

5.  Authentic Cariño: Braiding Together Familial, Intellectual, and Critical Care 138
Weaving the Trenza of Authentic Cariño: Understanding Authentic Cariño’s Prevalence at MHS 141
Ya Basta, Enough Is Enough: Authentic Cariño Confronts Violence 148
Closing Reflections 160

Conclusion: Seguir Adelante—Moving Forward 163
Lessons From MHS 163
Challenges 166
Recommendations for Moving Forward 169
Closing Reflections 170

Appendix A: A Reflexive Recap of Research 171

Appendix B: Roster of MHS Certificated Staff With Biographic Detail 189

Appendix C: Roster of Prominent MHS Staff and Community Partners 191

Appendix D: Course Assessment Summary Sheets Distributed to Students 193

Appendix E: Classroom Observation Analysis Instruments and Their Constructs 197

Appendix F: Teacher Focus Group Protocol (Department) 201

Notes 203

References 211

Index 227

About the Author 237