Hamann and Mexican colleagues honored by AERA

13 Apr 2018     By Brad Stauffer

A binational research team, including University of Nebraska–Lincoln professor Edmund “Ted” Hamann, will be recognized April 16 for its work to identify and transform the conditions of schooling for thousands of transnationally mobile children and youth. Hamann and his colleagues Víctor Zúñiga, professor, Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), and Juan Sánchez García, research director at the Mexican state of Nuevo León’s Institute for Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Education (known as IIIEPE), will be presented with the Henry T. Trueba Award from Division G of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) at AERA’s annual conference in New York City.

The Trueba Award, which remembers the late anthropologist of education who studied bilingual education, dropouts and immigrant education (among other topics), “recognizes a scholar or group who has made distinguished contributions leading to the transformation of the social contexts of education.” In a 20-year collaboration, the team has published in both English and Spanish more than 30 scholarly articles, book chapters and a book. They have also led professional development “train the trainer” workshops across Mexico to help educators respond to the 600,000+ students in their schools with prior experience in the United States.

Noting the timeliness of research examining the educational impact of children moving from the U.S. to Mexico, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, professor at UCLA and an award nominator, said, “This is a huge and growing phenomenon that impacts both nations; this team of researchers was among the first to name it, and certainly the first to study it in great breadth and depth. By combining a sociological and anthropological perspective with a deep understanding of educational policy and practice, this team has been able to address the experiences of binational students on many levels: in their daily lives and lived experiences in local communities; in classrooms and schools; and as part of a much larger international migration phenomenon.”

Another nominator, Norma Gonzalez, professor emerita, University of Arizona, said, “Because I have also worked with ‘retornos,’ I am aware of the impact that this work has had. I believe that it is the kind of work that this award seeks to honor. This research team’s work has generated a substantial response from Mexico’s government, which has published and disseminated more than 17,000 hard copies of the research team’s book “Alumnos transnacionales: Las escuelas mexicanas frente a la globalización” and a related teachers’ guide.”

“The scholarship by these three colleagues is highly valuable and without precedent,” said nominator Bryant Jensen, assistant professor at Brigham Young University. “Their work will be increasingly transformative in the years ahead, given recent demographic trends—increases in return flows of immigrants and their families from the U.S. to Mexico.”

“This work has established the foundation for continued significant public policy transformations,” said nominator Teresa McCarty, GF Kneller Chair in Education and Anthropology at UCLA. “The team’s commitment to this work spans nearly two decades…and the Mexican government continues to support an inter-campus, interdisciplinary, binational seminar on transnational students.”