We are story. All of us.

-Richard Wagamese

Building and sustaining "translationships" with community

​Each of us brings unique knowledge and experiences to the table. This ongoing community engaged project aims to develop “translationships” (translational relationships) across cultures, languages, regions, boundaries, disciplines and worldviews” (Del Río Riande, Lujano, and O’Donnell 2020) grounded in curiosity, empathy, respect, and equity. That means approaching our differences as potential sites of learning, rather than as places for “correction” or to distance ourselves from others and create hierarchies of knowledge.

Our project begins with the visibility of language communities in Washington state guided by two main objectives:

  • Contribute to a linguistically and culturally diverse heritage digital space by supporting the creation, curation, and dissemination of multilingual stories meaningful to the multilingual community members who generously share them with us. 

  • Develop and share culturally sustaining, feminist-oriented, and decolonial pedagogical practices and resources for adult (English) language and literacy education. 

  • A headshot photo of a Spanish woman with medium length wavy hair smiling

    Cristina Sánchez-Martín

    Cristina (she,ella/her) is assistant professor in the English Department at UW, Seattle. Her work is about language justice in relation to colonial English and Spanish. In her free time, she likes to listen to music (Rosalia all day!), go to Zumba class, and hike in the PNW. 

    csanch2@uw.edu

  • Picture of a non-binary person with shoulder length hair smiling in front of a wall panted different color shapes

    Eloisa Aguirre

    Eloisa (they/she) is an M.Ed. student of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Policy in the College of Education at UW. Languages: English and Spanish (Mother Tongue).

    Eloisa is a community organizer, artist, and educator. As a gender queer, Brown immigrant from Mexico, they are committed to the abolition of all systems of oppression. Their academic work centers Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples and their curricula are based on the teachings of bell hooks and Paulo Freire.

    eloisag@uw.edu 

  • Taiko Aoki-Marcial

    Taiko (she,ella/her) is a PhD candidate in the English Department at UW, Seattle. She focuses on decolonial and antiracist approaches to adult language learning in community based contexts. 

    taikoa@uw.edu

  • Headshot picture of a Chinese woman looking at the camera

    Kim Han

    Kim is a storyteller and project contributor. She speaks English and Mandarin and is a Washington State Department of Health and Services certified social services interpreter.

    kimhansnyder@gmail.com

  • Picture of a Chinese woman smiling outside in front of a lake and the Seattle skyline

    Bixin Fu

    Bixin (she/her) is an MA student of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in the English Department at the University of Washington. She speaks Qidong dialect, Mandarin and English. She is very interested in second language acquisition and language teaching. She enjoys hiking, trying different cuisines, and visiting new places.  

    bixinfu@uw.edu

  • Headshot of an Argentinian man with a mustache and beard against a neutral background

    Francisco Siredey Escobar

    Francisco is a Chilean Ph. D. student and TA at UW's Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Before coming to Seattle, he was a journalist for 10+ years in his home country. He worked mainly for print media outlets, such as La Tercera and El Mercurio. His journey in the US began in 2017, when he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University (NYU). He is also a husband and a proud father of a 2 year old girl! 

  • Shariliz Poveda

    Shariliz (she/her) is UW MATESOL program graduate. She loves digital art, slice of life comics, and indie pop music. Her favorite forms of storytelling are through poems, Disney movies, and musicals!

  • Zheng (Jane) Cui

    我曾经是一个有很多小学教育体验的音乐老师，现在的的移民生活让我从新得到新的教育，希望有机会与大家在播客分享更多的时间.

    I used to be a music teacher with a lot of elementary education experience. My current immigrant life has allowed me to get a new education. I hope to have the opportunity to share more time with you on the podcast.

    Jane from China