Henry Sales Leonel Hernandez is a third-year doctoral student and Graduate Student Instructor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture cluster at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Education. A first-generation college student from an Indigenous Maya Mam immigrant family from Guatemala, Henry’s life and scholarship are grounded in resilience, community, and a deep commitment to cultural revitalization. He lives in Oakland, California, with his wife and their daughter.
Growing up in San Juan Atitán, Guatemala, Henry developed a profound connection to his Mam heritage,...
Yared Portillo is a Ph.D. candidate in Learning Sciences and Human Development at UC Berkeley’s School of Education with a focus on Language, Literacy, and Culture. She is a jaranera, leonera, guitarist, poet, and music teacher with over 15 years of experience. Raised in an agricultural Latine immigrant community in Santa María, California, her research interests sit at the intersection of music education, translanguaging pedagogies, and sociocultural approaches to learning. Yared’s research and teaching are influenced by her years as a grassroots immigrant rights community organizer in...
Aloha kākou! Kourtney Kawano (she/her) is a wahine ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian woman) from the village community of Nānākuli on the island of Oʻahu. She is an Assistant Professor at the Berkeley School of Education.
As a settler in Ohlone territory, Dr. Kawano pays her respect to the Indigenous caretakers of xučyun by centering place-based stories and histories in her research and teaching. A critical race resistance scholar and a graduate of Native Hawaiian culture-based schooling, Dr. Kawano embraces the proverb “ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi (all knowledge is not taught in...
