Faculty

Summary of Expertise

Ethnographic approaches to early literacy and language; cultural, historical, and political dimensions of literacy and language practices; language socialization; language in the Borderlands; sociocultural theories of learning; Spanish heritage language studies; critical childhood studies; sociolinguistic justice; race, language, and identity development of children; qualitative methods.

Research Interests

At the heart of my research is the belief that we should honor children’s learning, knowledge, and practices in the early education classroom. My research furthers our understanding of children and the strength each student brings with them to the classroom. My research is comprised of two main strands of inquiry. Specifically, the first line of inquiry is two-parts and broadly examines how:

1. issues regarding ideology, language, and race overlap and influence the language and literacy practices of linguistically diverse and marginalized students in the K-12 setting either through de jure or de facto policy and practices in the classroom. The second part takes a closer view, examining how those intersecting issues are experienced in the classroom with a particular focus on the child’s experience. My work advances critical childhood approaches that see children as the best source for understanding the learning environment of a classroom and experts in their language and literacy practices.
2. My second line of inquiry more broadly explores early literacy and language socialization practices of linguistically diverse families and the ways in which we can honor those practices in the early education classroom.

As an anthropologist, my research is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing from fields such as education, Latinx studies, applied linguistics, and Spanish as heritage language and critical childhood studies. I use a range of ethnographic and qualitative methodologies. I advance ethnographic methodologies in early education that argues for more methodological flexibility and that does not see children’s age as a deterrence to collaboration and investigation. An early education ethnographic approach asks us to see past perceived limitations and reductionist notions of children to further our understanding of children's lives, knowledge, and experiences. 

Biography, Education and Training

Ph.D. University of Arizona 2022

Language, Reading, and Culture

Advisor: Perry Gilmore

M.A. University of Arizona 2014

Language, Reading, and Culture

Advisor: Mary Carol Combs & Richard Ruiz

B.A. University of Arizona 2011

Double Major: Anthropology & Mexican American Studies 

Honors, Awards and Grants

CAE Concha Delgado-Gaitan Presidential Fellowship

Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, University of Arizona, 2022 (declined)

University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Graduate Scholarship, Fall 2020

Dr. Maria Teresa Velez-Marshall Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Spring 2020

Dolores R. Kaith Scholarship Endowment, University of Arizona, 2018

Erasmus Circle Graduate Scholarship University of Arizona, 2017

Second Place Community Category, GPSC Student Showcase, University of Arizona, 2017

Confluencenter Graduate Fellowship University of Arizona, 2016

The Peter W. Likins Graduate Fellowship Award University of Arizona, 2015

First Place Education Category, GPSC Student Showcase, University of Arizona, 2013

Arizona Graduate Scholars Award, University of Arizona, 2012

Selected Publications

Ruvalcaba, C., Aguilera, M. 2023. A Collaborative Asset Mapping Approach to the Linguistic Landscape: Learning from the community’s linguistic capital in an L2 college- writing course. In D. Malinowski, H. Maxim, &, S. Dubreil (Eds.) Spatializing language studies: Pedagogical approaches to the linguistic landscape. Springer.

Duran, L., Aguilera, M. 2022. Walls, Bridges, Borders, Papers: Civic Literacy in the Borderlands. Research in the Teaching of English. 57: 2. 156-176.

Cammarota, J. Aguilera, M. 2012. By the Time I Get to Arizona: Race, Language, and Education in America’s Racist State. Race, Ethnicity and Education Journal. 15:4, 485-500.