Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

First Advisor

Laura Jewett

Second Advisor

Ana Carolina Díaz Beltrán

Third Advisor

Veronica Estrada

Abstract

This autobiographical study explores how language, memory, and identity are shaped through lived experience in the South Texas brushland known as the monte. Situated within the cultural and linguistic landscape of the Rio Grande Valley, the study examines how land, native plants, and regional wildlife function as an informal curriculum that shapes voice, silence, and ways of knowing beyond formal schooling. Grounded in autobiographical inquiry, the study uses poetic currere as both an analytic process and a mode of representation to illuminate the relationship between language experience, memory, and identity across time. Data sources include personal memories, reflective journals, original poetry, and photographs drawn from multiple life stages and engaged through currere’s recursive movements. Findings are presented through poetic and narrative forms that foreground regional metaphors as symbolic teachers, revealing how language is shaped through observation, silence, and adaptation. This study contributes to curriculum studies by positioning poetic currere and land-based experience as powerful frameworks for understanding language, identity, and voice in borderland contexts.

Comments

Copyright 2026 Brenda Ochoa. All Rights Reserved. https://proquest.com/docview/3371103971

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