ABSTRACT
This chapters deals with complicated issues regarding the formation of identities in social contexts, including both participant and researchers’ subjectivities, and how these come to shape ways of being in the world, and by implication, research activities and findings. Fecho and Meacham point out that the most effective learning invariably involves contact and connection. In particular, they emphasize the insights and learning possibilities of connecting to the everyday interests of youth and their lived experiences, by building on the discursive practices and literate competencies students already possess. Guerra, in turn, offers a vivid and moving memoir, a reflective narrative informed by his life stories, ranging in location from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas to Chicago, as an opportunity to theorize about the language and cultural practices he has experienced.
