Four Generations of Women
Abstract
Proposal Work-In-Progress (WIP) A memoir articulated on four different generations of women within a family. It will cover some historical events that shaped the family’s immigration from Spain, France, and Haiti to the U.S. It begins with the Spanish Civil War, when my adolescent grandmother was forced to leave with her family to seek political asylum in France. Her journey in France as a Spaniard refugee without formal education was thrilling. My mother was the first-born generation who were struggling with her Spaniard and French identities and disrupted education, which struggles were passed on to me. Committed to education, which my grandmother had missed, I chose to immigrate to the U.S., a voluntary journey in contrast with my grandmother’s immigration compelled by the fascist takeover. Having had a disrupted education myself, I discovered some challenges, cultural shocks and cultural negotiation, with a bi-cultural perspective on decolonizing the mainstream curriculum and pedagogy. I also raised a biracial child who had to deal with Spaniard, French, and Haitian cultural heritage and whose multi-ethnicity is regarded in different ways in Europe and in the U.S. This memoir will discuss gender roles and tradition for women across generations, cultures, and continents. It is feminist and queer, with a justice-oriented approach to curriculum-as-activism and pedagogy. It will introspect genders roles and expectations, particularly in Southern France and in the U.S. From the perspective of a tri-lingual teacher, it will also be about the French and American educational systems, social injustice, and language-as-identity, with the tension between the demand for English in US classrooms and other, primary languages spoken at home creating conflicts between generations. History repeats itself, and, in context, this memoir will juxtapose educational challenges for different generations amid the rise of fascism.
Presentation Description
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Location
Room 1
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Payoute, Fabienne, "Four Generations of Women" (2025). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 14.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2025/2025/14
Four Generations of Women
Room 1
Proposal Work-In-Progress (WIP) A memoir articulated on four different generations of women within a family. It will cover some historical events that shaped the family’s immigration from Spain, France, and Haiti to the U.S. It begins with the Spanish Civil War, when my adolescent grandmother was forced to leave with her family to seek political asylum in France. Her journey in France as a Spaniard refugee without formal education was thrilling. My mother was the first-born generation who were struggling with her Spaniard and French identities and disrupted education, which struggles were passed on to me. Committed to education, which my grandmother had missed, I chose to immigrate to the U.S., a voluntary journey in contrast with my grandmother’s immigration compelled by the fascist takeover. Having had a disrupted education myself, I discovered some challenges, cultural shocks and cultural negotiation, with a bi-cultural perspective on decolonizing the mainstream curriculum and pedagogy. I also raised a biracial child who had to deal with Spaniard, French, and Haitian cultural heritage and whose multi-ethnicity is regarded in different ways in Europe and in the U.S. This memoir will discuss gender roles and tradition for women across generations, cultures, and continents. It is feminist and queer, with a justice-oriented approach to curriculum-as-activism and pedagogy. It will introspect genders roles and expectations, particularly in Southern France and in the U.S. From the perspective of a tri-lingual teacher, it will also be about the French and American educational systems, social injustice, and language-as-identity, with the tension between the demand for English in US classrooms and other, primary languages spoken at home creating conflicts between generations. History repeats itself, and, in context, this memoir will juxtapose educational challenges for different generations amid the rise of fascism.
