Ethnic Identity Formation beyond Language: Reflexive Identification of Indigenous Children in Urban Schools.

This paper examines the processes of identity formation of indigenous children in two urban schools in Jalisco, Mexico. By studying the processes of identity formation, I focus on understanding how indigenous children represent themselves within wider social discourses and dynamics of power that attempt to erase cultural differences. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in two urban primary schools over a period of 14 months, the paper foregrounds indigenous children's voices to illustrate their complex processes of self-identification. The article demonstrates how children's social and family networks, such as compadrazgos, shape ethnic identities. It also highlights how indigenous children feel a stronger attachment to their communities when they have the opportunity to participate in agricultural activities during holidays and learn from their grandparents and other family members. The analysis also highlights the silences, racism, and ethnic blindness that indigenous children face in urban schools. The paper calls for a reframing of educational services so that they recognize and reinforce ethnic identities rather than obfuscate them through the discourse of "equality". Significantly, children's voices open up a dialogue with those responsible for educational and social policies, in order to challenge racism in Mexican urban schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]