Building Local and Transnational Feminisms: An Interview with Noelia Corrales and Lussiana Salazar of la Escuela de Español Colibrí in Matagalpa, Nicaragua

Colibrí, the Country, and the Course

In 2009, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire's (UWEC) women's studies program offered its first iteration of the faculty-led international immersion course Women's Lives and Experiences in Nicaragua. This program was created and initially led by Dr. Rose-Marie Avin, a faculty member in the economics department and an affiliate member of both women's studies and Latin American studies (LAS). Over the years, various faculty affiliated with both women's studies and LAS have continued to lead the program. In the first few years, the program took place in the colonial city of Granada. However, a number of factors led us to move the program's location in 2015 to Matagalpa, a more northern and mountainous city of about 150,000 known for its coffee growing. In Matagalpa, we have found a new in-country partner, Colibrí Spanish School, which has enabled us to learn from a highly skilled group of feminist educators, entrepreneurs, and community activists.

In its basic form, Colibrí is a Spanish-as-additional-language school that offers a variety of packages and configurations for learning Spanish. Because Matagalpa's weather is perpetually summer-like, the school's building is open and airy, with partitions separating classrooms and numerous plants and even trees growing in between. Brightly colored murals depicting images drawn from contemporary and traditional Nicaraguan culture adorn many of the walls. Colibrí's teachers are all native Spanish speakers trained specifically in second language education. Everyone is warm and friendly, and the school creates an atmosphere that is both energetic and tranquil. The school's hiring practices, as a company, aim to empower women. But while Colibrí hires (almost) only women, their classes and packages are open to people of all genders and ages. Students come from around the world, but the majority come from the United States, Canada, and western European countries such as the Netherlands and Germany. Typically, classes are one-on-one, and the teachers adapt the lessons to the individual learner's age and skill level. Colibrí has designed its own curricula and course materials to be more relevant to Nicaragua and Central America, and instructors provide supplements based on student ability and interests (e.g., current events or arts). Groups of people traveling together (e.g., volunteers or brigades) may also opt for group classes for up to four people. In addition to classes, students participate in a range of extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for real-life contexts in which to practice speaking and listening in Spanish. The activities that take place at Colibrí include watching and discussing films, playing games, learning to cook traditional Nicaraguan foods, and learning Latin dance steps. There are also frequent excursions into the city to visit markets, museums, and other local sites. Some activities take place just outside the city, thus providing opportunities to practice using local public transportation. To deepen the immersion experience, students can also arrange through Colibrí to stay with a local family who provides them with three meals a day and further opportunities to practice Spanish in ordinary everyday circumstances.

In addition to operating a well-regarded Spanish language school, however, the teachers and staff hold feminism and concerns for social justice as central to their work. In the interview below, both Noelia and Lussiana talk about the importance of bringing together a feminist sense of equity and activism to their work as educators and entrepreneurs. They also discuss in the interview the internal and external challenges they have faced as a business in bringing these things together. For our part, however, because Colibrí was willing to develop an explicitly feminist curriculum for us that focused on women's and other social equity issues in Nicaragua, UWEC was excited to move its faculty-led international immersion course, Women's Lives and Experiences in Nicaragua to Matagalpa in 2015.

An important feature of the relationship between our university's women's studies immersion program and Colibrí school has been...