The Reality of Spanish Language Media in the Educational Sector
Every three to four years, The Modern Language Association of America publishes a comprehensive report describing the teaching of languages other than English in universities in the United States. In the most recent report, the number of students learning Spanish was greater than the total number of students learning all other languages combined, including French, German, Italian, and Chinese [1]. In addition to these numerous non-native Spanish speakers that are engaged in learning the language, there are more than 62 million Hispanics living in the United States. It is thus virtually impossible to visit a college classroom that doesn’t include native Spanish speakers or non-native speakers studying Spanish.
While Spanish is the most spoken language in Latin America, Spain, and the Caribbean, it is not the only language. Portuguese is widely spoken; numerous indigenous languages are spoken, most significantly across Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Bolivia; and various dialects abound along the Caribbean coast of Latin America and the islands. The paramount importance of Hispanic culture, Spanish language, and the broad and rich diversity of Latin America are an inescapable facet of the U.S. university landscape.
Is this language diversity represented when accessing media content (films, documentaries, tv series, etc.) at a typical US university?
A quick search on two of the leading streaming video platforms for university libraries, Films on Demand from Infobase and Academic Video Online from ProQuest, yield telling results. When filters are applied for Spanish language documentary film, Films on Demand yields just over 400 titles out of more than 42,000 videos on the platform. Academic Video Online offers just under 800 Spanish language documentaries across more than 90,000 total videos. These are approximate cursory searches conducted by the author, but indicative of the limited availability of Spanish language documentary films: less than 1% in both cases.
The situation is not that different when looking at the collections of different public libraries across the country. 46% Hispanics say they used the library in the past month, still available media in Spanish is paltry relative to the size of the Spanish-speaking population [2]. This is a group that deserves significantly more attention, especially considering it reaches an impressive 20% of the total US population.
A few years ago, when educational streaming platforms had just been born, a librarian came to my table at a conference, and explained to me the frustration of not being able to adequately serve her community, which was heavily populated by Spanish speaking Latinos with little knowledge of English. She observed that DVDs were still popular in her community, but the Spanish language options were limited. The lack of sufficient Spanish-language audiovisual content in public libraries is still an issue years later. Additionally, the limited content that exists on streaming platforms remains very difficult to access, as it is overshadowed by the vast number of English-language productions.
The audiovisual materials that do make their way to audiences do little to eliminate clichés perpetuated by the media in general: undocumented immigration, violence, drug trafficking, and poverty. Another misconception perpetuated in these materials is the perception that all Latin American countries are the same, which couldn’t be further from the truth. It is tremendously urgent to change these perceptions if we want to have a healthy, progressive, and equal society with opportunities for all.
In addition to the lack of sufficient content to satisfy and accurately represent populations, the work of providing interfaces in Spanish has not been done. The largest minority population has been denied many of the public resources that would improve their well-being, integration, and prosperity. Hispanics are the fastest growing population group in the United States. As educators, librarians, publishers, and educational content distributors, it is our responsibility to deliver content that empowers, emboldens, and enriches the learning experience of Latinx students at a university level, and of the Hispanic population seeking to enjoy media in their language of origin at their neighborhood public library.
How can we achieve this?
As audiovisual distributors, we need to diversify our content and offer creative ways to engage with it. We need to better advocate the importance of language and the power of cinema as educational and communication tools to inspire respect and cultural understanding. We need to empower the Hispanic community by showcasing positive role models in our films and demonstrate to the non-Hispanic population that their perception and understanding of the Hispanic community has been misconstrued. That can be achieved easily by strengthening our relationship with professors and helping them with the organization of film festivals or public screenings where students gather in a public space and discuss these issues in community. We can also facilitate the connection with filmmakers and/or speakers from Latin America for public/online appearances.
As librarians, we must understand the importance of building diverse collections and the power these collections have over students and patrons’ understanding of themselves and the rest of the world. In the case of the Hispanic population and Spanish language learners, it is important to highlight their inclusion separate from specific commemorative dates such as Hispanic Heritage Month. Their involvement in the community is year-round. Spanish language audiovisual materials can be showcased for Earth Day, Women History Month, Pride Month, and much more.
As educators and community leaders, we ought to facilitate the tools for our students and communities to acquire the global competence that is necessary today. Media is the best way to open mental frontiers. At a more practical level, much can be done in the classroom and other educational environments. Beyond class assignments the introduction of cultural events and the participation of guest speakers could do wonders to illuminate the community and student body. Community engagement and retention increases greatly when offered with a unique experience such as filmmakers’ Q&As or workshops. One of the few benefits we can see because of the pandemic is the flexibility with which we interact with people far away.
In all cases, it is equally important to exercise a certain level of activism and advocacy. A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion should be a responsibility for us as distributors, as we need to make these materials available; as librarians, as we create collections for our institutions; and as educators, as we take advantage of these collections to enrich our class curriculum.
Strategies may require moving beyond the curated title lists developed by distributors and publishers that do not have regional, cultural, or other specific focus on underrepresented peoples and perspectives, and towards more specialized sources. The size of the Spanish language speaking and studying community in the United States means this is a group that deserves much more attention and collection development focus. As distributors, librarians, and educators let’s create the accessibility, cultural diversity, research, and language acquisition tools. Let’s unite and be creative!
Endnotes
Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Final Report by Dennis Looney and Natalia Lusin, © 2019 Modern Language Association of America.
Using Public Libraries, by Anna Brown AND Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Research Center
