We finalize this season exploring collective grief, hope, and joy with Dr. Bracho, an assistant professor at Cal State Long Beach and certified death doula. Dr. Bracho recounts a long history of intimate loss including the loss of his father and his mother and explains how writing, ritual, and formal training as a death doula helped him develop a practice of accompanying others through death and mourning. Drawing from his chapter “Grieving in Spanglish: A Glossary of Loss,” Dr. Bracho critiques the dominant “gringo” five‑stage model of grief as overly clinical and individual, and instead offers six Spanish terms as alternative ways to understand grief as ongoing, embodied, spiritual, communal, and self-defined. We apply this model to the current attacks on HSI funding, DEI programs, immigrants, and marginalized communities, naming the collective “dolor” of lost programs, jobs, safety, and belonging, and emphasizing the importance of grieving together rather than being forced to “move on” in silence. Dr. Bracho offers words of advice for moving through our grief in community and offers perspectives on the ways Cal State Long Beach is sustaining HSI efforts and servingness practices even as grants end. He urges HSIs to create intentional ritual spaces and institutional practices that openly name grief, honor loss, and treat emotions as assets in the ongoing struggle for liberation and thriving.

Guest:

Christian A. Bracho (he, him)

Assistant Professor/Program Coordinator, California State University Long Beach

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-a-bracho/

Show Notes:

• https://www.csulb.edu/college-of-education/curriculum-and-instruction/page/christian-bracho
• https://ahsie.org/christian-a-bracho-bio
• https://inelda.org/about-doulas/what-is-a-doula/
• Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice (Common Notions, 2023)
• https://perilresearch.com/resource/brick-for-hispanic-serving-institutions/

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, May 24). Grieving in Spanglish. (No.710) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast