Whose Capital do I Keep? Negotiating the Tensions between Community Cultural Wealth and Cultural Capital after the Ph.D.

• In Event: Employing a Community Cultural Wealth Framework to Analyze the Complexities of Latina/o Educational Attainment

Abstract

Cultural capital is an extension of privileged knowledge and symbolic wealth transmitted through hierarchical systems from one generation to the next in order to sustain class status (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). Individuals receive privileged knowledge that deciphers institutional symbols and language; master narratives they hear about their communities are positively reflected in educational curricula; and individuals are sorted into the elite, all of which contribute to successful navigation of educational systems. Racially underrepresented populations, lower socio-economic groups, and first-generation families do not necessarily have access to this cultural capital.

If, as Bourdieu (1973) asserted, the means of obtaining cultural capital is either through symbolic inheritance or proper schooling, educational systems then have an obligation to teach the “hidden curriculum,” the very mechanism that provides cultural capital. Unfortunately, these institutions, as conduits of social reproduction, create barriers to access and retention. In addition, educational research focuses on the “right” type of cultural capital instead of discussing why marginalized communities’ modes of cultural capital are not valued and are often excluded from scholarship. The emphasis on cultural capital, a dominant cultural artifact (Sandoval, 2000) cloaks the agency within Latina/o communities to survive challenges and barriers, as well as retain their cultural identities. The research remains focused on privileged knowledge that marginalized communities will, perhaps, never have by virtue of not being part of the dominant culture. As Yosso (2005, 2006) explains, if marginalized communities assessed their own resources, that accumulation of wealth would potentially supersede any limitations from not having cultural capital. Alternatives to cultural capital could help educational researchers affirm the values inherent within Latina/o families/communities and develop better strategies for accessing college and graduate school.

I contend that the concept of cultural capital in educational research has created a dependency on demystifying a hidden curriculum that may remain inaccessible to Latina/o communities. Rather, Latina/o communities should develop their own tools to successfully navigate through social systems controlled by the dominant culture. My contribution to the symposium focuses on the extent to which 33 Mexican American Ph.D.s considered how they would to transmit the limited cultural capital they attained and the community cultural wealth they accumulated through their educational journeys to their children and communities. Based on an analysis of participants’ life narratives, I will uncover what community cultural wealth and cultural capital look like for those who are now college-educated and middle class, as well as discuss the implications for their families. Despite institutional and societal barriers, these participants serve as inspiration for the next generation, but I am interested in uncovering the potential costs incurred based on the tensions between cultural capital and community cultural wealth as Mexican American Ph.D.s negotiate between this dominant cultural artifact and the accumulation of wealth from within Latina/o communities.

Author

• Michelle M. Espino, University of Maryland - College Park