Bién Educadas and Well Educated: The Shaping of Chicana Education Ph.D. Students’ Life-Work

• In Event: Roundtable Session 79
  In Roundtable Session: Making It Through Postsecondary Schooling: A Collection of Studies Attending to Race and Higher Education Success

Abstract

Using testimonio as a methodology, this research describes how 15 Chicana Education Ph.D. students’ schooling experiences and family values of educación influence educational persistence and shape their approach to life and work beyond the doctorate. Findings suggest that their approach to schooling was grounded in their families’ deep respect for both education and values of educación. Second, experiences with educational tracking compelled the participants to become advocates for educational equity. Third, they approach their life-work as nepantleras (women navigating a middle-ground) in bridging education (formal schooling) and educación (transmission of families’ values) (Anzaldúa, 1987; 2002).

Author

• Rebeca Burciaga, San José State University