Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ’Em About College: Brown Masculinity Portraitures of Latino Military Veterans

• In Event: Shades of Brown Masculinity: Positioning and Complicating Latino Machismo to Inform Educational Policy

Abstract

Latino high school students are heavily recruited by the military and use tactics that are counterproductive toward the goal of creating a college going culture (Ashford, 2005; Hardy, 2005; Merrow, 2005; Ayers, 2006). Coupled with a lack of college admission information, inadequate resources, and decreasing numbers of college counselors, Latino students are taken advantage of by recruiters who make promises of better opportunities if they join the military (Fann, Calderone, & McDonough, 2006). Consequently, military recruiters exploit Latinos who attend such schools and steer them toward military enlistment as a way to afford college by using GI Bill benefits.

This research adds to the understanding of the Latino educational pipeline and identity by highlighting a segment that is often overlooked because Latinos who join the military after high school and later enroll in higher education follow a nontraditional pathway toward bachelor degree attainment. One key finding directly informs the title of this work, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ‘Em About College” in that participants all reported they were not provided with sufficient information on college yet reported having a lot of information in the form of propaganda and incorrect advice regarding military enlistment. The two complementary research questions addressed in this paper are: 1) How does a high school with a military-going culture shape perceptions of masculinity amongst Latino males who enlisted? and 2) How do life stories inform and shape educational experiences and perceptions of masculinity of Latino military veterans?

The theoretical framework employed in this study draws from critical race theory (CRT), queer theory and Anzaldua’s (1987) borderlands theory in a conceptual model referred to as Jotería. CRT accounts for the role of race and racism in education while acknowledging the intersection of race, class, and gender (Solórzano, & Delgado-Bernal, 2001; Solórzano, & Yosso, 2001). This intersectional perspective of CRT is used with queer theory’s power to analyze gender and sexuality and borderlands theory’s concept of La Facultad. Indeed, La Facultad captures a consciousness of borderlands that exists as an in-between state that refuses to privilege a single core identity, but rather speaks to a hybridity of identity that confronts racism, sexism and homophobia (Roque Ramirez, 2006).

By borrowing elements of Lawrence-Lightfoot’s (1997) portraiture methodology to build a robust narrative, ten participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview process. The data reduction process revealed the following findings: 1) high school and military experiences underscore the process of identity construction and performance of a “Brown masculine body” aesthetic, 2) the military is an attractive option because it provides a way to acquire funds for college, 3) race, gender and sexuality typologies are indexed in a variety of formats within the educational experiences of Latinos, and 4) identity characteristics germane to Latinos are utilized by military recruiters to couch recruitment practices. Finally, this study begins to close a gap in the literature that is often overlooked by majoritarian narratives that often exclude the lived experiences of Latinos who express a more nuanced Brown masculine body.

Author

• Eduardo Lara, University of California - Los Angeles