"Cómo Nos Ven" (How They See Us): Latina Mothers Confronting U.S. Representations of Latino Disadvantage

• In Event: 75.060 - Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: 75.060-2 - The Critical Roles of Fathers and Mothers: Gendered Perspectives

Abstract

Drawing from a 23-month ethnographic study, this paper analyzes how Latina immigrant mothers confronted representations of Latino child disadvantage in a preschool parent education program. The program used a strengths-based, culturally responsive model of parent education; however, it could not escape the deficit perspectives about low-income, families and children of color that pervade U.S. educational institutions and cultural spaces. Analysis of two key parent workshops reveal the complex cultural negotiations low-income Latina immigrant mothers engage in as they prepare their children to enter U.S. schools. This paper looks closely at the work they do together to build a critique of assumptions about low-income families of colors within U.S. culture and early childhood education specifically.

Author

• Katherine Rodela, Washington State University