Digital Mestizaje: Chicana Doctoral Student Testimonios via Social Media

• In Event: Chicana Feminist Approaches to Theorizing About Chicana/Latina Educational Inequalities in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite the steady increase of Chicanas pursuing doctoral degrees over the last few years, Chicanas are still significantly underrepresented. Moreover, little has changed in doctoral program structures to honor the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of Chicanas (Aguirre, 2000; Solórzano, 1998). Chicanas’ racialized and gendered epistemologies are often invalidated in favor of a male, Eurocentric academic culture that is normalized and remains largely unchallenged (Delgado Bernal, 2002; Delgado Bernal & Villalpando, 2002). Until the culture of academia is dramatically changed, there is an exigent need to identify spaces where emerging Chicana scholars can assert a more full and authentic ser mestiza. To be mestiza is to honor one’s cross-pollinated Self (Anzaldúa, 1987), a Self that stands “in all cultures at the same time” (p. 99), a Self that straddles borderlands. The mestiza is a direct challenge to the monolith that is academic culture.

In this conceptual paper, the author posits that social media can serve as a counter-space where Chicana doctoral students could fully represent their mestizaje. Although one might presume that users exaggerate identities online, Greenhow and Robelia (2009) found that identity via social media was only slightly embellished, if at all, as compared to offline identity. In fact, social media users believe that they can assert their “real selves” online, because there are fewer perceived gatekeepers online than offline (Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008). While physical academic spaces continue to marginalize, social media offers an opportunity to center mestizaje in virtual academic spaces. Furthermore, because social media presents few barriers to entry, it bears tremendous potential for democratizing the creation and dissemination of knowledge (Jacobs & Rainie, 2012). For Chicana doctoral students, social media can serve as a conduit for resistance and liberation.

Author

• Estee Hernandez, Florida State University