Small-Town Values: Exploring the Values of Latina College Students From Rural Communities

• In Event: 72.026 - "Funds of Knowledge": Community and Family as Educators

Abstract

The purpose of this multiple-case study was to understand the values of Latina college students from rural communities and how those values impacted their choices concerning higher education. Archival records, artifacts, interviews, and other documents created a holistic view of each individual case. A Chicana feminist framework allowed researchers to examine how the participants’ Latina identity, as well as their rural communities, informed their values individually at first and then through cross case analysis. Early analysis of findings revealed the importance of matriarchs to the young women as well as the responsibility they felt to their family. In addition, the racial make up of each participant’s rural community impacted the way that student spoke about her Latina identity.

Authors

• Ashley N. Stone, The University of Texas at Austin

• Katelyn Martinez, The University of Texas - Austin

• Carmen Serrata, University of North Carolina at Charlotte