Afro-Latina in the Academy: A Critical Self-Study of Racist Nativism, Meritocracy, and Microaggressions in Education

• In Event: Know Thyself: Reflections of Emerging Black Female Scholars Through Critical Race Theory

Abstract

This essay is my counternarrative to the essentialized depictions of Black and Brown immigrants- especially women- as a monolith. Counternarratives provide “space for researchers to reinterpret, disrupt, or interrupt pervasive discourses that may paint…communities and people of color, in grim, dismal ways” (Milner & Howard, 2013, p. 542). Thus, the objective of my self-study is an awareness of how my various identities have shaped my current commitments. My second, but equally important, purpose is to issue a call for further inquiry on intersectional identities and how they continue to shift in education.
While critical race theory does not yet encompass every salient aspect of the lives of People of Color, I analyze my journey into critical consciousness through that lens. CRT offers a framework through which I can understand the barriers I face in the process of self-actualization, the complexity of being an Afro-Latina immigrant and doctoral student, and the potential that academia holds for research and praxis that actively resist the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy (hooks, 2009).
This paper, like the symposium overall, will center on the critical reflections of an emerging Black woman scholar. In the process of studying critical race theory, I engaged with its applications for research and practice relative to both my personal and professional development. Because this work assumes the form of counternarrative, it takes on a qualitative and autoethnographic approach in an effort to challenge the prevailing conventions on what constitutes valid epistemology.
I draw primarily from my lived experiences to elucidate key themes and concepts. Throughout my life, a series of circumstances led me to prioritize factors other than race. During my early childhood, I underwent the trauma of a protracted separation from my parents. Once in the United States, my primary concern was learning English and adapting to my new environs. While attending independent schools, my major preoccupation was my socioeconomic class status, and in secondary school, my family’s mental health took the front seat. I had my first-ever conversations about systems of oppression during a college pre-orientation program, but I was seduced by post-racial thinking and the myth of meritocracy, delaying a critical consciousness of race. An identity awakening took place during my teaching career, since my students and I endured racial microaggressions, making it imperative that I foreground explicit antiracist pedagogy.
In order to substantiate my claims, I will draw on theory and research in the areas of racist nativism (Pérez Huber, 2010), the myth of meritocracy (Laughter, 2013), and racial microaggressions (Pérez Huber & Solórzano, 2015) to contextualize my experiences and expose extant areas of untapped potential within CRT. As Ladson-Billings (1998) explains, “The story of one’s condition leads to the realization of how one came to be oppressed and subjugated, thus allowing one to stop inflicting mental violence on oneself” (p. 14) and heal. Education scholars who take up identity politics must themselves acknowledge their hurt and name their pain as they endeavor to advance the field. In so doing, they humanize the academy and dismantle damaging paradigms.

Author

• Eliana Castro, Michigan State University