A Chicana Feminist Approach to (Re)Define School Discipline: The Experiences of Latina High School Students

• In Event: 35.036 - Women of Color Feminisms, Epistemologies, and Knowledge Production as Historical and Contemporary Truth in Education

Abstract

Objectives
Punitive school discipline practices and policies have been linked to the “school-prison nexus” (Annamma, 2018). This research has found that predominantly young Men of Color, of low socioeconomic status, attending inner-city schools, are most susceptible to school discipline practices and policies that push them out of school and on a pathway to prison (Rios, 2011). While this work has been crucial to understand the effects of school discipline practices and policies, research has largely overlooked the experiences of girls (Morris, 2016), and in particular, Latinas (Flores, 2016). Often times, research has missed an intersectional approach to understand the unique ways Latinas experience school discipline.  

In light of the above, the goal of this paper is to unearth and (re)define the ways school discipline physically manifest for Latinas. The author conceptualizes the “Everyday Latina” as a push for future work to consider Latinas’ multiple subjectivities and how they connect to how school discipline manifests.

Theoretical Framework(s)
Borrowing from the early work of Chicana feminist scholars (Anzaldúa, 1987; Delgado Bernal, 1998; Cruz, 2001), I ground this study using epistemologies that have helped me challenge the patriarchal positioning of school discipline and expose the unique ways Latinas are also affected by school discipline measures. I use a Chicana Feminist Epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998), and an Epistemology of the Brown Body (Cruz, 2001), to help me (re)define school discipline and conceptualize the “Everyday Latina,” to ultimately reveal a truth that has been overlooked for decades.

Methods
Individual and group pláticas (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) as well as participant observations were conducted with six Latina students attending a high school in Southern California. Data was collected during the 2017-2018 academic school year. All students identified as Latina, were enrolled in either 10th or 11th grade, and were willing to participate in a yearlong study. Pláticas were recorded and transcribed. Field notes were documented and journal entries were written for self-reflexivity. All data collection was uploaded to Dedoose, a qualitative data analysis software, that helped code for moments where Latina students’ experienced formal and/or informal school discipline.

Findings
Findings reveal Latina students’ multiple subjectivities (gender, sexuality, language acquisition, dis/ability) to be intertwined to how school discipline manifested. For example, a Latina student and recent immigrant from El Salvador, identified as an English Language Learner, was disciplined due to her inability to speak English. Another Latina was disciplined by teachers due to her inability to focus in class, which stemmed from her anxiety and depression. Overall, this study revealed the Brown feminine body to be controlled and disciplined by school staff in unique ways that have been overlooked by previous work.

Scholarly Significance
This study reveals the importance of using Chicana epistemologies and methodologies to examine school discipline from the standpoint of Latinas. It urges future work to center Latinas and other Girls of Color to broaden our understanding of school discipline, with the end goal of completely dismantling punitive school discipline measures that hinder students’ their educational success.

Author

• Bianca Nayeli Haro, University of California - Los Angeles