Muxeres of Color: Self and Collective Empowerment Through a Third Space

• In Event: Transnational Decolonial Praxis From Kemet to Abya Yala: Connecting Latinx, Black, Mestizo, and Indigenous Research

Abstract

Critical curriculum and pedagogies are not commonly implemented in the Los Angeles public school system. More specifically, culturally relevant knowledge and teaching practices that cater to the academic and holistic needs of Muxeres of Color (MOC) are overlooked in the K-12 public school system. Current scholarship highlights the contributions ethnic studies programs have on Chicanx and Latinx students; however, little is discussed about the specific effects these programs have on MOC and their academic trajectories. Chicana feminist scholar, Emma Perez (1999), suggests a decolonizing subject emerges when a MOC transforms their marginalized status into an active agent of social change through negotiating a space, also referred to as third space feminism. The objective of this study is to understand how MOC in high school and higher education create a third space for themselves by co-facilitating an after-school program (ASP) that is guided by alternative education pedagogies and praxis to inform and validate their marginalized status. Data collection strategies for this study include pláticas with high school and undergraduate students who partake in the ASP, classroom observations, and an auto-ethnography. Overall, it is significant to examine the outcomes culturally relevant after-school programs have on the self-esteem and confidence of MOC because it creates a greater potential for high school commencement, higher education enrollment, and ultimately social agency to continue to improve their communities.

Author

• Amber Janet Olmos, Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles