Voicing the Silences: Testimonios of Women of Color Navigating Higher Education

• In Event: Women of Color Reclaiming Voice: Engaging Transformative Methodologies to Honor Women of Color Experiences

Abstract

Objectives
Women of Color (WOC) in higher education often report feeling silenced within their instructions due to the marginalization they face (Gutierrez y Muhs, et al., 2012). Although certain silences they face are damaging, by simplifying silence as the problem, we run the risk of interpreting their silences as a deficit response (Foley, 1996; Malhotra & Carrillo Rowe, 2013; Montoya, 2000). To grapple with the ambiguity of silence for WOC it is important to center their voices throughout all aspects of the research process. With that purpose, this paper highlights the use of pláticas and video testimonios as critical tools for examining the complexities of the experiences WOC face in academic spaces. Through this approach, I am able to better connect and engage with my research collaborators, learn from their shared knowledge and reimagine navigational tools that will help Women of Color complete their doctoral education.

Theoretical Framework(s)
This work draws on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and a Women of Color Epistemology (WCE) that is composed of Black Feminist Thought and Chicana Feminist Theories (Collins, 2000; Delgado Bernal, 1998; Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001). By centering their intersectional (racial, ethnic and gendered) identities these complementary frameworks provide the foundation and tools needed to learn from the research collaborators..

Methods
In this qualitative research I use individual pláticas (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) and video testimonios (Benmayor, 2012; Latina Feminist Group, 2001) of 6 WOC doctoral programs from various disciplines. Drawing from traditional practices of sharing stories, pláticas and testimonios are used to engage the participants within the research process. Pláticas and video testimonios offer a distinctive and intentional approach that allows WOC to weave the personal and the academic in a way that creates knowledge and gives meaning to the experiences of silence they face as graduate students.

Findings
The findings demonstrated the fluidity and shift silence can take; from detrimental to becoming a source of resistance and tool of retention. For example, a Latina doctoral student spoke to the negotiation between when and how to use silence as a form of self-preservation, and as a disruptive tool to challenge hegemonic practices of being asked to offer the “Latino perspective.” Overall, this study reveals varied ways silence manifests for WOC as well as the importance of centering WOC in the research process to bring light to overlook possibilities.

Scholarly Significance
WOC have long demonstrated the power of using storytelling to challenge deficit perspectives/theories and create new theories that better fit their lived realities. Engaging in methodological approaches of pláticas and video testimonios through a CRT framework, allows for the necessary insight to carry out the research in a critical and accountable manner that acknowledges the ambiguity of silence for WOC in graduate programs. Through this work, WOC are given the agency to reclaim the silences in a way that allows us to view it for its complexities and see the way it can benefit them as they navigate academia.

Author

• Magali Campos, University of California - Los Angeles