Latina Graduate Students on Strike: Imaging More Equitable Graduate Education Experiences

• In Event: Focusing on Graduate Student Experiences: Reflections on Engagement and Activism for Black and Latina Students

Abstract

This qualitative research study advances social equity and educational justice of Chicana/Latina students through analysis of testimonios of three first-generation Latina doctoral students that participated in the University of California academic workers’ strike in the fall of 2022. Chicana feminist epistemology serves as the theoretical lens with testimonio and platica as methodology (Delgado Bernal et al., 2012). Findings highlight that 1) education is a place for opportunity and social mobility for Chicanas/Latinas while still benefitting the larger white institution, 2) there is a lack of financial security for first-generation Latina graduate students working at the university, and 3) Latina graduate students receive contradicting messages from the institution about the value of diversity and equity.

Authors

• Mariana Carrola, University of California - Davis

• Izamar del Rosario Ortiz-González, University of California - Davis

• Silvia Tovar, University of California - Davis