Chicana/Latina Motherscholars in the Academy: A Critical Race Feminista Epistolary Approach Toward Healing and Belonging

• In Event: Humanizing and Transforming Gendered Narratives in P-20: Feminista, Muxerista, and Queer Ideologies and Methodologies

Abstract

This study examines the experiences of Chicana/Latina Motherscholars throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors account for how the pandemic affected the working and personal lives of Chicana/Latina Motherscholars. How have the structures of academia (before and after the pandemic) continued to silence and marginalize the realities of Motherscholars? Through a CRT and LatCrit framework coupled with a Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology, this work centralizes the lived experiences of Chicana/Latina Motherscholars often marginalized in higher education institutions. The authors engaged in pláticas and epistolary letter writing as a methodology. They shared their lived experience to form community to heal from the trauma experienced during the pandemic years at the intersection of their identities as Chicana/Latina Motherscholars.

Authors

• Argelia Lara, Santa Clara University

• Karla Lomeli, Santa Clara University