Testimonio Research as Transformative Student Praxis

• In Event: Reclaiming Memory, Rendering Futures: VR Chicana and Latina Testimonios and Archival Justice in Stockton, CA

Abstract

This presentation highlights the experiences of undergraduate student researchers participating in the VR Chicana and Latina Testimonio Project, focusing on how their involvement in community-based storytelling reshaped their academic goals, self-perceptions, and civic engagement. The purpose is to demonstrate how testimonio research fosters student transformation through healing-centered and justice-oriented praxis.

The presentation is grounded in Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005), critical race feminist pedagogy (Delgado Bernal et al., 2006), and Chicana feminist epistemology (Calderón et al., 2012). It also draws from testimonio as a pedagogical and methodological approach that uplifts marginalized voices and centers experiential knowledge as legitimate scholarly contribution.

Student researchers engaged in participatory action research, conducting testimonios, collecting testimonios, curating archival content, and supporting the translation of narratives into VR formats. They also participated in reflexive journaling and collaborative team meetings that encouraged critical reflection and identity development.

The data discussed includes students’ field notes, reflective journals, excerpts from recorded pláticas and testimonios, and documentation of their work on archival and VR components. Students also analyzed community events where their work was shared publicly, offering insight into the social and political impact of the project.

Findings suggest that student participation in this research fostered deeper engagement with their cultural identities, academic disciplines, and social responsibilities. Students reported increased confidence, a greater sense of belonging in academic spaces, and a clearer understanding of their roles as knowledge producers and cultural historians. They also described the process as healing, empowering, and purpose-driven.

This presentation underscores the transformative potential of youth-centered, community-based research in higher education. By engaging students as co-researchers rather than subjects, the project affirms student agency, challenges traditional hierarchies of knowledge production, and promotes testimonio as both a liberatory methodology and a pathway for cultivating future scholars committed to equity and justice.

Authors

• Glenda Vargas, California State University - Sacramento

• Gustavo Rodriguez Roa, California State University - Sacramento