Reclaiming Histories of Familial Resistance: The Chicana/Latina Motherscholar-Daughterscholar Phenomenon, 1970s-2020s

• In Event: Narratives of Resistance within Education, Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Overview and Purpose
Since its inception in the 1960s, experts working at the nexus of education and Chicana/Latina studies continue to advocate for the infusion of Feminista approaches in recovering hidden educational histories (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Perez Huber et al, 2014). Growing bodies of literature within Chicana/Latina studies in education have effectively unearthed histories of resistance across the pipeline, but a focus on recovering stories of mother-daughter resilience in post secondary education is sparse. This study responds to the dearth of scholarship which analyzes the educational life stories of Chicana/Latina mothers and daughters who attended college jointly in the U.S. during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The author poses two questions: What might a historical analysis of Chicana/Latina collegiate pathways reveal about the educational experiences of mothers and daughters who attended college together between the 1970s-2020s? And What lessons can we glean from examining the higher education pathways of a historic mother-daughter dyad who attended college jointly in the 1970s?

Theoretical Perspectives
This paper merges Critical Race Theory in Education (Solórzano, 1997) and Chicana/Latina Feminisms (Delgado Bernal, 1998) to inform a sensibility in educational research known as a Critical Race Feminsta Historical Praxis (CRFHP) (Escobedo & Camargo Gonzalez, 2022). Conceptual tools emergent from a CRFHP invite an analysis of how interlocking systems of oppression impact Chicana/Latina higher education experiences.

Methods & Data Sources
The study’s qualitative design triangulates several data sources to unveil the educational life histories of Chicana/Latina mother-daughter dyads who attended college jointly. Data sources include individual and group pláticas (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016), handwritten letters, and primary documents, including news articles and email correspondences.

Findings
This educational history examines maternal and daughteral experiences spanning the 1970s-2020s. The focus on the 1970s is significant because we find within said time frame the birth of the Chicana/Latina motherscholar-daughterscholar phenomena. I operationalize the motherscholar-daughterscholar phenomena as one wherein mothers and daughters enroll in, and progress through higher education channels at times that overlap (author, 2021). This research designates the 1970s as the Chicana/Latina motherscholar-daughterscholar point of genesis and uplifts women in the de Uriarte family as pioneers who initiated the birth of the phenomena in a Chicana/Latina context. In addition to the historical discovery of the de Uriarte trailblazers, findings reveal that the de Uriarte women advocated extensively for their individual and collective advancement through college by challenging federal and institutional practices working to push them out of Yale University. Lessons gleaned from this mother-daughter history serve to further contextualize how educational policies of the 1970s and 1980s continue to systematically exclude Chicana/Latina families pursuing higher education in the 21st century.

Implications and Significance
In making historical connections to the stories of mother-daughter pioneers across time and geographic space, this research names the de Uriarte narrative as a cornerstone in Chicana/Latina educational history. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates how “unforgetting” Chicana/Latina histories can offer a pathway toward more equitable educational futures for Families of Color across generations.

Author

• Cindy R. Escobedo, University of California - Los Angeles