Chicana/Latina Feminist Pláticas: Method, Methodology, and Redefining Educational Leadership

• In Event: Rooted in Relations: Tracing Connections Across Women of Color Methodologies to Reimagine Educational Justice

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions, experiences, and values that Spanish-speaking high school students and their mamás held regarding California’s Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL), with the goal of reimagining how educational policies can honor and support the linguistic and cultural wealth of multilingual families. Grounded in Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Lara, 2002), Critical Race Theory (Bell, 1980; Ladson-Billings, 1998), LatCrit (Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001; Pérez Huber, 2010), and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005, 2016), this study approached language not just as a skill to be measured, but as something powerful: deeply connected to identity, belonging, and to the everyday realities of navigating systems that often marginalize bilingual communities.

Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016) guided a relational and dialogic practice of research, rooted in community, culture, and feminist praxis. Pláticas provided culturally sustaining, intimate spaces where mamás and students could engage in storytelling and reflective dialogue, co-constructing knowledge through emotion, memory, and shared struggle. This method disrupts extractive research models by centering voice, trust, and collective meaning-making (Anzaldúa, 2020).

I focus on how these frameworks challenge dominant ideologies embedded in bilingual education policy as well as dominant conceptions of “educational leadership”. That is, the epistemological emphasis on the importance of conocimiento, knowledge rooted in lived experience, is a means to interrogate and transform systemic inequities. I elaborate on this by sharing the findings of my dissertation research, which revealed that while students and mamás deeply value bilingualism as a core part of their cultural identity and a resource for the future, they experience significant barriers to accessing the Seal of Biliteracy, including a lack of awareness, inconsistent outreach, and institutional practices that center English-dominant norms (Davin et al., 2022; Heineke et al., 2018; Schwedhelm & King, 2020). Research co-creators voiced frustration that a policy intended to recognize their linguistic strengths often feels inaccessible or irrelevant due to exclusionary implementation practices. At the same time, they expressed powerful visions for equity, such as introducing biliteracy awareness earlier in schooling, honoring community-based language learning, and creating transparent, multilingual communication from schools. These insights underscore the importance of including families not only as stakeholders but as co-creators in shaping educational policy.

I also highlight my advocacy as a doctoral student to refute dominant, hierarchical notions of “educational leadership” and “rigorous research”. I emphasize the ways in which Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas were central to my cultural, community, and equity focused commitments, and remain present in my current role as a school leader. I situate my research as part of a growing effort to humanize and decolonize research by modeling how pláticas can serve as both method and praxis in community-driven inquiry.

Research, when rooted in relational ethics and cultural humility, can illuminate how policies are lived, resisted, and reimagined by those most impacted. In doing so, it offers a model for research-practice partnerships that move beyond the symbolic inclusion of marginalized voices and toward meaningful transformation grounded in trust, testimony, and community knowledge.

Author

• Ana M. Segoviano, Twin Rivers Unified School District