“Because we’re Hispanic, because we’re Latinas”: Avoiding Chicana/Latina Cultural Scripts

• In Event: Navigating Identity, Equity, and Cultural Narratives in Education

Abstract

Chicanas/Latinas endure and resist racialized and gendered stereotypes throughout
the course of their lives that include teenage pregnancy, substance use, gang affiliation, and high
school dropout. This paper engages with the concept of possible selves and isolates the feared self to amplify how Chicanas/Latinas resist cultural scripts. I draw on multi-part life history interviews with Chicanas/Latinas that attended a continuation school throughout their educational trajectory. Chicanas/Latinas identified three prominent feared selves that include 1) teenage pregnancy, 2) gang affiliation and substance use, and 3) high school dropout.

Author

• Maritza E. Salazar, Mexican American Opportunity Foundation