College Student Experiences: Healing and Power Through Ethnic Studies

• In Event: Centering Their Epistemologies: Individual and Institutional Approaches to Student Development and Learning

Abstract

In this study, we examine how a Research Intensive Hispanic Serving Institution serves its Latinx/a/o student population through the delivery of a culturally sustaining pedagogy, Ethnic Studies curriculum and instructors. We use sitios y lenguas, which emerges out of Chicana/Latina feminist thought to examine how Ethnic Studies curriculum is a discursive mode of knowledge that Latinx/a/o students use to understand their social positions in higher education. We find two major themes from semi-structured interviews with 30 Latinx students: “seeing oneself in the curriculum” and “gaining a critical consciousness to critique systems of power.” This study contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding the effectiveness of Ethnic Studies curriculum and the impact of an HSI’s on Latinx/a/o students’ enrollment, retention, and graduation.

Authors

• Nichole M. Garcia, Rutgers University

• Rebeca Mireles-Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara