Homegirls in Higher Ed: Education, Liberation, and Transformation

• In Event: Latina/o/x Criminology Panel 1: Stigma, (In)justice, and Resilience in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper examines the transformative role of higher education in the lives of criminalized Chicanas. By focusing on the narratives of college-educated formerly incarcerated and system-impacted Mexican American women, this study sheds light on the motivations driving these women to pursue higher education, the barriers they encounter along the way, and the liberating potential that such education affords. Findings reveal that, despite systemic obstacles, educational programs such as Project Rebound in the California State University (CSU) system, Underground Scholars in the University of California (UC) system, and Rising Scholars in the California Community College (CCC) system provide critical support networks, allowing participants to reframe their experiences of criminalization into a source of empowerment and political consciousness. This study argues that while schools often serve as early sites of criminalization, higher education emerges as a crucial space for resistance, personal transformation, and advocacy against the carceral state. These findings contribute to scholarship on race, gender, and criminalization by illuminating education’s paradoxical role as both a mechanism of exclusion and a vehicle for liberation.

Author

• Veronica Lerma, University of California, Davis