Testimonios From Chicana Motherscholars: “I’m Not Gonna Ask Permission, ‘Can I Have a Baby?!’”

• In Event: Roundtable Session 38
  In Roundtable Session: Beyond Knowing the Motherscholar: Motherscholars Engaging in Self-Defining Motherscholarship

Abstract

There’s this feeling of obligation, but this is my life. I made the decision to go to [back to school]. I didn’t sign up for the military. This is my own interest. There’s so much permission asking, which really creeps me out. I’m not gonna ask permission, ‘Can I have a baby?’ People are so afraid that they’re going to be penalized for having these life experiences. There’s taboo around being a parent. You’re not supposed to be married or have children. Just be a researcher – anything that deviates - not a good idea. – Raíz

Purpose

This study explores three questions: How do Chicana Education Ph.D. students’ experiences influence their personal and professional aspirations? How do children (or the desire to have children) influence aspirations to continue on to the professoriate? And, how do Chicanas anticipate negotiating contradictions or conflicts that may arise in pursuit of their aspirations? Using a Community Cultural Wealth framework, this work explores how Chicana Ph.D. motherscholars (and aspiring motherscholars) envision and approach their life-work.

Theoretical Framework

This work builds upon theories that address complexities and contradictions of experiences including empowerment, resistance, displacement, marginality, and border-consciousness (Anzaldúa, 1987, 2002; Cuadraz & Pierce, 1994; Solórzano, 1998; Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001). The work of Chicana and Latina feminists (Anzaldúa, 1987, 2002; Arredondo, Hurtado, Klahn, Nájera-Ramirez, & Zavella, 2003; Delgado Bernal, 1998; A. Hurtado, 2003; The Latina Feminist Group, 2001) is instrumental to understanding the roles that personal, political, and intellectual experiences play in times of transition. Finally, Tara Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework provides a lens to communicate strategies practiced by motherscholars and aspiring motherscholars in academia.

Methodology

In this qualitative study, 15 Chicana Ph.D. students in the field of Education were selected through a snowball sampling approach. All participants were at least second year Ph.D. students, between the ages of 21 – 34. This paper uses testimonio (Burciaga, 2007), a qualitative methodology developed in Latin America that incorporates the political, social, and cultural histories that accompany one’s life experiences. Testimonio is similar to oral history yet involves the participant in a critical theoretical reflection of personal, political, spiritual, and intellectual understandings of self and community. Testimonio, then, provides an epistemic-like lens to support an analytical inquiry of experiences within larger social contexts (Benmayor, 1988; Negron-Gonzales, 2009; Partnoy, 2006; The Latina Feminist Group, 2001). As such, testimonio provides a vehicle for meaning-making between the participant and researcher, which positions the participant as an essential partner in analyzing their story.

Significance

Little is known about Chicanas’ trajectories beyond the doctorate - less about how motherscholarhood influences aspirations of the professoriate. The methodology of testimonio and resulting analytical partnership between researcher and participant provides an opportunity to explore how Chicana Ph.D. motherscholars envision and approach their life-work.

Author

• Rebeca Burciaga, San José State University