Doing School or Not: Latino Boys' Intersectionality and Academic Identity

• In Event: 61.035 - Boys' Intersectionality and Schooling: In Pursuit of Interpretative Frameworks, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

National data indicate only 49% of Latino males in urban schools complete high school when compared to their White male counterparts (Winters & Greene, 2006). Other empirical studies unearthed a gendered pattern in Latino students’ aspirations, attitudes toward school, as well as conceptions of themselves as students (i.e., academic identity), whereby Latino males may be less likely than their female peers to engage in behaviors considered as “doing school,” and essential for school success (Portes, et al., 2001; Suárez-Orozco & Qin-Hillard, 2004; Suárez-Orozco, et al., 2009). Together, these outcomes should compel scholars to pursue critical understandings of the interaction between gender, race, ethnicity, and academic identity among Latino males in urban public schools.

This paper examines how Latino males make-meaning of their racial identifications, as discussed in their conceptions of masculinities, and how these perceptions relate (or not) to their academic engagement in school and educational beliefs. It is heavily informed by theoretical debates contesting the academic variability among racial and ethnic minority youth, Latino masculinity, and the construction of Latino race and ethnicity. Prior research contends the complexities of race, social class, gender, phenotype, generational status, and ethnic identification, altogether mediate the relationship between educational beliefs and behaviors, and educational outcomes (Butterfield, 2006; Carter, 2003; 2005; Fergus, 2004; 2009; Lewis, 2001; 2003; Noguera, 2003; O’Connor, 2001). Latino masculinity serves as a reference to understand the formation of Latino males’ gender identity (Gutmann, 2006; Bourgois, 1996). Sociological literature on Latino race and ethnicity construction and identification provide an additional framework to understand the significance of agency and social context in how Latino male students construct their racial and ethnic identities. (Bonilla-Silva, 2004; Lewis, et al., 2000)

Employing a mixed methods design, interviews (N=20 boys) and survey data (N=1032 students) were derived from the Black and Latino Male School Intervention Study (2006-2011)—a longitudinal study assessing the academic and social merits of seven single-sex schools for boys of color in four U.S. cities. Student interview protocols contained open-ended questions exploring schooling experiences, racial, ethnic, and gender identification, and perceptions of educational opportunity. Survey constructs included: masculinity notions, racial identification, academic engagement, and educational beliefs. Data analysis procedures comprised of “open-coding” (Strauss & Glaser, 1990) for the student interviews, and computing means, standard deviations, and correlations for key variables in the survey. Regression models were also conducted to examine the interaction effect of masculinity notions, and racial identity, on academic identity.

Data suggest the construction of academic identities for Latino males centered on academic engagement, strong beliefs related to education as a social mobility tool, and a desire to counter stereotypical images of Latino men as “thugs” and “criminals.” Survey data indicates a relationship between notions of masculinity and academic identity, and the interaction between masculinity and racial identity, predicts academic identity. The intersectional analysis of gender, race, ethnicity, and academic identity among adolescent Latino males was important toward developing appropriate educational practices and support systems to ensure their academic success.

Author

• Mellie Torres, New York University