Refocusing Our Educational Lens on the Diversity and Culture of Latina Immigrant Mothers and Daughters

• In Event: 34.062 - Constructing a Space and Place of Our Own: (Transnational) Latinas/os Navigating Educational Pathways

Abstract

This study seeks to capitalize upon the social practices that young first-generation-college Latinas engage in as they make their way toward higher education. By recognizing these social practices, we are promoting a paradigm shift that recognizes the diverse knowledge that resides within Latina immigrant mother and daughter relationships.

Using a Chicana Feminist Theory lens (Garcia, 1989), a pedagogies of the home approach (Delgado Bernal, 1992, 2001) and mujer-to-mujer-centered conversations (Villenas, 2005), I examine how young Latinas and their mothers are countering social barriers, such as patriarchal structures, which may impede their road toward higher education. Six young Latinas and their respective mothers participated in this study. Data collection included: home visits; individual interviews with each of the participants as well as three focus groups—(a) mothers (collectively); (b) daughters (collectively); and (c) mothers and daughters (collectively). Individual interviews lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours and were conducted in Spanish or English, as preferred by participants. In addition, I conducted school-based observations (1/2 days for each teenager) that helped serve as a way for me to gain insight into each of the participant’s lives.

By using a microanalysis of the everyday lives of young Latinas and their mothers’ daily interactions and conversations, I refocus the deficit lens through which we may view the home knowledge of parents who did not attend college. This research study also serves as a basis for a close analysis of K-16 entities—including career counselors in high schools, local community organizations, and colleges/universities—and how they can use consejos, cuentos, and testimonios (Delgado Bernal, Elenes, Godinez, Villenas, 2006; Delgado Gaitan, 1994; Villenas, 2001, 2005; Villenas & Moreno, 2001) as a bridge for first-generation Latinas seeking higher education.

In conclusion, this study finds that the immigrant mothers in this study are finding ways to serve as sources of information for their young Latina daughters by countering gatekeepers that may keep young Latinas out of institutions of higher education. Furthermore, the findings of this study move beyond the spaces of college paperwork and a college education. Rather, the immigrant mothers in this study are preparing their Latina youth to prepararse for many of life’s challenges, beyond higher education.

Author

• Erlinda Teniente Valderas, Northside Independent School District