Bridging silos in higher education: using Chicana Feminist Participatory Action Research to foster Latina resilience

Abstract

This study takes place at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and examines the experience of women who are part of a research collective studying a Latina college mentoring program. As of Fall 2018, Latina undergraduates made up the largest group at this university, totaling more than 7,000 of 37,000 undergraduate students. In Fall 2016, a college mentoring program to support Latina undergraduates was launched by campus administrators. Out of the program, a multi-generational research collective formed where the research team uses a Chicana Feminist Participatory Action Research (CFPAR) design that engages program staff, faculty, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students in both the design of the study and the continual re-design and implementation of the college mentoring program. This paper uses the researchers’ testimonios and group pláticas to share about their role in the implementation of the research using a CFPAR approach and how they have been impacted by this Latina-centered space that fosters resilience. This research has implications for faculty, staff/practitioner, and student collaboration and for how institutions can support spaces like this to better serve Latinas in higher education.

Keywords:

• Mentorship
• Latina
• Chicana Feminist
• participatory action research
• qualitative methods
• higher education

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We use Latina for female-identified Latinas. We use Latinx as a more gender inclusive term throughout the paper. In some cases we use Latina/o if this is what the authors we are citing used.

2 The women in the group use various identity labels for themselves. For brevity, we refer to them as “Latinas” throughout the manuscript.

3 First author.

4 DACAmented refers to students who hold Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, and TPS refers to Temporary Protected Status.

5 We use the co-author name in sections where we’re writing as the collective about one of the research team member experiences.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by University of Houston [New Faculty Research Award, Women of Color Stimulus Research Grant].

Notes on contributors

Ruth M. López

Ruth M. López is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Houston.

Esmeralda C. Valdez

Esmeralda C. Valdez is a doctoral student and Executive Director of University Services at the University of Houston.

Hope S. Pacheco

Hope S. Pacheco is a doctoral student and an Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Houston.

Maria L. Honey

Maria L. Honey is the Director of the Bauer Real Estate Program at the University of Houston.

Raven Jones

Raven Jones is the Director of the Urban Experience Program at the University of Houston.