Chicas fuertes: Counterstories of Latinx parents raising strong girls 

ABSTRACT

In this article, I explore the narratives and experiences of four Latinx mothers and fathers, Alma, Rose, Valente and Samuel, who participated with their adolescent daughters (grades nine-10), Blanca, Elizabeth, Rocky and Reyna in Somos Escritores/We are Writers writing workshops. Somos Escritores was a family engagement space, created with and for Latinx mothers and fathers and their adolescent daughters, that invited families to draw, write and share stories from their lived experiences. Workshops were designed with and for Latinx parents and their adolescent daughters to open space for the intergenerational exchange of stories and experiences within a political context that continuously and increasingly works to silence and control their voices and experience. Drawing upon written narratives, interview transcripts and ethnographic field notes, I provide insights into the ways that these parents are raising their daughters to be “chicas fuertes/strong girls.” Through the sharing of consejos, stories, and experiences --their “pedagogies of the home,” (Delgado Bernal, 2001), these parents provide their daughters with strategies and tools to navigate their daily lives, including their personal, social and academic worlds, while ensuring that they stay connected to their familial, cultural and linguistic roots.

KEYWORDS:

• family engagement
• intergenerational storytelling
• Latina girls
• Latinx parents
• writing

Note

Throughout this piece, I highlight the stories, voices, and histories of the Latinx parents and daughters that I worked alongside in Somos Escritores. To honor their authentic voices, I made the methodological decision to preserve and honor their written and spoken words as shared at workshops and in interviews. In addition, language variations, grammatical structures, and spelling used by Latinx parents and their daughters are shared in the original oral and written form.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.