The rationalization of college attainment through a color-blind lens among Latina(o) students

ABSTRACT

This research addresses how Latinas(os) frame their own college attainment by relying on the color-blind ideology, an underexplored area. Using interviews with Latina(o) students who attend a primarily White institution in the Midwest, I examined how they reproduce color-blind racism through their reliance on frames such as abstract liberalism, cultural racism, and minimization of racism in rationalizing their college attainment. The analysis revealed that Latina(o) college students’ reliance on these frames varied by skin color and gender. In this, I stress the diversity within the Latina(o) population, which the dichotomous paradigm of race often dismisses.

KEYWORDS:

• color-blind racism
• frames
• Latina(o)
• college attainment
• rationalization

Notes

¹ “Latina(o)” is a more inclusive classification than “Hispanic”; this article uses “Latina(o)” throughout. For a critical discussion on the difference between “Latina(o)” and “Hispanic,” see Calderón (1992), Guzman (2001), and Oquendo (1995).

² MU’s enrollment application allows students to self-identify ethnically (Hispanic and Latino) and racially (White, Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander).

³ For a discussion of sample size, see Bertaux (1981), Charmaz (2006), or Creswell (1998).

⁴ For an in-depth discussion about the relationship between assimilation and racial and ethnic identity among Latinas(os), see Golash-Boza (2006) and Herman (2009).

⁵ Rac(ing) and gender(ing) are gerunds of race and gender; as such, they address the dual nature of race and gender as substantive and verb (Lopez, 2003).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, Michigan State University [Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant].