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ARTICLE TITLE: The power of ethnic studies: portraits of first-generation Latina/o students carving out un sitio and claiming una lengua

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The power of ethnic studies: portraits of first- generation Latina/o students carving out un sitio and claiming una lengua

Norma A. Marrun

To cite this article: Norma A. Marrun (2018) The power of ethnic studies: portraits of first- generation Latina/o students carving out un�sitio and claiming una�lengua, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31:4, 272-292, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2017.1422288

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2017.1422288

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InternatIonal Journal of QualItatIve StudIeS In educatIon, 2018 vol. 31, no. 4, 272–292 https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2017.1422288

The power of ethnic studies: portraits of first-generation Latina/o students carving out un sitio and claiming una lengua

Norma A. Marrun 

department of teaching and learning, university of nevada, las vegas, nv, uSa

ABSTRACT For more than 50 years, college and high school students, families, and community activists have fought for the preservation of ethnic studies. Qualitative research studies consistently have shown positive outcomes, including increased academic engagement and affirmation, for students who take ethnic studies in K-16. In this article, I argue that Latina/o students who enrolled in ethnic studies courses benefited academically and personally from culturally responsive pedagogies. The portraits presented in this article are part of a larger ethnographic study of the schooling experiences of Latina/o students. Data were collected from in-depth, semi- structured interviews, and field notes at two universities. Findings show that the students’ experiences in the courses served as sitio y lengua [a space and a language/discourse] in which they experienced:(1) intersecting sitios of home and school pedagogies; (2) (re)claimed an academic space and identity; and (3) (re)defined and (re)connected the boundaries of community space. Ultimately, this article advocates for the expansion of ethnic studies.

Currently, Latinas/os make up 17.6% of the total U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). They are also the youngest ethnic/racial group in the U.S.; about 6 in 10 Latinas/os are Millennials (ages 18–33) or younger (Patten, 2016). The Latina/o population is vast, young, and represents a fast-growing seg- ment of the student population at the PK-16 level. Particularly from 1996 to 2012, college enrollment at two- and four-year colleges tripled among Latinas/os ages 18–24 (Krogstad & Fry, 2014). Many of these students were also among the first in their families to attend college. As a result, they were more likely to experience isolation from the dominant college culture, confront overt and covert forms of discrim- ination (i.e. racism, sexism), perceive some professors as unapproachable, and experience feelings of self-doubt about their ability to succeed in college (Villalpando, 2003; Yosso, 2006). To ensure Latina/o students’ college persistence, it is important to support both formal and informal spaces that facilitate their transition and integration into college life by ensuring that they feel academically validated in the classroom, valued and respected, and culturally affirmed (Solórzano & Villalpando, 1998). These core elements enable students to feel a sense of belonging, one of the strongest predictors of college persistence (Hurtado & Carter, 1997).

Although literature on the experiences of Latina/o college students has expanded greatly, few studies have explicitly explored the connection between Latina/o students who enroll in ethnic studies courses and its impact on their academic development, student persistence, and sense of connectedness to the campus community (Delgado Bernal, Alemán, & Garavito, 2009; Nuñez, 2011). In this article, I present 10

ARTICLE HISTORY received 17 September 2015 accepted 22 december 2017

KEYWORDS latina/o students; higher education; culturally responsive; ethnic studies

© 2018 Informa uK limited, trading as taylor & francis Group

CONTACT norma a. Marrun [email protected]

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portraits of first-generation Latina/o students who enrolled in Latina Latino Studies (LLS) and Mexican American Studies (MAS) courses and I examine the impact that these courses had on their academic confidence and ability to succeed in college. The process of crafting portraits is political. As Smyth and McInerney (2013) wrote, ‘for there is never a single story to be told or a simple answer to the research question’ (p. 10). This article draws on Pérez’s (1991, 1998) sitio y lengua [a space and a language/ discourse] in education to understand how these courses opened up an academic space for Latina/o students to dialogically (re)claim their identities, counter Eurocentric and male-centered paradigms, and develop an academic identity that bridges students’ home and community knowledge.

The following questions guided the research: (1) What were their experiences in LLS and MAS courses?; (2) How did LLS and MAS courses serve as academic counterspaces?; and (3) In what ways did these courses open up un sitio y una lengua for the resituatedness of knowledge and the development of critical consciousness? LLS and MAS courses serve as a culturally responsive, academic counterspace by allowing students to bridge their experiences within the university, family/home, and community.

The fight for social justice and educational equity has been at the forefront of civil rights struggles in the U.S. and remains so today. I begin by desituating/resituating my research against the (de)segre- gation of knowledge that emerged from the civil rights movement and creation of ethnic studies on college campuses. A major goal of the civil rights movement of the 1960s was to improve the quality of education for students of color including Chicana/o youth by demanding an education that was culturally relevant, meaningful, and affirming of their identities, histories, and lived experiences. I then explain how Arizona’s House Bill 2281 (HB 2281), ban on Mexican American Studies courses led to the revitalization of ethnic studies as college students across the country galvanized against the apart- heid of knowledge. The ban created a nationwide movement where students, educators, families, and communities demanded a culturally responsive education across the PK-16 education continuum. Although my work is focused on ethnic studies courses at the college level, Arizona’s ethnic studies ban was critical to show how their enrollment in the courses strengthens the educational pipeline and increases opportunities for Latina/o students to not only enter higher education, but to persist and graduate from college. I then explain how the ban on ethnic studies was justified by political leaders as ‘bad diversity.’ As college campuses become more diverse, there is a lower priority to support or expand ethnic studies in institutions of higher education. At the same time, many colleges and universities are transforming their curriculum by requiring their students to take at least one course with a diversity focus; this comes at the expense of devaluing and marginalizing ethnic studies departments and pro- grams. Next, I detail the theoretical lens, sitio y lengua to understand and analyze culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogies across ethnic studies courses. I expand sitio y lengua and counterspaces as operational and relevant concepts that challenge deficit perspectives about Latina/o students and ethnic studies classrooms. These are characterized by solidarity and resistance that inspires students to use their education in the service of social change. To examine these insights more deeply, the blending of ethnography with Chicana/Latina feminisms and portraiture allowed me to intimately understand the lived experiences of 10 first-generation Latina/o students (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005; Villenas, 1996). Findings reveal how students felt affirmed and cared for within and outside of the class by LLS and MAS professors, teaching assistants, and staff. Ultimately, students developed a self-awareness about who they were and the ability to take action against oppressive forces within their families, community, and university spaces. Most importantly, students gained confidence about belonging and their ability to complete their college degrees.

Specifically, this article describes how first-generation Latina/o college students recounted their experiences in LLS and MAS courses. I deploy the framework sitio y lengua [a space and a language/ discourse] to examine how LLS and MAS courses provide Latina/o students an academic counterspace where intersecting pedagogies of home and school emerge, where students (re)claim an academic identity and space, and where community boundaries are (re)defined (Pérez, 1991, 1998; Solórzano & Villalpando, 1998). Sitio operates as a space for students to engage in critical self-reflection, to engage in dialog about the social conditions that shape their lived experiences, and to assert their connections to community. The courses offered a sitio where they worked through the tensions and contradictions

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between students’ home knowledge and the values of higher education (i.e. collectivism vs. individu- alism). Lengua provides a discourse for students to critically analyze and challenge deficit discourses about their race, ethnicity, class, gender, language, culture, immigration status, and intelligence within and outside academic spaces. I conclude by indicating that ethnic studies courses have the power to improve the retention and college completion of Latina/o students. Lastly, as college campuses become more diverse, racist incidents have been on the rise across the U.S. and lingering tensions have turned into student protests. More than ever before, universities and colleges need to expand ethnic studies courses to provide all students with the tools to understand, reflect on, and act against systemic racism and to build a more socially just and equitable society.

Desituating/Resituating My Research Against the (De)segregation of Knowledge. During the Civil Rights Movement, people of color fought to desegregate schools, which also led to

the desegregation of knowledge by the establishment of ethnic studies programs, including Chicana/o and Mexican American studies. Marcos Pizarro (2004) described the role and visions that Chicana/o youth had in the creation of Chicana/o studies. He explained:

They were protesting the inadequate education Chicana/o youth received in their schools. The students criticized an irrelevant curriculum, inadequate resources, and racist teachers and counselors. Chicanas/os in the 1960s sought an education (knowledge) that reflected their experiences and was relevant to their efforts to succeed and improve the conditions of their communities. In so doing, they created new knowledge and understandings about who they were that were strongly influenced by the cultural aspects of community that shaped their unique knowledge systems, as well as their obvious resistance to their sociopolitical position. (p. 158)

The Chicana/o movement was instrumental in the implementation of a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to schooling, including the establishment of bilingual education policies and the revision of textbooks to make them reflect the history of Latinos/as in the U.S. (San Miguel Jr., 2013). Through the establishment of Chicana/o and Mexican American studies, Chicana/o students attained epistemological and pedagogical representation at the PK-12 and university levels.

Over the last four decades, high school and college students have led numerous protests, walkouts, hunger strikes, sit-ins, and teach-ins to fight for the establishment and revitalization of ethnic studies programs. In 1998, Tucson High Magnet School created the Raza Studies program, in part to provide students with a culturally relevant curriculum and retention strategy to increase high school completion and college attendance rates (Cabrera, Milem, & Marx, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 1995). After 12 successful years, the program was dismantled in 2010, when legislators in Arizona passed HB 2281, which led to the elimination of the Mexican American/Raza Studies Program. What appeared as an isolated incident quickly gained national attention, as students, teachers, and faculty across schools and college campuses began to stand in solidarity with Arizona. While the attacks against ethnic studies have been focused on the high school level, ethnic studies at the university level are either constantly facing budget cuts or are being restructured. The trend toward eliminating ethnic studies has troubling consequences in our education system by ignoring or avoiding conversations about racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination and injustices.

Ethnic studies in Arizona: ‘bad’ diversity

One of the goals of the Mexican American/Raza Studies program was to promote and increase students’ awareness of the various dimensions of diversity. The program design was based on three areas: cur- riculum, pedagogy, and student–teacher–parent interaction to help students develop a ‘strong social cultural, and historical identity,’ which has allowed students to ‘develop for the first time an academic identity’ (Romero, 2015, p. 17). The founders developed a program that was culturally, socially, and historically relevant to Latina/o students. However, soon after a 2006 assembly at Tucson High Magnet School, State Attorney General Tom Horne took major offense by the program’s approaches to diversify the curriculum and began an aggressive campaign to eliminate the program.

On the last day of the Cesar E. Chávez week celebration at Tucson High Magnet School, Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers and civil rights activist, was invited to speak about

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the importance of civic participation.1 Huerta gave a powerful speech supporting student efforts to organize against anti-immigrant state legislation. However, what was highlighted from her speech was her infamous statement ‘Republicans hate Latinos.’ Horne,2 the state superintendent at the time of the incident, responded by sending Deputy Superintendent Margaret Garcia-Dugan, a Latina Republican, to counter Huerta’s statement. Approximately 10 minutes into her speech, students walked out of the auditorium with their mouths taped, symbolizing their voices being silenced by legislation targeted exclusively at the Latino community (Saraga, 2006).

One of Horne’s strategies to eliminate the program involved labeling the MAS as promoting ‘bad’ diversity by threatening to withhold 15 million dollars of the district’s funding (O’Leary, Romero, Cabrera, & Rascón, 2012). He believed that the program was not being taught in an objective way, promoted ethnic chauvinism, racial separatism, and a curriculum that was anti-American. 3 Horne privileged his own interests in the discourse of diversity by citing his participation in the 1963 March on Washington and reiterating sections from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. As a member of the dominant group, Horne decided what was ‘good’ and ‘bad’ diversity and what counted as knowledge.

Resistance to the apartheid of knowledge

In 2012, a group of 10 teachers and 2 students filed a lawsuit challenging HB 2281 and lost the case. However, they did not give up, and soon after appealed the ruling, and prevailed. On 7 July 2015, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its opinion in the Arce v. Douglas (formerly Arce v. Huppenthal) case and agreed that the law violated students’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.4 The court also ruled that HB 2281 was discriminatory, vague, and overly broad. The case was sent back to the U.S. district court to determine whether that state of Arizona violated the First Amendment. This highly public battle over teaching ethnic studies has become yet another example of the apartheid of knowledge that exists within our public school system by further delegitimizing the history, knowledge, lived experiences, and contributions of marginalized communities. More than ever, higher education has to provide what is still being challenged in court – Latina/o students’ access to courses in MAS. As Latina/o students advance to higher education, there is a growing need for Latina/o students to have access to academic counterspaces to help them transition into higher education and improve their college completion.

Diversity courses and interest convergence: content knowledge matters

Although ethnic studies programs have proven to increase students’ thinking critically about diver- sity and cross-cultural understanding, their work has not always been valued. Diversity in education is often treated as a commodity – neatly packaged, marketed, and made palatable through mission statements, brochures, and university websites filled with images of happy and attractive students of color. Scholars concerned with educational policies promoting equity, including the curricular integrity of ethnic studies courses, have applied Derrick Bell’s (1980) interest convergence theory to explain how racial equality and diversity can be integrated only when it converges with the interests of the dom- inant group (Aguirre, 2010; Alemán & Alemán, 2010). Institutions of higher education value diversity in curriculum and now many of them require all undergraduate students to take at least one course related to diversity. Ethnic studies courses served this need but have since been outsourced by other departments that claim to incorporate diversity in their curriculum. Aguirre Jr. (2010) argued that more departments are responding to diversity by offering courses that satisfy the graduation requirement, not because they value diversity, but because it allows them to increase their access to more resources (e.g. course development grants, teaching assistants). He explained, ‘Academia is a marketplace for resource accumulation, and diversity is simply a commodity tied to resource allocation’ (p. 767). Aguirre Jr. (2010) applied interest convergence to show how institutions of higher education have expanded diversity courses in order to privilege the dominant group and to marginalize Chicano Studies Programs. However, the issues are not that other departments cannot teach diversity courses, but, rather, that

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instructors should have the content knowledge from ethnic studies in order to teach diverse students and to create a culturally responsive curriculum.

Chicana/o, Mexican American, and Latina/o studies have made significant contributions to critical and transformative curriculum and pedagogy. Thus, one of the main objectives of ethnic studies courses remains to decolonize knowledge and power by incorporating non-Western epistemologies and ped- agogies into the classroom (Córdova, 2005; Pizarro, 1998). Research on Chicana/o, Mexican American, and Latina/o studies courses has shown that they positively influence the ethnic and racial identi- ties and academic confidence of Latino/a students, help them navigate the campus climate, increase their involvement on and off campus, and help develop a supportive network of peers (Holling, 2006; Hurtado, 2005; Pizarro, 2004). More importantly, the curriculum and pedagogies enable students to make meaning of their learning and raises students’ critical consciousness by helping students acquire the knowledge and tools to understand and confront discrimination in their everyday lives (Delgado Bernal et al., 2009; Hidalgo & Duncan-Andrade, 2010; de los Ríos, 2013). Hurtado’s (2005) work high- lighted how Chicano Studies courses have a positive impact on Chicana students’ ethnic and academic identities, and political consciousness. Participants in Hurtado’s study shared how Chicano studies gave their education a purpose by ‘allowing them to see how they could “give back” to their communities’ (p. 191). For students in these studies, enrolling in these courses served as a motivational tool to graduate from college, obtain advanced degrees, and pursue careers where they could make a difference in the lives of their families and communities.

Theoretical framework

Chicana feminism: sitio y lengua

Utilizing a Chicana/Latina feminist framework, I employ Pérez’s (1991, 1998) sitio y lengua [a space and a language/discourse] to describe the experiences of first-generation Latina/o students enrolled in MAS and LLS courses. As a marginalized group of students whose histories, lived experiences, family stories, cultural knowledge, ancestral wisdom, and language are often perceived as inferior in schools, the quest for a sitio y lengua is necessary. A Chicana/Latina feminist approach challenges Eurocentric, male-centered research and educational practices that blame Latina/o students’ underperformance on their culture and their families.

The Chicana feminist movement emerged in the 1960s in reaction to the sexism and gender oppres- sion within the Chicano movement, home, and community spaces (Moraga & Anzaldúa, 1981). These advocates also felt excluded from the white feminist movement because they failed to acknowledge Chicanas’ intersectional identities (García, 1997). In response to the exclusion they experienced in both movements, they created a space for women of color and a Chicana feminist discourse. Anzaldúa (1999) and many Chicana/Latina feminist scholars also used a blend of lenguas [languages] in their scholarship as a method to decolonize linguistic hegemony by incorporating Spanish, Spanglish, and Indigenous languages, among others, and as a space to (re)claim multiple identities. Furthermore, centering the lenguas of multilingual communities has been imperative to resisting further colonization through assimilationist school policies (i.e. English-only movement). In the following sections, I highlight educa- tional studies that draw on sitio y lengua as a culturally responsive pedagogical tool that works toward decolonizing education.

The creation of separate spaces for Chicanas has been critical for the articulation of theory and practice within contentious and ambiguous spaces. More importantly, the development of a Chicana/ Latina feminist framework in educational research has been critical in contesting cultural deficit para- digms, which blames Latina/o students’ culture and families for their low educational attainment (Baca Zinn, 1979; Delgado Bernal, Elenes, Godinez, & Villenas, 2006; González, 1998). Chicana/Latina feminist scholars have worked toward shifting this paradigm by centering and validating the epistemologies and pedagogies rooted in Latino families and community.

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Within the field of education, Pérez’s (1991, 1998) theory of sitio y lengua has been a useful framework for rethinking culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy, as well as being a predictor of academic confidence and degree completion (Delgado Bernal & Elenes, 2011; Delgado Bernal et al., 2009; de los Ríos, 2013; Romero, DeNicolo, & Fradkin, 2016). While Pérez (1998) focused on the creation of a third space for Third World women and lesbians, she also recognized the need for all marginalized groups to have separate spaces to ‘inaugurate their own discourses, nuestra lengua en nuestro sitio’ (p. 92). Sitio y lengua provides a framework for understanding the importance of ethnic studies courses on the academic and social outcomes of Latina/o students. Pérez’s (1991) sitio y lengua offered a paradigm to desituate and resituate colonial ideologies and Eurocentric values within curriculum, pedagogy, and educational policies. Peréz reflected on the reproduction of sociocultural, political, and historical injustices, as she recalled how her mother was disrespected by white teachers for not speaking English and how she and her brother were punished in school for speaking Spanish on the playground and classroom. For Pérez (1998), claiming a language meant claiming ‘la lengua de mi gente’ [the language of my people] (p. 74). Lengua also entails having access to multiple discourses; Peréz (1991) explained, ‘Language, after all is power. Third World people know that to learn the colonizer’s language gives one access to power and privilege, albeit controlled, qualified power’ (p. 165).

Romero et al. (2016) drew on sitio y lengua to examine how one bilingual teacher’s pedagogy builds on students’ home languages and ways of knowing. They found that sitios y lengua are created in the classroom when teachers ‘recognize the fluid and dynamic ways bilinguals access languages for com- munication’ (p. 458) using dialog to learn about students’ ways of knowing. At the high school level, de los Ríos (2013) qualitative study of a Chicana/o–Latina/o studies high school course drew upon sitio y lengua and demonstrated how the curricula and teaching practices helped Latina/o students ‘recenter themselves as strong and intelligent students of color and as leaders on campus’ (p. 70). Latina/o youth discussed how sitio y lengua provided them with a space to establish decolonizing discourses to chal- lenge dominant ways of thinking about their identities, family, community, and schooling experiences. de los Ríos (2013) scholarship reaffirmed the need to value safe sitios like ethnic studies courses to provide Latina/o high school students with a curriculum and pedagogy that affirms their historical and cultural backgrounds, as well as fosters their sense of commitment to create social change within their community.

At the university level, Delgado Bernal et al. (2009) utilized sitio y lengua to examine undergraduate Latina/o students’ experiences in a year-long ethnic studies course and service learning experience men- toring elementary students. In their study, Delgado Bernal et al. (2009) described sitio as the social and discursive spaces of the ethnic studies course and the service-learning site, whereas lengua is defined as the counter discourses that students learned in the ethnic studies course and how they applied that knowledge within and outside (i.e. service-learning site and with family) the university space to challenge dominant discourses about race, ethnicity, gender, class, language, and immigration. They also found that the ethnic studies course and the service-learning component contributed to students’ ability to reclaim their identity as Latina/o college students. Reclaiming a college identity is critical in helping Latina/o students who are more likely to struggle with feelings of self-doubt, academic inse- curities, and invisibility. Ultimately, students’ participation in the course and community involvement helped build the necessary bridges to sustain students’ multipositionality of becoming academically successful, while maintaining strong ties with their families and communities.

Sitio y lengua significance to scholarship in educational research is that it offers a theoretical frame- work for the analysis of culturally responsive curriculum, pedagogy, and retention strategies. A sitio y lengua analysis emphasizes the need for students to acquire the tools and critical discourses to name and interrogate hegemonic constructions of knowledge. The curriculum and pedagogy in these studies provide students with a critical space to engage in often painful and challenging conversations and to grapple with new ways of seeing and making sense of the world. The studies mentioned also point to how sitio y lengua enabled students to feel connected to the school/university space and created a supportive and caring network of peers, faculty, and staff. In turn, sitio y lengua reveals how Latina/o students move from feeling devalued, isolated, and passive consumers of knowledge to a state of critical

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consciousness and in doing so, they (re)claim themselves as academically confident, empowered, and agents of social change.

Counterspaces

Many first-generation Latina/o students struggle to fit into college and often feel academically over- whelmed and socially disconnected from campus life. However, researchers have found that social and academic counterspaces can help students of color build a sense of community or familia on campus (Nuñez, 2011; Solórzano & Villalpando, 1998). Solórzano and Villalpando (1998) defined counterspaces as both formal/informal and academic/social sites that are critical for student’s academic and social integration into college. Nuñez’s (2011) research speaks to the importance of Chicano Studies courses on the retention of first-generation Latina/o students by suggesting that these courses serve as coun- terspaces, where Latina/o students find a space to interact with other Latina/o students and acquire intellectual tools for ‘handling cultural isolation, dealing with negative stereotypes about Latina/o stu- dents, and developing their personal identity in relation to their families and communities’ (p. 652). This literature points out that it is imperative for Latina/o students to have access to academic and social counterspaces on campus including Chicano studies courses.

Chicana/o, Mexican American, Latina/o Studies, and Raza studies courses represent one counterspace that can positively influence Latina/o students’ academic confidence and graduation rates. MAS and LLS courses provide a transformational and nurturing space for students to (re)claim their lived experiences, histories, cultural, ancestral, familial, and community knowledge. After substantive and careful analysis of Chicana/o, Mexican American, Latina/o Studies, and Raza studies, I resituate knowledge practices to create new spaces for learning and new counterstories for improving communities. Although higher education was founded on Eurocentric epistemological perspectives, both students and professors in this study used their respective positions to practice their consciousness through their teaching/ learning, researching/writing, spirituality, and working in communities. I identified the following char- acteristics as the most pertinent and applicable to the epistemological and pedagogical foundations of ethnic studies (e.g. LLS, MAS): (1) works against comfortable situatedness in disciplines (Anzaldúa, 1999); uses personal and community narratives to resituate students into political and social responsibilities of their education (Berta-Ávila, Tijerina Revilla, & López Figueroa, 2011), and, in so doing, (3) challenges dominant epistemological frameworks (Delgado Bernal, 2002), (4) that move toward arts and activism (Burciaga, 1993), and (5) reclaim indigenous wisdom and healing practices (Delgadillo, 2011).

Methods

The research presented in this article is part of a larger ethnographic study on the schooling experi- ences of Latina/o students and how they contested and navigated the spaces of home, community, and the university. In choosing Chicana/Latina feminist ethnography for this study, I followed Chicana/ Latina feminist educational ethnographer Villenas’s (1996) methods of ethnographic research that rec- ognized ‘[a] process where Latinas/os become the subjects and creators of knowledge’ (p. 730). Her ethnographic methods rely on the following tenets: (1) questioning the ethnographer’s identities and privileged positions; (2) paying attention to how the ethnographer manipulates his/her own identi- ties and how one’s identities are manipulated by others; (3) disclosing the ways the ethnographer is situated in oppressive structures; (4) problematizing the relationship between the native researcher and the majority culture; and (5) producing knowledge that challenges structures of inequality and creates social change within the native’s community. Thus, the method of a Chicana/Latina feminist ethnography served as an appropriate approach to examine Latina/o students’ experiences in LLS and MAS courses and a practice to develop collective understandings about the ethnographer and the research participants’ mutual experiences in these courses.

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Research sites

This study took place at two sites. The first site was an urban teaching institution in California with an ethnically diverse and commuter student population. The student population was 30, 236 students and, demographically, 20% were Latina/o, 27% were white, 30% were Asian, and 4% were African American. The MAS department had been in existence for close to 50 years and offered an undergraduate minor and a master’s degree. The department was comprised of four full-time faculty and six adjunct pro- fessors. The goal of the MAS department was to prepare students to critically examine issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender intersections in marginalized communities that were based on principals of social justice.

The second site was a predominantly white research institution located in a micro-urban5 community in Illinois with a student population of 44,087. Student demographics included 8% Latina/o, 45% white, 14% Asian, and 5% African American. The LLS department had been established for close to 20 years and offered an undergraduate major and minor in addition to a graduate minor and a postdoctoral training program. The department was comprised of 11 full-time faculty and 12 affiliated faculty. The department was dedicated to increasing students understanding of how history, cultural practices, class, gender, sexuality, and race/ethnicity have shaped the formation of Latinas/os in the U.S.

Data collection

The data collected at the two sites included: transcripts from interviews, participant observations, field notes at various sites (i.e. classroom observations, campus events, public lectures sponsored by LLS and MAS), documents and other printed materials (i.e. department newsletters, course and event flyers). Additionally, I used informal conversations with students, faculty, and staff and reflective journaling to record my emerging thoughts and reactions after each interview. Ten in-depth, semi-structured inter- views were conducted and transcribed verbatim, and lasted an average of 90–120 min. Before each interview, the participants gave their informed consent and chose their pseudonym. The interviews were conducted in spaces familiar to the participants, including conference rooms in LLS and MAS buildings and campus libraries.

A Chicana/Latina feminist method allowed me to approach each interview as a plática or open dialog, where the participant and I served as co-researchers and co-creators of knowledge (Delgado Bernal & Elenes, 2011). Pláticas allowed for intimate conversations to occur, where stories were exchanged, and multiple realities and truths were acknowledged (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016). While conducting the interviews, I shared my own experiences enrolling in MAS and LLS courses, my cultural values, and my educational aspirations as they shared theirs. We used words in Spanish and engaged in Spanish– English code-switching and shared our life experiences through cultural and familial knowledge, which enabled us to establish reciprocal relationships of confianza (mutual trust).

To ensure accuracy on the interview transcripts, participants checked and analyzed data collected from them. This practice enhanced the trustworthiness of the data and gave participants a more full sense of the relationality of our work together. Participants found it refreshing and interesting to look over their responses from six months earlier and, overall, the students were satisfied with their responses and made minor corrections to their interview transcripts. Some of them also gave me an update on what they were doing with their lives since graduating from college, including attaining jobs working with Latina/o students, starting graduate school, and attending conferences. In short, by focusing on how we had developed relationships through the research, the process itself helped create a sense of connectedness, respeto [respect], and urgency for such stories to be told, heard, and re-circulated.

Protocol themes focused on students’ experience in LLS and MAS courses, including their experi- ences navigating the campus culture and climate, how the courses valued their lived experiences and cultural knowledge, class discussions that stood out, texts and assignments that had an impact on their learning, how they defined community, examples of new acquired knowledge they shared at home, and how the courses impacted their personal lives and career paths. While attending some MAS and

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LLS classes, I engaged in informal conversation with faculty about their experiences teaching Latina/o students and I also spent time at each departmental space where faculty, staff, and students gathered for department meetings and events.

Participants

A purposeful sampling procedure was used to select participants who met the following criteria: self-identified using umbrella terms such as Latina/o or Hispanic, were enrolled at the time of the study or had previously taken courses in MAS and LLS courses, and were the first in their family to pursue a four-year degree (Patton, 2002). I first reached out to each department chair and minor aca- demic advisors to ask for permission to send out a mass recruitment email and to speak to classes to recruit students. Participants were recruited by an email invitation distributed through the LLS and MAS studies department listservs. The email included a brief description of the study, participant criteria, and sample interview questions. In addition, I sat in on several classes offered by both departments to recruit students. I was usually given the first five or last five minutes of class to talk about my research; I started with a story about the impact that ethnic studies had on my academic journey and stayed until the end of the class to answer questions and to get students’ contact information.

Tables 1 and 2 provide participants’ demographic characteristics and education background. The number of courses taken in MAS or LLS ranged from 1 to 14 courses. Many of the participants

grew up speaking only Spanish at home, but use English and Spanish interchangeably with siblings and peers. All 10 students received some form of financial aid assistance from federal student aid, scholarships, and/or student loans. Seven of the participants worked part-time and one of the partic- ipants worked full-time.

Positionality

During my first semester in college, I took my first ethnic studies course in Mexican American Studies (MAS) and the following semester I enrolled in Asian American Studies (AAS). The course was based on the principals of rhetoric through the lens of the Mexican American experience. For the first time in my education, I was taught by a male Latino, who integrated Spanish and cultural knowledge like chistes [jokes] as part of his pedagogy. The following semester, I enrolled in AAS, a course on Asian Americans in U.S. history that was co-taught by two Asian American male professors. I remember one of the books that had the greatest impact on my learning was Takaki’s (2008) book. I remem- ber flipping through the pages and coming across a photograph of a Sikh farmer in California. I was intrigued to learn that Mexicans had not been the only source of agricultural labor in California, and was fascinated to learn about interracial marriages between Sikh men and Mexican women. Both AAS and MAS courses became critical sitios where I excavated the buried and forgotten stories about the struggles, survival, and contributions of people of color. My exposure to ethnic studies courses inspired me to pursue a career in academia. As a graduate student, I minored in Latina/o Studies, in addition to teaching undergraduate courses in Latina/o studies with a focus on education. My experiences as student, researcher, and instructor in ethnic studies courses allowed me to establish confianza and rapport with the students. We shared similar educational backgrounds and learning experiences and

Table 1. california participants.

Name Age Ethnicity Generation Major(s) Minor(s) cassandra 21 Mexican 2nd Social Work MaS antonio 21 Mexican 2nd Business MaS cihuapilli 36 Mexican 3rd Sociology none daniel 21 Mexican 2nd Sociology MaS Sara 19 Mexican 2nd Psychology & Spanish none

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exchanged stories about our experiences in MAS and LLS courses and the impact they had on both our academic and personal growth.

Data analysis

Data analysis occurred after each interview and was transcribed to prevent premature themes from emerging. I used a constant comparative method to compare the experiences of each participant within each of the sites and to contrast the emergent themes from one transcript to the other (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Coding guided me through the process of re-listening to the audio and re-reading the interview transcripts, field notes, participant observations, and journal reflections. The categories were not static; instead, I constantly reworked the codes to critically ensure all possible insights and interpretations. I was attentive to the ways that participants described their experiences in LLS and MAS courses and how they integrated the knowledge acquired into their everyday lives. In accordance with Chicana/Latina feminism and portraiture, both frameworks work against essentializing and dualism, and work to give voice to marginalized groups and individuals (Anzaldúa, 1999; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005). According to Lawrence-Lightfoot (2005), portraiture involves ‘a purposeful and serious attempt to push the boundaries of interpretive inquiry, navigating borders that typically separate disciplines, purpose, and audiences in the social science’ (p. 7). Pushing academic boundaries and building bridges across disciplines, theories, methodologies, and communities is deeply rooted in the field of ethnic studies.

The blending of ethnography with Chicana/Latina feminism and portraiture allowed me to capture the nuances of my participants’ lived experiences, including the multidimensionality and constant flux of their identities. I paid close attention to the contradictions that my participants faced as they navi- gated multiple words and relationships. I also looked for key descriptions in the data that alerted me to examine how students described their experiences in LLS and MAS courses. After several rounds of coding, students’ experiences in these courses were continually compared to identify common themes. The data revealed that LLS and MAS courses opened up un sito [a space] that valued home knowledge, legitimized students’ lives and histories, and affirmed their intersecting identities. I then sought to make meaning of how the instructor’s curriculum and pedagogies offered a lengua [a language/discourse] that strengthened and enriched students’ academic identity, critical consciousness, and asserted their community connections. I then reread the data to create life drawings or portraits about the students’ experiences in LLS and MAS courses. In piecing together and shaping the portraits, I searched for a common story line. Lawrence-Lightfoot (2005) pointed out, however, that ‘there is never a single story’ (p. 10) because many can be told. Rather, she explained how the portraitist is active in selecting the themes, strategic in deciding the focus and emphasis, and in capturing the ‘raw hurt and the pleasure of her or his protagonists and works to embroider paradoxical themes into inquiry and narrative (p. 10). As I transformed the data into narrative portraits, I focused on the stories that peeled back the layers and delved deeply into their consciousness, thoughts, perspectives, and feelings.

Findings

Three interrelated themes emerged from the data: (1) intersecting sitios of home and school pedagogies; (2) (re)claiming an academic space and identity; and (3) (re)defining and (re)connecting the boundaries

Table 2. Illinois participants.

Name Age Ethnicity Generation Major(s) Minor(s) ana 20 Mexican 2nd Biology & llS Ger andrea 22 Mexican & Guatemalan 1.5 Sociology & llS aaS araceli 22 Mexican 2nd Sociology llS & GWS Johnny 22 Mexican 2nd communications & llS BuS rigo 19 Mexican 2nd Secondary education none

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of community space. Within each theme, students described how the curriculum and pedagogy in these courses opened up a space separate and apart from home, community, and school to reflect on the contradictions, and to develop together their own viewpoints and counterstories, for improving their communities. More importantly, sitio y lengua allowed students to challenge subtractive practices that alienated them from their education.

Intersecting sitios of home and school pedagogies

Both LLS and MAS courses provided an academic sitio that bridged Latina/o students home and school pedagogies. Students described the courses as a space where their family’s knowledge, community issues, and cultural backgrounds were valued. In this section, I draw from Delgado Bernal’s (2001) concept of pedagogies of the home to show how LLS and MAS courses embraced and incorporated students’ cultural knowledge and ways of knowing from their homespace into the classroom space. In the process of remembering and retelling family stories in the classroom, there was a shift in sitio y lengua that highlighted the complexity of opposing and contradictory ideologies between home and academic spaces. Sitio created a space where intersecting pedagogies of home and school emerged; lengua gave students the analytical tools and language to subvert, critique, and rethink traditional and dominant discourses while also working through the tensions that emerged among them.

Culturally relevant texts On a pedagogical level, students described their MAS and LLS courses as based on problem-posing dialog and learning that extended beyond the classroom. Professors made teaching culturally relevant to students’ lives by integrating diverse historical perspectives, validating students lived experiences and interests, incorporating Spanish language and concepts (i.e. respeto), and connecting current events and issues facing the Latino community. Using culturally relevant texts allowed students to feel engaged and able to relate to the course material. Cassandra reflected on how she related to the course content:

I could relate to books we read (in LLS) as opposed to all the books I read in high school and even some in college … I could relate to them through my race or even my family experiences. Like when we learned how Mexican women are viewed as ‘hot tamales.’ It’s just really extreme views either really exotic or the opposite like very reserved.

These readings helped Cassandra recognize and unpack stereotypes about Latina sexuality. Through class readings, writing assignments, and class discussions, students acquired una lengua and the tools to critically analyze the intersectionality of history, race, class, gender, sexuality, language, culture, and immigration in the Latino community. Sara also pointed out how the course content allowed her to develop a deeper understanding of the history of Mexican immigration to the U.S:

It’s my second semester taking MAS and it opened up my mind to a lot of things that I didn’t know. I used to think, ‘You know what? Maybe it’s recent Mexicanos coming over here,’ but they’ve been here for a while and it changes the way you see history. Because I’m used to the American version you know the one you learn in history books. So in my Mexican American studies classes you see both worlds coming together. And it has really opened my mind to a lot of things that I didn’t know before.

Understanding this history helped Sara feel connected to the past and understand the present. The courses provide her a framework and tools to situate her family’s history within a broader context of U.S. history. Moreover, the course allowed Sara to demystify her own understanding and ideologies of how Latinas/os fit into U.S. history. Daniel shared a similar sentiment when he said, ‘History is usually written by the “winners.”’ But when we read these textbooks (referring to MAS) it’s from an Anglo and Mexican perspective.’ All of the students thought that for the first time in their education they had learned about their history and other topics that had been erased throughout their PK-12 education.

Disrupting gender role discourses Many of the students expressed how the courses helped them embrace a new outlook on the roles and expectations of women in their families and in their home communities. Araceli described how she

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shared a story in class about challenging gender roles at home and how the class helped her understand gender inequalities and its impact on women. She explained:

We were talking about the double shift, of how women are always expected to hustle home from work and take on another shift. I remember sharing a story in class. I had just started going out with my boyfriend and I was in the car with my mom and for some reason she felt the need to tell me that I needed to learn how to cook. And she said ‘You’re never gonna be able to keep a man if you don’t know how to cook.’ I was so angry ‘cause I had also taken a gender and women studies course and I just kind of blew up. And I was like, ‘So you think I’m going to college so that I can continue to feed into these gender stereotypes? What if I don’t have enough time to cook? What if I make more money than him? What if I’m busier than he is? Why is it still my responsibility to cook? I don’t think that’s fair. These gender stereotypes are what is keeping us down!’ And she just kinda got quiet.

Many of the Latinas struggled to reconcile the contradicting messages they received from their mothers. However, knowledge acquired from reading Chicana/Latina feminist literature in MAS and LLS courses helped Latina/o students reflect and understand how they had been socialized about gender roles. Both Latina and Latino students reflected on the contradictions of gender roles within their families and in their communities. However, Latinas were more conscious of gender ideologies and divisions from a younger age, whereas Latino males became more conscious of these contradictions when they moved away to go to college. Many Latinas expressed feeling freed from many of the home expectations and obligations when they moved away from home.

The combination of a culturally responsive curriculum and student-centered sitio helped to create an academic familia, where students felt a sense of connectedness to themselves, to each other, and to their instructor. For Johnny, it was a place where he could relate with his peers, where he felt comfortable sharing his struggles without feeling judged or misunderstood. He explained:

Latinas have it worse. A lot of my friends here on campus, we talk. This one time I was studying with my friend and I asked her, ‘Hey how’s your family? How’s everything going?’ and she started telling me ‘Hey, so I was at this quinceñera and my tia told me, ‘Mija, why aren’t you married? Where’s your man? Where’s your kids?’ and I’m like, ‘Wow! That’s messed up, you know?’ My friend wants to get a Ph.D., and she’s like ‘I am going to be in school forever, and I’m not gonna get married till I’m 30 something.’ I’ve had the same conversation with my other friend; she’s trying to go to med school. It hurts us students ‘cause we’re hearing these stories and it scares us like, Uh no! No one’s gonna marry us, uh, no one’s gonna love us cause’ we’re gonna be old. I think our friends and family are a huge influence and I guess once you go away from that norm it’s like ‘Oh, this is not normal or why are you still in school?’ I mean like I said, pursuing a higher education for Latinos is something new and it’s shocking to them. So I mean it’s very important for people to talk.

All of the students stated that their parents were supportive of them being in college, yet they expected them to come home on the weekends and/or to call home at least once a week. Because students were the first in their families to go to college, their parents did not always understand the time demands of college work. Parents were also concerned about how college was distancing them from the family because they spent less time at home. Having a safe sitio in MAS and LLS courses allowed students to reflect and share these contradictions within an academic space.

Bridging home and school knowledge Students described how the knowledge acquired in MAS and LLS courses strengthened their connect- edness between home and campus because they were issues/topics that their families could also relate. Creating a space for parents to get a better understanding of what their child was learning and to feel involved in their college education positively impacted their relationship with their parents/family members. Although conversations between students and their parents were not always reciprocal, they gave them the opportunity to share what they were learning with their families back home. Ana recalled the following conversation she had with her mother about racial/ethnic identity:

Like the issues of mestizaje even before I went to college it was a contradiction that I always found. ‘Ok we’re mestizos, we’re Indigenous most likely European, most likely Spanish, we’re mixed.’ Why do we treat the Indigenous people in Mexico like crap? Why do we have the expression, ‘te ves muy indio’6? and that’s an insult. I don’t understand that. So I’ve always had the discussion with my mom. And she’s like ‘Ana, I’m not gonna hear about this’ and she closes off. It’s hard to have a conversation with my mom ‘cause I know she’s really tired and she’s really busy.

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Although Ana did not fully engage in dialog with her mother, the terms ‘mestizaje’ and ‘te ves muy indio’ were disrupted and potentially raised in her mother’s consciousness. Ana made it a point to share and engage in conversations with her family on the books or articles she’s read for her LLS courses. Her passion and excitement to engage with her mother and siblings led to being labeled as the outspo- ken one in the family. She explained, ‘My family calls me grillera because grillos [crickets] make a lot of noise.’ These connections were important because her mother and siblings understood what learning looked like in a college setting, while she also served as a role model by exposing her younger siblings to higher education.

(Re)claiming an academic space and identity

As a group, first generation Latina/o students tend to be less familiar with and less prepared for what it means to be a college student and often do not feel connected to the physical space of higher education. Before enrolling in LLS and MAS courses, students expressed that they felt ambivalent and anxious about whether or not they could succeed academically and graduate from college. However, after enrolling in the courses, students demonstrated that having access to spaces on campus that were culturally responsive to their needs, along with professors and teaching assistants who demonstrated caring attitudes and high expectations, were critical in helping them develop a strong academic iden- tity. For most of the students, walking into their LLS or MAS class gave them a sense of comfort and belonging. Cihuapalli explained, ‘I remember the first time I walked into class (MAS) and just seeing all these brown people everywhere. I was taken aback. Like, wow, I belong here. I felt like I found my place.’ Their connectedness to campus was strengthened when walking into LLS and MAS department offices where students’ culture, history, and language were represented. Similarly, in a study of Chicano students in a predominantly white university, Kenneth González (2002) found that courses in Chicana/o studies were some of the most vital sources of cultural nourishment that supported Chicana/o student persistence in college. González (2002) noted that when there’s a lack of Chicano presence within the social, physical, and epistemological spaces of historically white campuses, it sends out a message to Chicana/o students that they are not valued or that they do not belong.

When I asked Rigo to provide examples of how LLS courses strengthened his connectedness to the campus community, he described how familiar sounds, sights, and cultural symbols of the LLS building and Latino cultural house were the only places where he felt comfortable and welcomed. At the same time, he thought that these spaces made him feel isolated from the rest of the campus. He explained how ‘the campus is not like back home’ where familiar sounds and cultural practices reflect where he comes from. He shared fond memories of growing up in South Side Chicago and missing the esthetics and visual qualities of his neighborhood that were not present on campus. For instance, Rigo recalled accompanying his mother to el mandado [grocery shopping] and walking along one of the main streets, and how his mother stopped several times to greet old friends from her hometown in Mexico. In college, Rigo followed his mother’s example by greeting classmates and professors when he encountered them outside the classroom, but his greeting was not always reciprocated; however, students described how LLS faculty and staff were more approachable within and outside the classroom than were their professors from other departments. Simple actions such as feeling enough comfort to greet their professor(s) outside the classroom helped them feel less socially isolated.

When asked how the university can do a better job of incorporating aspects of his home community and culture into the college environment, Rigo shared:

I am proud of where I grew up. In my community there are murals on the walls and everyone can admire them and that made me proud. But here the murals are inside these walls (referring to the murals located inside the LLS department building). I wish I could walk on campus and feel proud to see these murals outside so that everyone that walks around campus can also admire our culture and that way we can also get to know each other better.

Rigo pointed to how relocating the murals throughout the university would increase the visibility of Latina/o culture, history, and activism on campus. Turner (1994) found in her research on the experi- ences of students of color in a predominantly white institution that students of color felt like ‘guests in

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someone else’s house’ (p. 356). She explained, ‘guests have no history in the house they occupy. There are no photographs on the wall that reflect their image. Their paraphernalia, paintings, scents, and sounds do not appear in the house’ (Turner, 1994, p. 356). Such integration and visibility can transmit an affect of positive emotions on students, families, faculty, and staff. These exhibits have the power to serve as a public archive – one that increases Latina/o students’ sense of belonging, connectedness, cultural pride – where their ancestral wisdom, memories, and history are validated. Many of the build- ings where MAS and LLS were housed provided a strong source of cultural nourishment that many historically white campuses lack within physical, social, and epistemological spaces.

Overcoming feelings of self-doubt The courses also helped students overcome negative stereotypes about their academic abilities and imposter feelings or feeling like an ‘intellectual fraud’ (Clance & Imes, 1978). These sentiments can lead to heightened feelings of not belonging on campus or internalized academic inferiority to whites (Aronson, 2004; Cokley, McClain, Enciso, & Martinez, 2013). Developing positive relationships with professors, teaching assistants, and staff in LLS and MAS courses helped participants feel less anxious about their academics and develop their confidence, as they knew that they had supportive relationships that would help them succeed. Johnny described his relationship with one of his LLS professors as, ‘Having someone that actually cares about you, someone that actually reaches out and wants to help you … Having someone telling me “You’re doing good,” it’s amazing!’ These relationships were significant in providing culturally relevant support, guidance, and encouragement.

Instructors also invested time in getting to know the students on a personal level, held high academic expectations, consistently offered support, and valued students culture and identities as assets upon which to build. The value of meaningful faculty–student interactions, in turn, helped students strengthen their academic confidence. Cassandra described her relationship with one of her MAS professors: ‘She just saw that I liked to write and kept telling me that I was really good. She’s been very encouraging of my writing. She also forwards me scholarships and I’ve been applying to them.’ Holding high expectations, offering constructive feedback, helping identify strengths, and connecting students to resources allow them to develop academic confidence and ultimately persistence toward degree completion. Ongoing feedback from professors and teaching assistants in the form of written comments and verbal exchanges allowed students to feel validated and respected, and reaffirmed their identities as college students.

Andrea describes how enrolling in LLS courses and joining a Latina/o organization helped eased her anxiety and uncertainty about belonging on campus. She explained:

I felt kind of lonely at times and weird. I felt like I didn’t belong here at times. But once I finally became involved in an organization, I started feeling more, like I was part of this community, I was part of this school and I, you know I started feeling a little bit more, less anxious and more like I really did belong here … The more and more I learned I stopped seeing myself as like a helpless victim as opposed to somebody that could actually change the course of my own future and my family, so it was definitely very empowering and yeah, that’s the word, very empowering!

Andrea shared how she felt more connected to campus and empowered. Enrolling in LLS courses increased Andrea’s and many of the other students’ academic confidence, resulting in feeling more academically engaged and socially integrated into the campus (Núñez, 2009; Villalpando, 2003). LLS and MAS courses also provided different opportunities for students to participate in student organi- zations and events, such as workshops, performances, art exhibits, film screenings, and public lectures on campus. All of the students shared how joining a Latina/o organization or attending culturally and socially relevant events on campus increased their sense of belonging on campus.

(Re)defining and (Re)connecting the boundaries of community space

Long before service-learning became part of the curriculum in higher education, ethnic studies courses including Chicana/o studies became rooted in a community responsive pedagogy in which students acquired the knowledge and tools to serve the needs of their community. For the Latina/o students in this study, MAS and LLS courses became sitios where they connected the course content with their

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community involvement within and outside the university space. MAS and LLS courses helped students (re)define the boundaries of what constitutes community spaces and what they value as community. Two students described community as:

Community is being able to find resources within walking distance like churches and recreation centers for kids. Community is building each other up and not putting each other down. (Cihuapalli)

Community means a sense of belonging, a sense of unity and acceptance. When I think of community, I think of people I can rely on and relate to and that will inspire me and motivate me to work hard. (Daniel)

The courses deepened students’ understanding of community and heightened their desire to give back to their families and communities. For example, Antonio explained how taking MAS courses motivated him to ‘give back’ to his community in La Mission by serving as a role model and as a resource to help youth in his community navigate the college admissions process. Cihuapalli also gave back to her community by starting a mentoring program for community college transfer students. As a transfer student, she felt a lack of support and started a program to give back and to help transfer students transition into a four-year campus. She explained, ‘Me and a couple of students got together and we created a program to help them access different resources on campus.’

Activating political engagement and activism By (re)defining community spaces, students (re)claimed un sitio y una lengua to sustain and create social change within and outside academic space. Both MAS and LLS courses provided different opportunities for students to engage in collaborative work with community organizations. Throughout her under- graduate years, Andrea was actively involved in the undocumented student movement on campus and in her home community in Chicago. Her involvement on campus and in her home community led her to take on more radical forms of activism. Andrea explained:

I felt like I had an increasing sense of responsibility not only to myself, and to my family but also to so many undoc- umented students that were just running into roadblocks … It was mounting pressure and anxiety. There was just a lot of pent up anger and a lot of, just all these different emotions and frustrations because politicians would make all these promises, but nothing would change.

Andrea took part in a major act of civil disobedience in Atlanta, Georgia, where she and six other students were arrested for peacefully protesting against the Georgia Board of Regents for banning undocumented students from enrolling at the top five public universities in the state. She shared how before heading out to Atlanta, she consulted one of her LLS professors who read over her plan of action and provided support. Like Andrea’s professor, many of the students also thought that LLS and MAS professors not only showed a personal interest in their academics, but also in their well-being inside and outside the classroom.

Enrolling in LLS and MAS courses inspired many of the participants to activism by joining student organizations centered on issues of education, immigration, and the criminal justice system. Eight of the students I interviewed were actively involved on campus and in their home communities. Other students who were not directly involved with a student organization sought out different opportunities to become involved within their home communities, such as Daniel who tutored for the Reading for Life Program teaching basic literacy skills to jail inmates. Participants’ activism ranged from organizing national and local protests, starting their own student organizations on campus, tutoring elementary children and jail inmates, presenting workshops on financial aid at their high schools and community colleges, and organizing events to bring prominent Latinos to campus.

Many of the students also discussed their engagement with community research projects that provided them face-to-face experiences with many of the social disparities and systemic inequalities they were learning about in their courses. Students engaged in more than just discussing problems of inequality and were afforded opportunities to explore and address these issues through research. The curriculum equipped students with the tools to conduct research and organize around issues affecting the larger Latino community. For example, Cihuapalli chose to work with women who were recovering

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from drug addictions. She discussed how the class gave her the opportunity to work closely with her community and helped her rethink the research process. She explained:

I learned about the importance of creating relationships and really working with the community. Not just for a project, but like an ongoing thing. Coming from a background where I’ve abused drugs and almost every female in my family has abused drugs I decided to interview women who were on probation to learn about how they came to use drugs and how they came to stop. I still call them and talk to them just to see how they’re doing. That class was awesome! I felt like that class changed me a lot and I’m applying my teachings that I’ve learned in that class within my life.

Through the course Cihuapalli gained critical research skills and tools to make an impact in her com- munity. The course had tremendous personal benefits for all of the participants, as knowledge was actively transformed by applying it within their own lives. The courses also strengthened students’ political engagement and activism by providing different opportunities for students to work directly with local schools and community organizations.

Spirituality in the classroom These courses also allowed students to (re)define community using spirituality and centering ancestral wisdom as a way to draw strength to cope with both educational and personal challenges. Antonio explained:

Every day, somebody had to share a personal story and that was my favorite part of class ‘cause that class, we became really close. Even today we are still sending emails and we try to get together at least once a month. So that part of that class, just by hearing a personal story from someone, you felt a connection with them so that’s one thing I really still remember and probably always will. Sometimes we would get really emotional cause’ some people would share deep stories. That was one thing that will stick with me for a long time.

The classroom provided un sitio where students shared and reflected on their sense of connectedness through shared experiences. By doing so, these experiences provided sources of inner strength and communal support to help them overcome obstacles on their pathway to college completion.

Community spaces were (re)defined in the classroom by creating a spiritual space of empathy, con- nectedness, and healing. Most of the students shared how the courses provided a sitio that fostered their spirituality, and in turn reaffirmed their commitment to their peers by supporting each other. This also heightened their responsibility to effect social change within their families and community. Cihuapalli and Antonio recalled how the layout of the classroom allowed them to (re)create a community of spirituality and connectedness to their ancestral wisdom. Cihuapilli explained:

So we had a circulo. It was part of the class…So we brought in a lot of Indigenous culture into the class. Where we did our offerings just like the Aztecs would do. It was spiritual where we all gave a piece of ourselves; our own personal experiences and we were all exposed within the circle of classmates. It was just different. It wasn’t like your typical class. It’s almost like this class bonded us and we still continue to work together. It’s a relationship that we’ve built with each other. That class has really, really changed me.

In the symbolic system of Aztec beliefs, the circulo embodies a spiritual energy representing inclusivity and an ethics of recognizing multiple ways of knowing (Anzaldua, 2009).7 Miguel A. Guajardo, Guajardo, Janson, & Militello (2016) also observed that circle dialog as a pedagogical tool has the power to:

[h]old the tensions and emotions that contribute to healing and can support people to use collective energy to take action…Circle taps into ancient practices and modern processes to create trust, goodwill, belonging, and reciprocity. It offers a way of being together that transforms relationships (pp. 82, 83).

Using a circulo dialog, the professor affirmed students’ cultural perspectives and ancestral wisdom. Drawing from Chicana scholars, Theresa Delgadillo (2011) defined spirituality as, ‘[a] connection to the sacred, a recognition of worlds or realities beyond those immediately visible and respect for the sacred knowledge that these bring and, on the other hand, a way of being in the world …’ (p. 4). The circulo opened up a sitio for students’ lived experiences, expressive emotions, and ways of knowing to emerge and co-exist within an academic space. As a result of organizing the classroom into a circulo, they felt more connected with their professor, peers, and the university.

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Conclusions

My work provides evidence that repudiates recent legislation prohibiting so-called ‘bad diversity’ cur- riculum. Elected officials who support this legislation fail to recognize that departments and programs developed out of the Civil Rights Movement, including Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, have been critical in fostering the retention and success of Latina/o students, and in so doing have increased diversity in schools and universities. This study found that both LLS and MAS courses have a positive impact on students’ understanding, appreciation, and respect for U.S. diversity. In discussing critical issues in the classroom that are meaningful to their lives and culturally responsive, the students in this study developed a political, social, cultural, and critical consciousness. These courses also helped rebuild Latina/o students’ academic confidence, connectedness to their college campus, and developed a supportive network that helped them navigate the often challenging path to college graduation.

Although these students shared an overwhelming positive experience in these courses, students who had taken more than one course had a deeper analysis of race and other modalities of power structures. For example, students who enrolled in LLS courses that were cross-listed with gender and women’s studies developed a deeper understanding of the meaning and consequences of intersec- tionality, such as ‘talking back’ to homophobic jokes and patriarchal practices with their families and peers. Hurtado (2005) reminded us of the struggles and contributions of Chicana/Latina scholars who produced scholarship and curriculum that directly address issues of sexism, gender and sexuality, and homophobia in the academy; she explained, ‘The struggle to include a diversity of issues is one that that has yet to be resolved as many Chicana/o programs still struggle with integrating gender and sexuality issues (among others) into all aspects of the field’ (p. 188). Although sexuality and gender diversity are already present on campuses, it is generally superficial and commodified by images of rainbow flags. However, the reality for many non-heteronormative college students is that they are constantly subjected to everyday discrimination and violence.

Students who took MAS or LLS courses in their freshman or sophomore year were also more likely to continue taking courses in these departments and were more likely to declare a major or minor in these disciplines. Overall, students in California and Illinois shared similar experiences taking MAS and LLS courses; however, students in California tended to have more positive experiences in their courses because they shared similar experiences with their peers and the campus was in close proximity to their home communities. Students in Illinois were often isolated from their home communities and attended classes with more white students who had fewer experiences interacting with Latina/o students and a diverse curriculum. Classroom discussions were more contentious and emotionally charged in Illinois. Faculty, however, intervened and helped students work through challenging discussions.

Racist, sexist, and homophobic incidents continue to occur on college campuses across the nation, including racist-themed parties and a noose hung on a campus tree (Parke, 2015; Rocha, 2015). Universities usually respond to these incidents by apologizing and creating special task committees to address the incidents. After several months of collecting data, they usually conclude with the same recommendations – that racial and ethnic diversity should be more strongly reflected in the curriculum and among the campus community. Although many college and universities have attempted to improve the campus climate by requiring all students to complete at least one designated diversity course, the question remains, ‘Why do these incidents persist?’ We need to look more closely at how diversity courses offered by departments outside ethnic studies are being taught, and we need to assure that ethnic studies faculty participate in approving and evaluating diversity courses taught in other departments.

The persistence of hate incidents in schools and universities points to an education system that fails to engage students in critical dialog about the history of oppression, the discrimination, and violence against people of color and other marginalized groups that is deeply embedded in the fabric of our nation. Ethnic studies foster meaningful interactions, mutual respect, and empathy across dissimilarities in backgrounds and experiences (Sleeter, 2011). Rather than cutting back these programs, institutions can reaffirm their commitment to diversity by supporting and expanding ethnic studies courses.

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Many Latina/o students experience 12 years of a culturally irrelevant education and a curriculum that is subtractive of their lived experiences and cultural knowledge, leaving many of them disengaged and vulnerable to academic failure (Valenzuela, 1999). Ethnic studies courses serve as a vibrant aca- demic counterspace that offers an empowering approach to Latina/o students’ education, but more importantly un sitio to unlearn 12 years of hegemonic narratives. Students in this study benefited from having access to un sito where they (re)claimed their Latinad and U.S. identities and also their academic identities. LLS and MAS faculty enacted a problem-posing pedagogy to help students think critically about their conditions and to utilize home and community knowledge as assets in their learning (Freire, 1970). Student-centered dialog, listening, and critical self-reflection enabled students to talk about their experiences of exclusion and misrepresentation. These courses provided them with una lengua to talk back to deficit discourses about their race, ethnicity, culture, ancestors, language, immigration status, and ways of living. Students improved their abilities and confidence to make knowledge claims and to contribute to class discussions. More importantly, these courses improved students’ connectedness to an academic space through the positive relationships they formed with professors, teaching assistants, staff, and peers. LLS and MAS courses provide opportunities for Latina/o students to (re)define the boundaries of community by engaging research and service that is meaningful to their lives. It is my hope that these portraits attest to the power of ethnic studies.

Notes 1. Tucson High Magnet School offers specialized courses focused on the visual and performing arts, math, science,

and technology, information retrieved from http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/thms/ 2. Tom Horne served as the elected Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011. In 2011,

he was elected Arizona Attorney General. John Huppenthal was the Arizona Superintended of Public Instruction from 2011 to 2015.

3. Must-See AC 360: AZ Ethnic Studies discussion. Retrieved from CNN at http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/13/ must-see-ac360-az-ethnic-studies-discussion/?iref=allsearch

4. The Cabrera and Cambium Report’s findings were used as evidence in court to prove that MAS courses were successful in closing the achievement gap for Latina/o students. Findings from the Cabrera study found that MAS students were 108% more likely to graduate from high school than non-MAS students and 118% more likely to pass standardized tests (i.e. reading, writing, and math).

5. Micro-urban has been used by urban planners to describe small urban areas with patterns of high-energy usage and attributes associated with larger metropolitan areas.

6. Mexico has historically avoided addressing issues of racial and social class discrimination. Thus, many Mexicans continue to suffer from feelings of inferiority. Although Mexico is a country that has tried to break away from.

colonial mentality, discrimination is still widespread and pervasive. Phrases like ‘te ves muy indio’ translates to ‘you are very indigenous looking,’ maintaining stratification associated with skin color.

7. Symbols were an important aspect of Aztec culture, for example the Aztec calendar, a large circular calendar stone, is one of the most recognized symbols of ancient American civilizations.

Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor Norma A. Marrun, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning’s Cultural Studies, International Education, and Multicultural Education (CSIEME) program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Her research interests include culturally responsive/multicultural education, Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies, social justice, and equity education.

ORCID Norma A. Marrun   http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3268-1475

290 N. A. MARRUN

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