This panel discusses the importance of structural forces in shaping the lived experiences, social identities, and group consciousness of Latina/o college students. Panelists focus specifically on higher education, social... [ view full abstract ]
This panel discusses the importance of structural forces in shaping the lived experiences, social identities, and group consciousness of Latina/o college students. Panelists focus specifically on higher education, social context, and the role of friendships in disrupting existing patterns of inequality and subordination. The first talk explores the relationship between social identity development and exposure to ethnic studies course content, specifically topics on race, ethnicity and Chicano/a/Latina/o histories. The presentation centers the experiences of twenty, predominantly first generation, Latina/o heritage college students at a private university and provides a critical thematic analysis of reflexive journals completed by students enrolled in an introductory Chicana/o & Latina/o Studies course. The reflexive journals document part of the reflexive processes through which students begin to situate their histories and identities, and see themselves as Chicanas/os. The subsequent talks build on this initial exploration by focusing specifically on the experiences of Latino men, who increasingly occupy prison cells rather than lecture seats in campuses across the country. As demonstrated by the first presentation, higher education is a place of questioning and new information, so what happens to men who begin to question patriarchal and stereotypical notions of what it means to be a man? The second talk interrogates this issue by examining the relationships between familial, community, and educational contexts and the ways in which Latino men defined the word “manhood.” Data analyses were informed by previous research conducted with feminist, Latino men (Hurtado & Sinha, 2008) and Chicana feminist theorizing around the concept of intersectionality (Hurtado, 1996, 2003; Hurtado & Sinha, in press). Most participants defined manhood in relational and ethical ways, and none endorsed hegemonic definitions of masculinity. Discussion of findings highlights the importance of social context and experiences of higher education in shaping participants’ consciousness around the construction of gender, race, and sexuality. The final talk seeks to further explore Latino men’s questioning of privilege and oppression and examines the interpersonal space of men, often touted as hegemonic, as a site of change for Latino men in higher education where they are often among the few students of Color. Preliminary findings of an ethnographic study will be discussed. A theme cross-cutting all of the presentations described above is the emphasis on crossing multiple borders (Anzaldúa, 1987), be they symbolic, social-psychological, geographical, and/or disciplinary. Together, panelists employ history, politics, multicultural feminisms, social psychology, sociology, and the literature of Latina/o scholars to inform our analyses of the ways in which white supremacist, patriarchal discourse has impacted Latina/o students and their experiences at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Finally, we highlight how higher education can subvert hegemonic discourses to shape social identities, group consciousness, and friendships in a manner that facilitates solidarity movements, coalition building, and movements towards social justice.
Panel 225
