Chicana Feminism

In this research project, I will be using two critical perspectives that allow me to understand the intersections between gender, race, and class in the life of my participant. One of the theories I will use is Latino/a critical race theory (LatCrit), which privileges the experiential knowledge of People of Color as a way to understand racism in the US (Yosso, 2005). LatCrit helps me analyze sexism, racism, and classism from a historical and interdisciplinary perspective (Yosso, 2005). The other theory I will use for this project is Chicana feminism. Which Espinoza (2010) explained stems from the necessity of Mexican origin women to develop survival skills in order to navigate two cultures at the same time. These women are forced to learn
how to shift cultural practices in their everyday activities (Espinoza, 2010).
My purpose in using these two theories is to analyze the data I will collect through a socially conscious lens. One that takes into account the connections among multiple layers of oppression found the experiences of a Latina doctoral student with children. I think the biggest contribution of this research project is the intentionality of its research methods and the use of a culturally sensitive critical perspective. Hopefully, this research will yield a critical mass of data from which a thick description of the phenomena can be produced.

In this project, I am proposing a case study on one Latina doctoral student with children from a low-income community. I will like to understand her experiences balancing family task and the requirements of her doctoral program. Pilot data and literature on student mothers and
Latina doctoral students have shaped the topics I want to inquire further in this case. I want to understand how gender socialization of a Latinas doctoral student affects their decision-making process while completing her program. Although much of the literature I revised depicted Latinas’ gender ideology as “traditional” or sometimes contradictory, I want to have a better understanding of the strategies this woman uses to counteract or resist these traditional gender roles inside the family. However, to have a complete picture of this experience, I also want to inquire about those instances where she resists racial and gender stereotypes inside her doctoral program. I hope this research will shed some light on the complexity of the influence of familismo in the life of a Latina doctoral student with children. Mainly, how the cultural practice of familismo affects how this student perceives and practices parenting and how this, in turn, affects how she navigates her doctoral program requirements. Also knowing Latinas all well represented among low-income mothers, I will be using critical race theory and Chicana feminism as main theoretical frameworks for this project. Using these theories will allow me to better represent the complex interactions of gender, race, and class in the experiences of a Latina doctoral student with children from a low-income community.
I will use three different qualitative research methods to have a more holistic understanding of this case to bound this case study.
First, I want observer her academic and family activities for two weeks. This will allow me to immerse myself into the physical world of the participant, thus perceiving and documenting her reality more closely. Secondly, I want to pursue two open-ended interviews with her, before and after all observations are completed. I will use this time to directly ask her questions related to her gender socialization and about how she balances family tasks and program requirements. Finally, I will ask the participant to record a voice journal for a period of two weeks reflecting on her activities during the day. Prompt questions I generated will help the participant reflect about her daily activities and the people she encounters. This method helps me understand the meaning she gives to people, space and activities in her
life.
I chose questions that progressively inquire about how she balances family and course work. Hoping to capture how her gender socialization and economic disparities shape her decisions about her studies with this questions. They are informed by the literature on Latino/a parenting styles, familismo and Latinas pursuing graduate school. Designed to capture her experiences from a critical perspective, allowing the participant to reflect on her agency and in the ways in which she resists harmful stereotypes regarding motherhood and Latino/a ethnic practices.
Research Questions
• What strategies do a Latina doctoral student with children uses to copes with stress related to course work and family life?
• In which ways does family help in coping with course related stress? Which ways do them not? o What strategies does she use to resist traditional gender roles with her family?
• Which stereotypes related to family responsibilities has a Latina with children encounter while pursuing a doctoral degree? o What strategies does she use to resist these stereotypes within her program?
• How does familismo influence the participant’s decision-making process regarding her doctoral degree on the daily basis? o How familismo informs her relationship with her children?