Skip to main content

Students of Color as Collaborators in Higher Education Knowledge Construction

Brianna R. Ramirez, PhD Student
University of California, San Diego


Through this blog post, I begin to engage the following question that as an emergent Chicana higher education scholar I constantly reflect on and will continue doing so throughout my research journey- In what ways can higher education scholarship center the knowledge of Students of Color[i]? So much scholarship has been conducted on or about, less with and alongside of the students and communities that many of us hope our scholarship will serve. In addressing this question, I draw from Chicana feminist theories, that as a Chicana scholar has become my epistemological and methodological home as I sought a research grounding that not only validated the ways of knowing and lived experiences of my students and their families, but also my own cultural intuition and contribution to scholarship and academia as the oldest daughter of Mexican immigrants.

Chicana feminist and critical race scholar, Delgado Bernal (2002) reminds us that Students of Color are holders and creators of knowledge as they possess cultural ways of knowing that are taught and passed down through generations in their homes and communities. In addition to culturally rich ways of knowing, Students of Color also carry knowledge from formal schooling and educational experiences and bridge their cultural ways of knowing for successful navigation of their higher education context and the various contexts that shape their lives. In doing so, Students of Color create and manifest new knowledge about schooling and institutions of higher education as students who have been historically marginalized by U.S. institutions and perpetual outsides of a higher education system that was never intended to serve them or their families. As higher education researchers we should be constantly asking and reflecting on the following questions- how can we intentionally disrupt traditional epistemologies in research to center the knowledge that Students of Color carry and how can we contribute towards approaching students that engage in our research as collaborators of knowledge construction?
 
I present examples from two Chicana scholars and ways in which my own research contributes in moving us towards inclusion of Students of Color as collaborators in research for the unapologetic political intent to challenge and disrupt eurocentric epistemologies and traditional ways of engaging in higher education scholarship. Critical race scholar, Pérez Huber (2010) explored how racist nativism underlies the higher education experiences of undocumented Chicana college students. This Chicana scholar drew from a Chicana feminist epistemology approach to data analysis and theorization by including the undocumented Chicana college students in focus group conversations throughout data analysis, as meaning, themes and patterns emerged from student testimonios. The Critical Race Nepantlera Methodology (CRNM) (Acevedo-Gil, 2019) is grounded in central tenants that also contribute towards implementing methodology in which Students of Color can serve as research collaborators. Rooted in Chicana feminist theories and epistemologies, Acevedo-Gil argues that Scholars of Color and Students of Color that engage in research are “threshold people” that navigate between, within, and across various systems of marginality, contexts, and worlds, including the epistemological and methodological. CRNM calls for researchers to acknowledge their participants as creators of knowledge and engage in reflexivity of how this perspective shapes research.
 
As an emerging Chicana researcher, I am beginning a journey that is committed to honoring and conducting research alongside of Students of Color, our families and our communities. My current research centers the voices, lived realities, and ways of knowing of undergraduate Chicana/Latina students. Through this work, I hope to collectively contribute to centering Chicana/Latina undergraduates as possessors of knowledge, an intent that is rooted in their lived experiences as they navigate institutions of higher education while embodying various categories of difference such as race, gender, class, and immigration backgrounds. Chicana/Latina students possess ways of knowing, strategies, and tools for navigating and negotiating across various categories of difference, cultures, and contexts. These students possess knowledge, resiliency, power, and plentiful capacity and potential to contribute to research in unlimited ways such as through data analysis, theorization, and research dissemination. Chicanas/Latinas undergraduates are pensadoras[ii], an epistemological and methodological approach that we collectively construct as a Chicana scholar doing research with Chicana/Latina undergraduates for us and for our families, ancestors, and communities.
 
By collaborating with Chicana/Latina undergraduates in research, we collectively cultivate a community of theorizers that disrupts traditional eurocentric research epistemologies, challenges deficit and racist narratives about Chicanx/Latinx students, validates and affirms our cultural and gendered ways of knowing, and repurposes research for the benefit and empowerment of our community. Together we cultivate possibilities for ourselves, our families, and our community by using research as an additional tool for strategically working with our communities and to support a pathway to graduate school and research related fields for current and future generations of Chicana/Latina undergraduates. We must continue to question, imagine, and implement new possibilities for collaborating with Students of Color in research to carve away at historical hegemonic research epistemologies and paradigms and be unapologetic about contributing to racial and educational equity in higher education
 

 

References

 

Acevedo-Gil, N. (2019). Toward a Critical Race Nepantlera Methodology: Embracing Liminality in Anti-Colonial Research. Cultural Studies↔ Critical Methodologies, 19(3), 231-239.

 

Delgado Bernal, D.(2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered epistemologies: Recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge. Qualitative inquiry, 8(1), 105-126.

 

Gonzalez, F. E. (2001). Haciendo que hacer-cultivating a Mestiza worldview and academic achievement: Braiding cultural knowledge into educational research, policy, practice. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(5), 641-656.

 

Pérez Huber, L. (2010). Using Latina/o Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Racist Nativism to Explore Intersectionality in the Educational Experiences of Undocumented Chicana College Students. Educational Foundations, 24, 77-96.


[i] Following the writing of some critical race theorists (CRT) and Chicana feminist scholars, I capitalize the terms Students of Color, Scholars of Color, and Communities of Color to engage in a project that moves towards empowerment and racial justice. I do not capitalize the term “white” in my writing to acknowledge and reject the standard grammatical norms and power represented in the capitalization of the term “white.” 

 

[ii] Constructors of knowledge, theorizers, researchers


About the Author:



Brianna R. Ramirez (she/her/ella) is a current Doctoral Student in Education Studies (EDS) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with family roots in Guanajuato and Jalisco, México. She completed her master’s degree in the Social, Cultural, Analysis in Education program (SCAE) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Brianna’s research weaves together Critical Race Theory, Latinx Critical Race Theory, and Chicana feminist epistemologies and methodologies to explore Latinx/Chicanx higher education experiences and understand the systems and structures of marginality that shape access and transition to college for Students of Color. To share comments or questions, please contact Brianna (brr030@ucsd.edu).

Comments

  1. unknownSeptember 9, 2020 at 3:31 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. unknownSeptember 9, 2020 at 4:18 PM

    Your research and knowledge has influenced me to pursue to further my studies within this academic disparity. Idolizing for future researchers. ^^^

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Thriving and Flourishing in Higher Education: The Imperative for a New Research Agenda

By Agyemang Amofa Prempeh & Dr. Sydney Freeman, Jr. Black people continue to face significant challenges in higher education. The Underrepresentation of Black students in colleges and universities and a lack of Black faculty and administrators highlight the pressing need for targeted initiatives to foster Black thriving and flourishing on campuses. While valuable research has been conducted on concepts such as Black joy and a sense of belonging, a comprehensive research agenda on Black thriving and flourishing in higher education is still lacking. A research agenda on Black thriving and flourishing will provide a comprehensive approach to correct the existing disparities faced by Black students, faculty, staff, and administrators at predominately White institutions (PWIs). Such a research agenda may also lead to developing strategies that, when implemented, facilitate higher education campuses where Black people can reach their fullest potential academically and professio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Looking: Using Proximity-Based Dating Apps like Grindr and Scruff for Participant Recruitment in Education and the Social Sciences

Nick Havey Looking (for research participants)? Consider “the Apps”  If you’re familiar with the HBO series Looking, which explores very white queer life in San Francisco, or have used a dating app in the last 10 years, you might know “looking” as a one-word interrogative that says a lot. It mostly is meant as a lazy (or efficient) way of asking another user if they’re interested in casual sex, but you might be “looking” for research participants! Having a baseline understanding of how dating apps work is prerequisite for using them for research purposes, as understanding terms like “looking” and app-based norms can help researchers navigate confusing virtual spaces and build trust and rapport with potential participants.  I have used proximity-based dating apps as recruitment sites for two different research projects. One considers the state of queer sexual education and how queer collegians are responding to sex educations that were not inclusive of their experiences or desi...
3 comments
Read more

Preparing for the (Non-Academia) Higher Education Job Market

I entered graduate school knowing that my higher-education doctoral degree would be the catalyst for changing my career path.  My original path through student affairs had been fulfilling but not sustainable. The long hours of evening events strained my relationships, and the pay and opportunities for advancement were few. Over time, my values shifted, and I was no longer willing or able to make the tradeoffs in my work-life balance and mental health often required in student affairs positions. I had a vague understanding that I would need further education to embark on a career in research in higher education, but what even was a research career?  I entered my graduate program knowing that a faculty role is the most commonly sought post-graduation career path. Additionally, I felt fortunate that my institution offered a Certificate in Institutional Research and some guidance for students who wanted to follow that path. Beyond those two options, I was unsure what else existe...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Does It Mean to Use “GaoKao” Scores to Admit Chinese International Undergraduate Students in U.S. Universities?

Jia Zheng , PhD Student of the Higher Education, Student Affairs and International Education Policy Program, University of Maryland The Open Doors Report marked a fourth consecutive year of decline in international student enrollment since 2016 , with the number of international undergraduate students dropping by 2.4% during the 2018-2019 academic year (Institute of International Education [IIE], 2020). China remained the top leading country of origin for international students, constituting 35% of the total number of international students in U.S. universities (IIE , 2020). To attract more prospective Chinese international undergraduate students , an increasing number of private institutions in the U.S. are accepting the Chinese National College Entrance Exam scores (Gaokao scores) in lieu of SAT or ACT scores (Bennett, 2019).  Although Gaokao, SAT, and ACT are all high-stake standardized tests, they differ in  several areas. Gaokao is a 2-day college entrance exam adminis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Feeling Toward a Pedagogy of Grief

Z Nicolazzo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona Throughout the past two years, I have found myself periodically returning to a piece Alexander Chee (2020) wrote for The New York Times . In it, Chee discusses the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the AIDS epidemic. When the piece was first published, I remember taking a long walk with a friend and talking about it. We both had vivid memories and personal connections to AIDS and were both trying to make sense of what was happening globally as COVID-19 ripped through communities. In one especially heart-rending moment in the column, Chee recounts a conversation with a friend who, in response to the rising death toll, shared, “‘I’m acknowledging them [the deaths], but I’m not feeling them, just like the old days. …That comes later’” (para. 8). That conversation between Chee and his friend was two months into the pandemic. We’re now over two years in, which woul...
Post a Comment
Read more