The Uncertain Path Toward College: How Intersectionality Shaped the Experiences of Latinas Enrolled at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Abstract

This is a longitudinal qualitative study of Latina college students who were members of a Latina mentoring program at a 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Texas, where they made up the largest student population since 2013. Guided by Chicana feminist epistemology and intersectionality, we discuss educational experiences students had during high school as they considered their college path, when enrolling in an HSI, and during college. We explore the following research question: How did intersectional experiences shape the educational trajectory of Latina undergraduates enrolled at an HSI? We identify how multiple forms of oppression and social identities shaped the high school experiences of Latinas and learned how they found belonging at an HSI by finding spaces and individuals who validated their intersectionality. Through this study, we demonstrate why Latina student intersectionality—not only while in college but prior to enrolling as well—is important for researchers and educational leaders to consider.

Advancing “Intersectional Servingness” in Research, Practice, and Policy With Hispanic-Serving Institutions

“…One set of articles considers students at 2- and 4-year HSIs and uncovers how their intersecting identities shape their experiences and outcomes across their educational trajectories (Herrera et al, 2022; Kovats Sánchez, 2021; López et al, 2022). These three articles collectively show how the environments at HSIs continue to marginalize students based on intersectional social identities.…”

“…Although some of the articles in this special topic collection specifically use intersectionality theory as a guiding analytic tool (Herrera et al, 2022; Hora et al, 2022; López et al, 2022), others draw on critical theories, such as borderlands theory (Villarreal, 2022) and critical organization theory (Aguilar-Smith, 2021), to interrogate HSIs as racialized systems and highlight how systems of oppression affect students, faculty, and staff in HSIs. Some authors also use critical methods, including intersectional consciousness (Vega et al, 2022), critical discourse analysis (Casellas Connors, 2021), and pláticas and testimonios (Kovats Sánchez, 2021), to critically analyze how power systems affect Latinx/e people within HSIs.…”

Testimonios on participatory action research as a critical race approach to studying Southeast Asian american Refugee subjects

“…served as academic researchers. When academic researchers like us are also from marginalized communities, we challenge the distinction between “insider” and “outsider” (López et al., 2022; see Lorenzo‐Blanco et al., 2023 for a discussion on representational ethics). This widespread insider‐outsider distinction implies that academic researchers are outsiders, who cannot possibly be part of marginalized communities, and it reinforces the positivist notion that researchers are “objective” and “neutral” observers.…”

“…Second, the labels of research "insiders" and "outsiders" are not mutually exclusive. Such a static distinction precludes the possibility that academic researchers may belong to marginalized communities or that marginalized people can become academic researchers (López et al, 2022;Yee et al, 2021). A more fluid distinction with the possibility of a "both-and" (e.g., both outsider and insider; Lorenzo-Blanco et al, 2023) is more accurate, validating our realities and increasing our sense of belonging in psychology and academia.…”

Pláticas with Latinx preservice teachers: insights about navigating teacher education in the New Latinx South

“…While there are many challenges that Latinx students experience in enrolling and attending college, studies have also documented the types of support that can help Latinx students in college. López et al (2022) document how finding a community where Latinx students could gather and be themselves gave students a sense of belonging in an institution of higher education. Additionally, studies have documented the important role that family relationships play when it comes to successful degree completion and how important it is for students to feel that sense of family with other students and faculty (Gonzales et al , 2015).…”