Date of Award

8-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Social Work

First Advisor

Jennifer Greenfield

Second Advisor

Yolanda Anyon

Third Advisor

Lisa Martinez

Fourth Advisor

Johnny Kim

Fifth Advisor

Carlos Jimenez Jr.

Keywords

Community cultural wealth, Higher education, Latinx, Latinx critical theory

Abstract

The intersectional experiences of Latinx students in higher education have largely gone underexplored in the literature, particularly when it comes to Latino men. The current literature treats the experiences of the Latinx community as a monolith, when there are multiple potentially impactful intersectional aspects of identity that could influence our lived experiences, such as generational status, documentation status, country of origin, and gender. This three-manuscript dissertation addresses these gaps in the literature by both conducting research that is more descriptive of our respective within-group community and by focusing on the impact that gender may play in the experiences of Latinx students in higher education.

The first manuscript draws from both Latinx critical theory and community cultural wealth to propose a framework that allows for an intersectional, strengths-based exploration of the Latinx experience in research. While community cultural wealth is already theoretically rooted in Latinx critical theory, often it is not utilized as such in the existing literature. This paper urges those using community cultural wealth to return to the intersectional principles of critical theory for the betterment of our research and communities.

The second manuscript is a qualitative phenomenological study that builds upon this framework by using community cultural wealth to analyze secondary data collected by researchers at the University of Denver. The gendered experiences of first generation, documented, higher education students of Mexican origin in Colorado are explored. Findings provide evidence of navigational, resistant, and social cultural wealth, while suggesting possible gendered differences in family dynamics, on campus programming, and non-institutionalized social support.

The final manuscript is similar in methods to the second, as a phenomenological study utilizing community cultural wealth in the analysis of a gendered, first generation, documented, experience of higher education students of Mexican origin. This study uses primary data collected from former participants in an after-school program to determine what elements of the program contributed to their cultural wealth and how those experiences differed in higher education. Findings suggest long term mentoring relationships as impactful to the success of these students, while affirming possible gendered differences in family dynamics and on campus programming.

Copyright Date

8-2023

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Miguel A. Trujillo

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

131 pgs

File Size

569 KB

Discipline

Hispanic American studies, Higher education, Social work

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