Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-122).

Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Jay Scribner. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Given the growing racial and ethnic disproportionality amongst young Latinxs and early childhood teachers against the established benefits of racial and ethnic matching between students and teachers, in this study I aimed to gain insight into the often ignored trajectories and experiences of Latinx early childhood educators. In this study, I endeavored to address the need for more Latinx early childhood teachers to teach the growing majority of Latinx young children. I situated my study in Los Angeles, California, given the growing presence of Latinxs in Los Angeles County’s population and in its public-school system. It is in such a context that I sought to document and learn from the counter-stories of five Latinx early childhood teachers teaching Latinx young children.Utilizing Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as a guiding theoretical framework and a project in humanization orientation, I posed the following research questions: 1. How do Latinx early childhood teachers in the County of Los Angeles, California (where Latinxs are the growing demographic majority) verbally portray their stories of becoming early educators? 2. How do Latinx early childhood teachers verbally portray their stories as early childhood educators in a community where Latinxs are the growing demographic majority? 3. As they reflect on becoming and being Latinx early childhood teachers, what consejos do they have for the field of early childhood education if it is serious about supporting the growth of Latinx early childhood teachers? This study involved a FotoHistorias methodology, which entailed utilizing participatory photography and pláticas (conversational interviews) to elicit lived experiences to “counter” deficit-oriented majoritarian stories of Latinx teachers, families, communities, and young children. Data were comprised of participatory photography, pláticas, and researcher memos. Findings, presented as counter-stories, shed light on necessary transformations in the field of early childhood teaching and teacher education. Implications point toward the importance of listening to and learning from Latinx early childhood teachers’ memoried experiences and stories, as they stand to inform the recruitment and retention of Latinx teachers within the field of early childhood education.

This feminist article dissertation (FAD), creates a series of interventions on the dearth of research on the teaching of women of color feminist theories in the high school English classroom as curriculum, pedagogy, and activism. In writing this series of articles on teaching Black and Latina feminist theories at the high school level, I interrupt the assumption that intersectional feminist pedagogies, curriculum, and activism only take place in college and graduate level courses in women’s and gender studies, trans and queer studies, ethnic studies, and even English and comparative literature courses. More specifically, my research counter-narrates my experience teaching Black and Latina feminisms at a predominantly white independent school while working alongside my students as they engage in reading women of color feminisms; oppositional online writing; and school-based activism. My research questions are driven by these commitments and by my interest in exploring how my students take up reading and writing with theory. Across each article in my FAD, I call upon the larger field of English education to recognize intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991) and women of color feminisms (Lorde, 1984; Moraga & Anzaldúa, 1981) as an integral curricular, pedagogical, and political stance we must take within the teaching of high school English as well as in English teacher education at large. In each article, I illustrate how I taught not only women of color feminisms through an oppositional (Collins, 2009); intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991); and coalitional (Cruz, 2019) stance, but also how my students read and apply these theories to themselves and to the issues they care about most using oppositional, intersectional, and coalitional stances as well. The first article is titled, “The Future of English is Feminist”; the second article is titled, “Resisting ‘pretty privilege’: Afro-Latinx trans digital activism and Black feminism in the English classroom”; and the third article is titled, “Black girl #MeToo activism: ‘Complaint as feminist pedagogy’ resisting racist-sexism at school.”