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The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: A Study of How First-Generation Latino Male College Students Acquire Cultural Capital

This study aimed to take asset-based approach and identify Latino male students who were persisting in college, and to identify what strategies made them successful. This qualitative study consulted Tinto's revised student departure model, Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, as well as Yosso's theory of community cultural wealth. A phenomenological design was utilized to identify the shared experience of first-generation Latino male college students who had persisted in college and maintained a 3.0 grade point average. Findings revealed that Latino students entered college with goals to provide better opportunities for the next generation. They encountered unfamiliarity, culture shock, and marginalization, all obstacles centered not on academic preparedness, but on unfamiliarity with the environment. They used their linguistic, navigational, and aspirational capital to navigate their two worlds. Their cultural upbringing stressed a strong commitment to family and community, i.e. familismo. They found community among in-group peers and college staff. This support network provided what Laura Rendon refers to as validating experiences. Once familismo was obtained they gained a sense of belonging and grew their cultural capital to become familiar with the college going culture. The learned the rules of the game which enabled students to focus on their goal of earning a college degree.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1609122
Date12 1900
CreatorsPortillo, Pedro Atilano-Molina
ContributorsHarbour, Clifford, Tran-Parsons, Uyen, Hubbard, Christine
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvii, 234 pages, Text
RightsPublic, Portillo, Pedro Atilano-Molina, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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