<p> This dissertation explores the experiences of self-identified Latin@ youth in NAIS and POCIS Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although all students involved in this study initially felt equipped to participate in the independent school environment, they experienced both common and unique challenges calling on the need to negotiate their ethnic identities. This research study assumed that all people and institutions, such as independent schools, are embedded in complex social, cultural and political systems historically defined by race, power and privilege. Engaging student voice in on-going efforts to understand and improve the conditions for historically underrepresented students of color, particularly Latin@ youth, is imperative in acknowledging that students have deep wisdom and expertise. The partnership between students and adults can foster “critical consciousness” – an awareness of the historical and current conditions that perpetuate inequality in society and in their own life circumstances (Horton & Freire, 1990). Freire (1982) asserted, “the silenced are not just incidental to the curiosity of the researcher but are the masters of inquiry into the underlying causes of the events in their world. In this context research, becomes a means of moving them beyond silence into a quest to proclaim the world.” Keywords: Latino, youth voice, underrepresented students, critical race theory, diversity “Latin@” is spelled using the “at symbol” to replace the letter “a” or “o.” Pizarro, Montoya, Nañez, Chavez, & Bermudez (2002) are Latin@ educators who formed Maestr@s, a group contending that the Spanish language is a manifestation of male hegemony. Maestr@s coined the use of the term because it is a visual intervention and a re-coding of information to different linguistic, epistemological and ideological systems (Pizarro, et. al, 2002, p. 290).</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10142188 |
| Date | 27 September 2016 |
| Creators | Dolan, Lizette Ortega |
| Publisher | Saint Mary's College of California |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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