{"title":"Promoting Community and Building Confidence among LGBTQIA+ College Students through Playfulness and Story Sharing","authors":"C. Whitley, Angela Wismar, Alexander Iffland","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1949601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1949601","url":null,"abstract":"In this article we explore the importance of play in promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives especially among LGBTQIA+ college students. We detail three student initiated interventions. Beyond the Binary, which was a social support gaming group for transgender and non-binary students involving game play and conversation. Lunch and LEGOs was an open group for LGBTQIA+ students and allies to eat lunch and have conversation while playing with LEGOs, and the Filming Your Identity Project involved partnering with the local Public Broadcasting Service to engage students in creating videos that showcased their identities. We argue that not only were these programs enjoyable, but they created an opportunity for students to explore new identities in a low-stakes and fun environment, while also building community.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"235 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49452496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pathways to Healing BodyMindSpirit for Latina-Identified College Students, Administrators, and Faculty in Higher Education","authors":"Michelle M. Espino","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1894161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1894161","url":null,"abstract":"In 2017, the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education (formerly known as the NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education) published a special issue on Black women’s experiences in higher education, edited by Lori Patton, Chayla Haynes, and Natasha Croom (2017). Inspired by their efforts and deeply appreciative of their advice and guidance, I have crafted a special issue that centers the experiences of Latina-identified students, faculty, and administrators with attention to healing the fragmentation that occurs in academe. I am grateful to Amy Bergerson (former NJAWHE/JWG Editor), and Margaret Sallee and Jeni Hart (current JWG editors) for their investment in this special issue. Throughout my career, I have drawn from the work of Chicana and Latina feminist scholars who theorized about fragmentation within academe and society in general (Delgado Bernal et al., 2006; Moraga & Anzaldúa, 2002; Trujillo, 1998). Fragmentation is “a direct result of existing hierarchies in society” that deny access and opportunities for Communities of Color and Latinas in particular (Hurtado, 2003, p. 218). By claiming fragmentation, Chicana/Latina feminists uncover systemic, physical, and spiritual violence experienced through the bodymindspirit within higher education, a site of both liberation and oppression (Lara, 2002). The collective “we” of Queer Latinx/Latina/ Chicana/Puerto Rican/Mexicana/Jewish authors in this issue were successfully socialized into the academy at the cost of segmentation and compartmentalization. As a form of resistance, we uncovered the various social, psychological, and cultural locations that must be (re)crossed in higher education to put our selves back together in bodymindspirit. However, our ability to navigate the borderlands of family structures, cultural traditions, gender constructions, sexuality, and social class, as well as academe, is often ignored in larger discourses about Latinx/as/os in higher education","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"1 - 4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1894161","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46427225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nancy Acevedo, Stephanie Nunez-Rivera, Yesenia Casas, E. Cruz, P. Rivera
{"title":"Enacting Spiritual Activism to Develop a Sense of Belonging: Latina Community College Students Choosing and Persisting in STEM","authors":"Nancy Acevedo, Stephanie Nunez-Rivera, Yesenia Casas, E. Cruz, P. Rivera","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1891928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1891928","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by the theoretical frameworks of sense of belonging and spiritual activism, this study examines the experiences of first-generation Latina community college students who navigated the choice to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and their experiences as they prepared to transfer to a 4-year college from two Hispanic-serving community colleges. Informed by semi-structured interviews with eight Latina students, the study found that participants chose to major in a specific STEM field only after they had explored other options. After choosing a STEM major, the participants experienced academic and interpersonal invalidations, which made them question whether they belonged in STEM. However, they had access to multiple institutional resources, including scholarship funds, a supportive peer group, and validating faculty, which supported healing from previous invalidations and contributed to their sense of belonging. As individuals who encountered both inequities and microaggressions, spiritual activism reinforced a sense of belonging in STEM for Latina students.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"59 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1891928","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45318752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advancing Relationships among Critical Race Feministas: Maintaining Ethical Ambitions within the Coloniality of Academia","authors":"María C. Malagón, Lindsay Pérez Huber, V. Velez","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1896531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1896531","url":null,"abstract":"Derrick Bell articulated the possibilities of ethical ambitions to “live lives that matter,” to make honorable decisions, to advance morality, and to maintain relationships with those who are committed to similar goals. Guided by Bell’s premise, we are three critical race feminista theorists (CRFT) who experience academia at multiple intersections: as Chicanas from working-class families, faculty, mentors, colleagues, and friends. Through these intersections, we define our work within the parameters of ethicality, with the intent to move forward social justice, and make a difference within our communities. Our goals are often at odds with the merit- and competition-driven academy that can lead down the opposite path toward betrayal, immoral decision making, and divisiveness. In this article, we place the idea of ethical ambitions in conversation with Teresa Cordova’s discussion of colonialism in the academy to identify strategies that demonstrate ethical ambitions. This includes relationship building, collective writing and attribution mentorship, and teaching. In our work together, spanning more than a decade, we practice these strategies to survive and thrive in a space we know was not created for us. We offer this discussion to consider how we engage our praxis as critical race feminista scholars.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"79 - 99"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1896531","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48938494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Telling to Heal: Mending Our Fractured Mindbodyspirit","authors":"Judith Flores Carmona, L. Rosenberg","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1891419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1891419","url":null,"abstract":"Informed by our subjectivities and experiences at a Hispanic serving institution (HSI), as scholars from the margins of society—working-class, im/migrant Mexicana and Jewish—as mujeres and first-generation academics, playing it safe was not, and never will be, an option for us. In this article, we share our acts of resistance, informed by knowledge and experiences that spring from the body and are not separate from collective experiences, our testimonios. We divulge the value of solidarity and acknowledging our common struggles. Through our testimonios, we show the importance of knowing how to enact resistance and when not to remain silent, even as those in power, supported by institutional policies, threaten us. Most importantly, as we theorize our testimonios and the critical action they help us to enact, we share our pathway toward mending and healing our fractured mindbodyspirit.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"24 - 39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1891419","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48580644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Iluminando la Oscuridad: Queer Latinas Healing in Spanish Through Conocimiento","authors":"Stephanie Hernandez Rivera, Dora S. Frias","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1884873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1884873","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we utilize conocimiento as a method to work towards Coyolxauhqui consciousness, and recorded pláticas where we examine our experiences as two Queer Latina, early-career practitioners in student affairs. This work was our effort to understand, process, and heal from experiences that have been oppressive, hurtful, and damaging to us. We do this by using practices, methods, and tools of analysis that honor our cultural practices and understandings of ourselves and the world. The findings from our work point to the complexity of our experience and we present this complexity through utilizing the nuance in the Spanish language. The themes that emerged were: The Labor of Being La Unica, Eliminating Historias, Fuerte, Sin Remedio, Viviendo Con Coraje, and La Arcoíris Fragmentada.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"5 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1884873","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42524849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
R. M. López, M. Honey, Hope S. Pacheco, Esmeralda C. Valdez
{"title":"Creando Comunidad: Experiences of Latina Faculty and Staff Mentors at a Hispanic-Serving Institution","authors":"R. M. López, M. Honey, Hope S. Pacheco, Esmeralda C. Valdez","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1888746","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1888746","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by Chicana Feminist Epistemology, the authors of this study discuss the experiences of 16 Latina faculty and staff who served as mentors in a Latina undergraduate mentoring program at a research-extensive public university designated as a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI). This article focuses on findings from interviews as mentors made sense of their own educational trajectories and discussed how the mentoring program affected them. Findings indicate that although mentors initially joined the program to guide undergraduate Latinas, they also benefitted from a faculty and staff peer network and felt a greater sense of belonging in an institution where they sometimes felt isolated. The findings demonstrate the importance of such mentoring programs at HSIs and can inform how mentoring programs for Latinx students can be designed in ways that benefit multiple stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"100 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1888746","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43315387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mestiza Methodology: Research as a Site of Healing","authors":"A. Cordova","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2021.1893739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2021.1893739","url":null,"abstract":"The author’s reflexive account of what led to the construction of research grounded in Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE) and a new CFE approach coined Mestiza Methodology is presented. At the core of the methodology is the assertion that research processes must be decolonized in the image of Chicana relationships and sense-making to unearth Chicana knowledge. Drawing upon the hybrid nature of Mestiza intellect, cross-pollinating methods of plática, reflexión, and testimonio are braided to mirror a more culturally organic research methodology that strengthens a collective consciousness of healing.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"40 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2021.1893739","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45734168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Critical Approaches to Women and Gender in Higher Education","authors":"J. Griffen","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2020.1837145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2020.1837145","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"13 1","pages":"348 - 350"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2020.1837145","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48207522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Space of Our Own: Examining a Womxn of Color Retreat as a Counterspace","authors":"Stephanie Hernandez Rivera","doi":"10.1080/26379112.2020.1844220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/26379112.2020.1844220","url":null,"abstract":"This qualitative study investigated a Womxn of Color retreat at a predominantly White institution in the Midwest. The research question is: How and, in what ways does the Womxn of Color retreat align with the concept of a counterspace? An instrumental, embedded single-case study design was executed in conducting this research and multiple data collection methods were used including: interviews, observations, and document collection. The findings demonstrated how the space “countered” the dominant culture at the university where participants are students. The space aligned with the concept of a counterspace in multiple ways, including providing a space for womxns’ experiences and stories to be validated and the development of a supportive and loving community. It also provided a space for Womxn of Color to challenge and resist dominant ideologies. Although findings indicate that the retreat aligned with the concept of a counterspace, it also re-created oppressive interpersonal and group dynamics, indicating that even counterspaces are not devoid of enacting dominant ideologies. The conclusions provide an understanding of Womxn of Color’s experiences on campus, including how Womxn of Color’s stories are silenced and invalidated, how Womxn of Color communities are distinct from other spaces on campus, and the importance of recognizing both the thematic nature of Womxn of Color’s experiences and the differences. This article concludes with implications for practitioners on supporting Womxn of Color.","PeriodicalId":36686,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education","volume":"13 1","pages":"327 - 347"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/26379112.2020.1844220","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41944308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}