In this article, we engage in a letter correspondence we call Chicana Latina Feminist (CLF) cartas, where we discuss the nuances of utilizing pláticas, along with similarly informed methodologies of video testimonios and epistolary practices within our respective research process. Our cartas correspondence demonstrates, (1) the challenges we faced…

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of Latinas in executive cabinet leadership roles at the district office or county office level in the Preschool-12 California public education system. Theoretical Framework. Themes in the existing research and a conceptual framework rooted in…

Heeding Gloria Anzaldúa's (2012) call to cultivate, "new theories with new theorizing methods," this article articulates the contours of a Critical Race Feminista Epistolary Praxis (CRFEP). CRFEP, a writing-based methodological intervention nestled within anti-racist and social justice traditions, fosters opportunities for Women of Color…

Following the tradition of Chicana/Latina feminist nuevas teorias and methodologies, I offer walking pláticas as a qualitative research methodology that honors the brown body and facultad to examine our relationship to the spaces we traverse, live within and mutually shape. Walking pláticas is a reclamation of research methodologies that dismantle…

Today, higher education is in a state of flux. Changing dynamics, from accreditation to unsustainable economic models, have forced colleges and universities to examine their fundamental principles while also grappling with the changing needs of the national and globalized workforce, including the shift to online learning. At the same time, the…

This essay examines the practice of building a syllabus that centers butch-femme literatures as a pedagogy of gathering and recuperation. Prompted by the loss of an early syllabus on lesbian histories, I examine the genre of the syllabus and contend that "butch-femme" is not the same as "queer" or "LGBTQ." Through…

Studies have shown that Latina faculty have negative racialized and gendered experiences while teaching at their institutions. An emerging body of research shows that these experiences also occur at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Latina faculty at one small, private, four-year…

In this reflective narrative I share my experience as a contingent faculty member, woman of color, and mother, working, and parenting through a global pandemic and social uprising. I utilize testimonio (Delgado Bernal et al., 2012) as a methodological tool to make visible the labor I engage in and the collective experience between contingent…

In 2020, first year teachers entered a school system that continued to emphasize policies, measures, and curriculum that support racism and social injustice. But first year teachers also entered at a time when there was renewed interest in openly pushing issues of race, oppression and violence into the forefront. I write about the lived…

In this project, we share how we--two differently situated Women of Color, one Indigenous and one Chicana, with myriad other identities (e.g. mothers, partners, daughters, friends, co-conspirators, academics)--grew to be friends, and how we foster our friendship as a site of coalitional refusal for creating a more just academy. We offer our…

Recent events have drawn national attention to the fight for reproductive rights. However, Black women, Indigenous women, Women of Color, and LGBTQ+ people have long been fighting for reproductive justice, which connects reproductive rights to issues like immigration rights, fair wages, housing, quality education, and safe neighborhoods. There has…

We are three Latin American women, once travellers -- now US dwellers, "mujeres de color," "Mestizas," "Neplanteras" -- sometimes 'Malintzin researchers' struggling to make sense of all our pieces, identities and changing faces. We draw upon the disruption of apartheid of knowledge in academia, arguing for…

The California educational system is facing a major problem of diversity and representation in the teacher workforce. Latina/o children make up more than half of the population of students in California's public school system, yet their teachers do not mirror this population (CDE, 2022). According to the California Department of Education, (CDE,…

Research demonstrates that Women of Color faculty experience multiple systems of oppression in the academy. However, much of the literature surrounding the topic of Women of Color faculty is situated within university environments. A paucity of research sheds light on the experiences of Women of Color faculty within the community college setting.…

The purpose of this action research is to explore what is the impact of Black and Latino women in administrative leadership positions in higher education and the pivotal role mentoring has played in the trajectory of their career. If applicable what challenges have the women had to overcome to be in an administrative leadership position. This…