Communities frequently treated as 'have-nots' in higher education are a window into the condition of postsecondary education access, exclusion, inequities, and outcomes. This reality is no more evident than with the college-going trajectories of low-income single mothers of color. Evoking the possibilities of narrative inquiry in general, and life…

As recent attacks on the rights of women and gender minorities exemplify, sexism and gender privilege are structural forces ingrained in the fabric of U.S. society. Unfortunately, higher education is not immune to such structural forces and can reinforce the power associated with gender privilege. This phenomenological research study, in concert…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand single-mother community college students' perceptions of their ability to succeed. The theoretical framework that guided this research was Bandura's (1977) social cognitive theory concept of self-efficacy, defined as a person's belief in his or her ability to succeed. Given…

Our research question concerned how life stories shape university students' understanding of the sustainable use of natural resources. We searched for an answer for this question by listening to the life stories of nine students from a public university in Turkey. The difference between this research and former work is that we were not concerned…

In this paper, I use critical discourse analysis to analyze a student's narrative about the arrest, incarceration, and deportation of her mother to Mexico. The student, Gisela, was a fifth grader in my classroom during the 2008/2009 school year, and I encouraged the students to collect family stories from their relatives. Gisela created this…

Drawing from a larger qualitative study, this article examines the narratives of bilingual Latina/o teacher candidates in South Texas. The findings reveal that bilingual teacher candidates are linguistically subordinated by the marginalized status of Spanish in the United States and by deficit perspectives of Spanish of the Southwest. Their…

Research has highlighted the challenges that women face as mature-age students in higher education. The challenges are particularly acute when a woman is the first in her family to go to university. Many women begin their journey as students with considerable self-doubt and lack of confidence. They may also face an ongoing struggle to find a way…

Little research has been directed at the psychological development of poor women. So as to better understand this group, the results of a qualitative study of 20 white, semi-rural women receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (welfare) are reported in this paper. All of the women were completing a two-year college degree. Their process…

The narratives of three Mexican immigrants to El Rincon, a fictitious name for a California town, illustrate the process of empowerment fostered by education. Narratives include those of a mother, a fourth-grade teacher, and a high school student aspiring to an engineering degree. Cultural context, working conditions, and the role of language in…

Project FOCUS is aimed at enhancing literacy education for non-native speakers of English through the use of photography. It was offered as an elective course within a family literacy program for Hispanic adults. This collection of writings and photographs originated in the program. The collection begins with an overview of Project FOCUS, personal…

Six essays submitted to Harvard University (Massachusetts) by applicants for the class of 2000 are presented. Topics include a refugee's experiences, a football player's passion for musical theater, the death of a sister, a mother's influence, living in China, and a renaissance-English poetic lament about being a dog. (MSE)