Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Scholarship Girls To Scholarship Women: Surviving The Contradictions Of Class And Race In Academe, Gloria H. Cuadraz, Jennifer L. Pierce

Explorations in Ethnic Studies

This article explores the dilemmas graduate education poses for women of working-class origin who come from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It proceeds in a chronological narrative using examples from the authors' personal experiences to make general points about how the intricate web of class, race, and gender relations shaped their experiences in higher education. Both women -- Cucidraz, a Chicana, and Pierce, a white woman -- struggle with the feelings of alienation and marginality as outsiders within the academy as well as their material needs for financial support. Their personal narratives reveal, as well, how race shapes their experiences …