Chicana/o Studies Commons^™

A Plática With Jimmy Santiago Baca, Nick Daniel Rivas

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

A Plática with Jimmy Santiago Baca, interview by Nick Daniel Rivas.

Radicalizando La Educación A Traves De La Mente De La Jotería De Un Chicano, Alex M. Guzman Fernandez

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

Radicalizando la Educación a Traves de La Mente de la Jotería de Un Chicano by Alex M. Guzman Fernandez.

The Game Of Chance, Alieth Caceres

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Through my first semester at college, I was faced with the capability of not coming back due to being from a low-income family. Being a first-gen, I didn’t have anyone to guide me and I went from place to place begging for something to hold on to. My biggest goal for my family and I is to graduate from college and it is unfair that this opportunity will come short only because of financial problems. In some moments I felt all was lost, some telling me that I couldn’t and should just give up. All the connections I had reached …

Breaking Barriers First-Gen Experiences, Fiorella Salazar, Alondra Hernandez, Alieth Caceres, Aolanni Jimenez-Gonzalez, Alberto Martinez, Karol Martinez, Jesus Arias, Julian Melendez Miranda, Gabby Flores, Isabell Lachinpour, Jefferson Ramos, Annette Gomez, Zahir Pineda, Alejandra Rodriguez, Carla Bueno

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

In Breaking Barriers: First-Gen Experiences, first-gen students showcased their stories through poems, art, research, and personal reflections. Every story reflects resilience and creativity as they navigate their educational and personal journeys with a first-gen identity. These are stories that we can connect to and learn from to further build bridges for future generations in The First to Go Program!

Volume 8 (2025) The Spanish Language, Language Variations, Cultures And Responsibility

International Journal on Responsibility

This issue reflects an intentional and profound commitment to linguistic inclusion, cultural diversity, and the shared responsibility of scholars to broaden the scope of academic dialogue beyond the boundaries of English. The essays collected here invite us to reimagine bilingualism not only as a communicative skill but also as a moral, social, and institutional responsibility.

Esta edición representa un compromiso intencional y profundo con la inclusión lingüística, la diversidad cultural y la responsabilidad compartida de ampliar los horizontes del diálogo académico más allá de los límites del inglés. Los ensayos aquí reunidos nos invitan a reimaginar el bilingüismo no solo …

Stolen, Lost, And Replaced: Testimonios Regarding Chicana Responsibilities To The Spanish Language, Fawn-Amber Montoya, Ashley Martinez

International Journal on Responsibility

Using testimonio, the authors address how the Spanish language represents a component of Chicana identity. They illustrate how geography, history, and colonization impact Chicanas’ relationship with the Spanish language. Using testimonio allows the writers to explore the Spanish language in the United States through their personal experiences.

Resumen

Usando “testimonio”, las autoras abordan cómo el idioma español representa un componente de la identidad chicana. Ilustran cómo la geografía, la historia y la colonización afectan la relación de las chicanas con el idioma español. El uso de “testimonio” permite a las autoras explorar el idioma español en los Estados Unidos a …

"Breaking Barriers: First-Gen Experiences", Julian Melendez Miranda

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Journey to college as a first-generation student, navigating challenges and self-doubt.

First Gen Voices, Jesus Arias

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Looking back at my first semester, I’ve made some truly fond memories. Starting off with an amazing group of people in the program and going on our retreat helped me find a community I could rely on. This community has remained by my side, even during challenging times, and for that, I’ll always be grateful. Whether it was tackling escape rooms or being part of First Year Seminar, the first-gen community has shown itself to be incredibly strong and tightly connected.

The First Generation, Alberto Martinez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

My poem basically describes how I feel as a first-generation student is. Many of us including myself, felt as if we were alone, not knowing if we have someone by our side, but through our experience, we do share a common ground. First to go is a place where we all can share that and is a place where we do not have to be alone but have the support of those around us who can relate to how we feel.

Roots, Aolanni Jimenez-Gonzalez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem closely focuses on my experience and acceptance of my first-generation identity. Language is a symbol of my heritage from my family and how I carry hope and resilience as I navigate my everyday life. I want to depict my journey through language and how it serves as a powerful source to communicate with my loved ones and others. While appreciating the roots and strength of my family and striving to live out my dreams and be the first of many to come.

Balance, Alondra Hernandez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Through the poem, I wanted to explain my journey as a First Gen student who was struggling to balance school and work. I also wanted to represent the many students who are facing the same fight everyday. My hope was to show encouragement and motivation to keep going.Making sure to remind yourself to live each day knowing you're doing your best.

First Doubts, Carla Bueno

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

As first-gen students, we often struggle with the identity and responsibility of being the firsts to navigate through the unknown. With this, doubts of our ability to succeed come naturally and these can be consuming. My advice is to not be afraid of using resources available and asking questions as these are the first steps into finding our way in institutions not built for us.

Dreams To Reality, Annette Gomez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Beneath the shade of the trees, I reflect on the weight of my family’s dreams and the determination it takes to pursue a degree. The clear blue skies and open spaces remind me that possibilities are just as boundless, even when the roads feel steep. Here, amidst the peace and beauty I find the strength to strive as a First-Generation Latina student.

A New Beginning, Jefferson Ramos

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

The purpose of my reflection is to demonstrate to other individuals, especially first-generation students, my experience with the college process, along with the obstacles I faced, the doubts, and everything that comes along with being the first person in your family to attend a higher education institution in the United States. In my reflection, I describe the process that I experienced, from the very beginning of high school to the start of my college journey. To finalize my reflection, I leave the reader with three important tips I have learned along the journey: being resilient, not being afraid of new …

My Experience, Gabby Flores

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This essay reflects personal experiences starting college and navigating new environments that are new to me.

Deceiving Angels Ii, Alejandra Rodriguez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

I share a dream with my family. The dream of graduating from college, getting a good job, and living a better life. A life where we won’t be financially tied down. I am now attending Loyola Marymount University and pursuing a degree in Animation. I’m the first in my family to pursue a degree in Film & Television, and even though I can’t help the thoughts that I should be doing something more “impactful,” I know that it’s my passion and that it is the combined efforts of my family and those who have helped me, that led me here. …

Trailblazin, Zahir Pineda

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

My "trailblazin" collage is just a collage of me and my brother as we grew up. It was just us two for the majority of our childhood and we were always pushed to make the most of our education here in the US. Growing up I always relied on him, and he made sure to be there to guide me and help me learn from his mistakes. Fast forward to now and we're both at LMU together, and the same way he trailblazed the path for me, I hope to do for my two younger siblings. It symbolizes what has …

Introduction

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

No abstract provided.

Family Dynamics In Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Isabell Lachinpour

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This paper was originally a submission for my general psychology final. The prompt for it was to analyze any topic covered in class and connect to any form of fictional media. I chose to study the social psychology behind the relationships of immigrant parents and their children, connecting it to the movie Everything, Everywhere, All At Once by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. I especially picked this movie because of how connected I felt to the characters in the movie as I have gone through some of the same experiences they have and know many immigrant children that have felt …

Deslenguadas: A Photo Essay On The Performative Remembering Of The Impact Of 1940s Americanization Programs In Northern New Mexico, Yvonne M. Montoya, Fawn-Amber Montoya

International Journal on Responsibility

This photo essay captures the dance performance Deslenguadas by choreographer Yvonne Montoya. Deslenguadas, a dance inspired by a writing of the same name published in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, is a series of three dances – one duet and two solos. The dances in the series explore the impact the forced loss of the Spanish language had on three generations of one nuevomexicano family from the 1940s to the present day. Through dance, movement, projected animation, and spoken word, the dances explore how each generation internalized racism and shame. At the same time, these generations …

The Path Toward Spiritual Activism: Queer Latinx/A/O College Student (Muxerista) Activism As Sites Of Resistance, Hope, Joy, And Futurity, Roberto C. Orozco, J. Audra Williams

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This study examined collaborators’ engagement in activism as sites of resistance, hope, joy, and futurity. We answer the following research question: In what ways do Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), or queer Latinx/a/o college student activists, envision and act on kinship and liberation in their activism? We conceptualize our response to this question through Anzaldúa’s (2002, 2015) concept of spiritual activism. Our data analysis articulates three main components of a spiritual activism practice for Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), which include: 1) engaging in forms of resistance through a queer and feminist world-making, 2) centering joy and love with and for each other as …

Contributors And Acknowledgments For Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Paul A. Olson, M. Dewayne Mays, Gabriel Bruguier, Kevin Abourezk, Preston Love, Jr., with Adam Fletcher Sasse, Heather Fryer, Sharon Ishii-Jordan, Emira Ibrahimpašić, and Julia Reilly

Acknowledgements

Frontmatter And Foreword To Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska, Bill Arfmann

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Covers, Table of Contents, and Foreword:

There is much to understand about the history of Nebraska and how the past shapes the present. This book attempts to bring into clearer focus the triumphs and trials of five broad groups whose lives have often been overlooked when the state’s history is told. The authors know some of this history of racism firsthand: Most of them have lived as people of color in Nebraska. They’ve experienced “the good, the bad and the ugly” that makes up our state story. We encourage educators, scholars and family historians to continue to dig, to document …

Introduction To Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska, M. Dewayne Mays, Paul Olson

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Nebraska has made racism a way of life through most of its history. It is still the way of life for many. In 2020, a Nebraska columnist wrote the following about Nebraska: “[T]he issues stemming from racism can seem like foreign concepts, confined to the larger cities (or the American South) and relics of a distant past.”2 The column goes on to show that these issues were not confined to large cities or to the South; they rested on our back door in Nebraska. Yet, one often heard back as far as one could remember that Nebraska is not and …

Associations Between Individual And Structural Level Discrimination And Psychological And Physiological Stress Indicators During Pregnancy, Özlü Aran, Melissa Nevarez-Brewster, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez, Julia Dmitrieva, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In the United States (U.S.) pervasive health disparities in prenatal care disproportionately impact marginalized individuals. The present study investigates whether discrimination at the individual and structural levels are associated with indicators of psychological and physiological stress among pregnant Latinx people living in the U.S., including both U.S. and foreign-born individuals. Pregnant participants (n = 109) reported on birthplace, lifetime experiences of racial and ethnic discrimination, perceived levels of stress, acculturation, social support, and provided residential address data and hair samples for cortisol analysis. Regression analysis revealed that individual level discrimination was linked to higher psychological stress during pregnancy ( …

Where Did All The Democrats Go?, Reese Adkins

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Following the reelection of President Obama in 2012, many political scientists such as Ruy Teixeira and John B. Judis, believed that this signaled the beginning of many Democratic electoral victories to come. They published their argument in their book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, in which they explained the Democratic Party’s plan to gain a systemic advantage in presidential elections. This was to be achieved by winning elections through winning the vote of minority groups, white women, and young college-educated people. This has been far from the case. Donald Trump, with political experience, shocked the world after winning the 2016 election …

Projecting Echoes: Valeria Luiselli's Writing On Immigration, Jacob C. Cisneros

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The growing concerns of immigration has been a fraught topic in both U.S. society and the American political landscape. Certain political narratives are formed which fuel the debate for and against immigration. This coincides with how immigrants are treated and how legal processes change throughout each term of presidency within the United States. This has sparked outrage from both advocates and adversaries of immigrants coming into the United States. Papers, speeches, news articles, and more have been created from both sides of the argument concerning how to handle the immigration crisis along with the question of how immigrants and asylum …

Taming The Wild Tongue Of Frida Kahlo: An Analysis Of Translation As Adaptation In Personal Narratives, Alyse K. Deatherage

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis discusses topics of adaptation and translation theory by looking at the way Frida Kahlo’s diary has been transformed through both adaptation and translations of it in the texts The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait and The Diary of Frida Kahlo: A New Perspective. Scholars have paid much attention to the connections between Kahlo’s diary and her portraits, focusing on artistic critique and the painter’s diary as a drafting space for what eventually became her famous self-portraits. Researchers have also documented Frida Kahlo’s artistic and cultural influences in Mexico and abroad. However, none have addressed the …

Chingonas In Charge: A Phenomenological Study Of Latina Educational Leaders In Colorado, Paulina Yvette Lerma-Banuelos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite comprising 76% of the U.S. teaching workforce (2017−2018), Latina women held only 8.5% of principal roles and 2.7% of superintendent positions. In places such as Colorado, where Latinos make up 15.1% of the population, this inequity highlights the pressing necessity for better representation. The present study used a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore the fundamental essence and attributes of leadership among Latina K−12 administrators in Colorado, with a focus on the concept of “chingona” and its transformative significance in their professional journeys. The name “chingona” was historically rejected by young Latina women because of connotations to being aggressive or …

Jotographía // Fagtography: On Amor Propio Radical // Radical Self-Love, Jonathan Erick Guzman

Masters Theses

“Jotographía // Fagtography: On Amor Propio Radical // Radical Self-Love” is an interdisciplinary thesis that explores the intersections of queer Chicanx identity, photography, and performance as technologies of survival and self-construction. I construct a speculative archive of Chicanx queer experience through my tripartite personas: Barbí, Luke, and myself—collectively, the Guzman Triplets.

Through these embodied avatars, I embrace rasquachismo, camp, Catholic iconography, and hybrid photographic processes—including Polaroids, AI-manipulated imagery, anthotypes, and installation—to investigate visibility, fragmentation, and ancestral memory. Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa’s frameworks of la herida abierta and nepantla, José Esteban Muñoz’s concepts of disidentification and queer futurity, and bell …