Ethnic Studies Commons^™

The Society For Community Research And Action On A Path Toward Conocimiento: From Silences And Statements To Solidarities In Action In U.S Community Psychology, Jesica S. Fernández

Ethnic Studies

A first-person narrative essay is presented through a critically reflexive auto-ethnography of a community psychologist's experiences as a member of the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) and (as of this writing) co-chair of the Cultural, Ethnic and Racial Affairs council. Through this methodological orientation, an analysis of some of the discourses that circulated within the SCRA listserv in relation to the murder of Mr. George Floyd, and amidst an ensuing pandemic are analyzed and discussed in relation to Anzaldúa's seven stages of conocimiento. The intentions that guide and ground this first-person account are to animate deeper reflection, accountability, …

Is There Room For More?: Considering The Need For A Decoloniality Community Psychology Core Competency, Jesica S. Fernández, Janelle M. Silva

Ethnic Studies

From a decolonizing standpoint, as proposed by Cruz and Sonn (2011), the current community psychology competencies seem insufficient because these often leave power structures intact. Consequently, we propose a decolonizing, decolonial and anti-colonial competency in community psychology practice to facilitate the practitioner’s process toward decoloniality, specifically decolonizing language, discourses, relationships and research processes with communities. A decolonial competency in community psychology practice is characterized by an iterative process of critical ethical reflexivity that aims to de-link community psychology practice from hegemonic Western Eurocentric perspectives in order to foster and center community voice, knowledge and power. Through an autoethnographic methodology we …

Roots And Routes Toward Decoloniality Within And Outside Psychology Praxis, Jesica S. Fernández, Christopher C. Sonn, Ronelle Carolissen, Garth Stevens

Ethnic Studies

Recent psychology scholarship has engaged topics of decoloniality, from conferences to journal publications to edited volumes. These efforts are examples of the decolonial turn, a paradigm shift oriented to interrupting the colonial legacies of power, knowledge, and being. As critical community psychologists, we contend that decoloniality/decolonization is an epistemic and ontological process of continuously disrupting the coloniality of power that is the hegemonic Western Eurocentric approach to theory, research, and practice. To document and critically understand this process of colonial disruption—the roots and routes toward decoloniality within and outside of community psychology—we collected information at conference workshops and an open-ended …

“This Was 1976 Reinvented”: The Role Of Framing In The Development Of A South African Youth Movement, Ben Kirshner, Tafadzwa Tivaringe, Jesica S. Fernández

Ethnic Studies

The literature on contemporary youth organizing has documented psychological benefits associated with participation and some evidence of local political impact. But how do local organizing campaigns transform into regional or national movements? This is a practical question facing youth organizers and one that calls for attention from researchers. In this article, we draw on 3 years of ethnographic fieldwork with South Africa's Equal Education (EE) to analyze collective action frames that enabled EE youth to assert legitimacy and construct shared aims across locales. Our findings focus on how youth constructed historical continuity frames that lent them legitimacy as upholders of …

An Introduction To The Special Issue On Racial Justice And Anti-Racist Practice In Community Psychology, Jesica S. Fernández, Geraldine (Geri) Palmer

Ethnic Studies

The proliferation of racially charged incidents in the United States, Europe, Australia and across the world (Dastagir, 2017; Harris & Bogel-Burroughs; Politi, 2016), along with surmounting hate crimes against women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ identified people, and ethnoreligious populations, such as Muslim and Jewish communities (Potok, 2017), have brought an insurgence of activism. The activism, along with the persistence of local, national and transnational community organizing efforts, grassroots mobilization, coalitional emergent strategies, and waves of social movements, have all been aimed at disrupting institutionalized racism and the assemblages of racialized colonial violence. The jaws of colonial power -- as well as colonialism …

Resisting The Coloniality And Colonialism Of A Westernized Community Psychology: Toward A Critical Racial Justice Praxis, Ann Marie Beals, Dominique Thomas, Jesica S. Fernández, Ciann L. Wilson, Geraldine Palmer

Ethnic Studies

The institutional violence we are now experiencing, coupled with historical and ongoing waves of oppression, is a result and continuation of the legacy of colonialism. The outward eruptions that we are seeing over the last years are a result of American and Canadian settler nation-states that have taken hold in North America but are now in decline. Yet, the perpetuation of imperialism and white supremacist ideologies via the academe and other noneducational entities reproduced through curricula, pedagogy, and institutional policies and practices must still be addressed. The discipline of community psychology (CP) is no exception. As a part of the …

En El Museo No Se Incluye, Kimberly Fernandez Pedraza

Matt Meier Award

The attendance of art museums has often been exclusionary to nonwhite individuals. As a space revered for the “high class” or “educated”, there is a direct correlation with art museum attendance being dominated by white, middle class, college graduates. Being a current student pursuing higher education at Santa Clara University (SCU) and in an academic environment that has pushed for arts participation, the research would suggest this is the perfect environment for students to develop museum going habits. Based on interviews with three current SCU students and utilizing an auto-ethnographic approach, this research paper looks at the barriers that push …

Latinx/Chicanx Students On The Path To Conocimiento: Critical Reflexivity Journals As Tools For Healing And Resistance In The Trump Era, Jesica S. Fernández, Alejandra Magaña Gamero

Ethnic Studies

Anzaldúa’s concept of conocimiento guides our analysis of Latinx/Chicanx students’ Critical Reflexivity Journals (CRJ) produced in an Ethnic Studies classroom at a predominantly-white institution. Through a thematic analysis procedure of students’ CRJ entries, which we describe as written testimonios, we discerned how Latinx/Chicanx students’ writings engaged their identities, reflexivity, healing, and resistance on a path toward conocimiento. Grounding our theoretical and empirical analysis in Anzaldúan thought, conocimiento is characterized by a deep reflexive critical consciousness that unfolds across seven interconnected stages. Conocimiento builds toward a liberatory transformation that Anzaldúa describes as spiritual activism, the seventh and final stage of conocimiento. …

Retention Of Women Of Color In Higher Education, Edith Romero

Matt Meier Award

This research paper focuses on the factors that contribute to the retention of women of color in higher education. Research has shown that students of color are at a higher risk of not returning to their institutions of higher education due to financial difficulties of their families, the lack of family support and the way in which the campus climate affects them uniquely.This research aims to answer the question: how does Hermanas Unidas at Santa Clara University contribute to the retention of women of color in higher education? While focusing on the three main factors that contribute to the retention …

Documenting Sociopolitical Development Via Participatory Action Research (Par) With Women Of Color Student Activists In The Neoliberal University, Jesica S. Fernández, Jasmyne Y. Gaston, Madeline Nguyen, Jaia Rovaris, Rhyann L. Robinson, Danielle N. Aguilar

Ethnic Studies

Political activism attests to the sociopolitical development and agency of young people. Yet the literature sparingly engages the intersectional subjectivities that inform the sociopolitical development of young people, especially women of color. Important questions remain in the theorizing of sociopolitical development among youth engaged in political activism within higher education settings. Thus, we focus on the following question: What experiences informed or catalyzed the sociopolitical development of women of color student activists within a racialized neoliberal university in the United States? In addressing this question we demonstrate how student-led participatory action research (PAR) within the neoliberal university can facilitate and …

Thinking Through Our Processes: How The Ucsc Community Psychology Research & Action Team Strives To Embody Ethical, Critically Reflexive Anti-Racist Feminist Praxis, Regina Day Langhout, Erin R. Ellison, Danielle Kohfeldt, Angela Nguyen, Jesica S. Fernandez, Janelle M. Silva, David L. Gordon Jr., Stephanie Tam Rosas

Ethnic Studies

Co-written by eight people, this paper describes how the UCSC Community Psychology Research and Action Team (CPRAT) organizes itself in weekly group meetings and how this structure is an attempt to embody an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. First, we outline the community psychology core competency of an ethical, reflective practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). We offer a friendly amendment to consider an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. Second, we discuss how we organize CPRAT meetings to uphold these ideas. We describe our current structure, which includes personal and project check-ins, rotating facilitation, and attention to broader professional …

Strategies For Systemic Change:Youth Community Organizing To Disruptthe School-To-Prison Nexus, Jesica S. Fernández, Ben Kirshner, Deana G. Lewis

Ethnic Studies

The school disciplinary landscape across the United States changed significantly through the enactment of policies that criminalize students’ behaviors during the 1990s and 2000s. Schools began to involve the police and criminal legal system in school disciplinary issues that used to be handled by school administrators. This shift led youth of Color1 to increasingly come into contact with the juvenile legal system through school suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to alternative schools—what we characterize as the school-toprison nexus.

Conceptualizing the school-to-prison pipeline as a nexus, or interlocking system of power over youth, allows us to understand how the criminalization of youth …

Reconsidering Citizenship Models And The Case For Cultural Citizenship: Implications For A Social Psychology Of Social Justice, Regina Day Langhout, Jesica S. Fernández

Ethnic Studies

This chapter reviews citizenship constructions in the United States and examines how historic, legal, economic, schooling, and multicultural “melting pot” ideology landscapes shape citizenship and its performance. It introduces cultural citizenship as an alternative starting point for citizenship and its performance, providing a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for cultural citizenship, and argues in support of incorporating this framework into social psychology when working toward collective social justice. It also discusses the implications of adopting a cultural citizenship perspective for social psychology and how this perspective can extend our understanding of citizenship practices to enact social justice. We conclude with …

From Citizens To Elected Representatives: The Political Trajectory Of Asian American Pacific Islanders By 2040, Christine Chen, James Lai, Karthick Ramakrishnan, Alton Wang

Ethnic Studies

The political power of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) has increased steadily in the United States. By 2040, one in ten Americans will be AAPI, and the number of Asian Americans registered to vote will have doubled (Ong, Ong, and Ong, 2016). This section examines the growing AAPI electorate and projects a trajectory for AAPI civic engagement and political participation from now until 2040. By looking at trends and projections for citizenship, voter registration, voter turnout, elected officials, and political infrastructure, the authors illustrate that AAPI political empowerment will have even a greater influence on the future of American …

Photovoice And House Meetings Within Participatory Action Research, Regina Day Langhout, Jesica S. Fernández, Denise Wyldbore, Jorge Savala

Ethnic Studies

Participatory action research (PAR) is an epistemology where community members and researchers collaborate to (a) determine the problem to be researched, (b) collect data, (c) analyze data, (d) come to a conclusion, (e) determine an intervention, (f) implement the intervention, and (g) evaluate the intervention (Fals Borda, 1987). We refer to PAR as an epistemology rather than as a method because most PAR theorists view it as a way for those typically situated outside of science to insert their lived experiences and perspectives into the process of knowledge construction (Fals Borda, 1987). Specifically, PAR allows for the democratization of knowledge …

Police Brutality: Impacts On Latino And African American Lives And Communities, Angelica Delgado

Matt Meier Award

This research focused on Latino and African American experiences with law enforcement and the impact that those encounters have on health, well-being, parenting, and violence in communities of color. The community setting that was selected for this project was an elementary school in California’s South Bay. Three Latino parents, who live in the local neighborhood, and whose children attend the elementary school, agreed to participate in this study. Additionally, an African American male from the San Francisco Bay Area participated in the project as well. Qualitative interviews were conducted with all four participants. Results from the interviews reveal themes of …

From Central Cities To Ethnoburbs: Asian American Political Incorporation In The San Francisco Bay Area, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

Asian Americans are increasingly more active and visible in local politics, extending beyond central city limits. While central cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, and New York City remain vibrant 21st-century gateways for contemporary Asian immigrants and community formation, a majority of the U.S. Asian American population currently resides in suburban cities. Between 2000 and 2010, Asian American population growth in the suburbs reached 1.7 million, which was nearly four times the growth during the same period for those Asian Americans living in central cities. ¹ Approximately 62 percent of the U.S. Asian American population is situated …

“It’S A Puzzle!” Elementary School-Agedyouth Concept-Mapping The Intersections Ofcommunity Narratives, Jesica S. Fernández, Angela Nguyen, Regina Day Langhout

Ethnic Studies

We present a concept-mapping activity, developed within a youth Participatory Action Research (yPAR) after-school program, to demonstrate how the activity contributed to young people’s conceptualization of social structures as interconnected. We analyze fieldnotes from the Change 4 Good yPAR program, which includes primarily Latina/o 4th and 5th grade students attending a California public elementary school. We discuss the concept-mapping activity in terms of its processes and outcomes, and how youth constructed interconnected meanings from thematic community narratives.

Latinas And Electoral Politics: Expanding Participation And Power In State And National Elections, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

Latina and Latino political participation in the 2012 election reached new heights, proving to be a significant factor in the electoral outcomes of several battleground states and ultimately the reelection of President Obama. Both Latinas and Latinos played pivotal roles in the 2012 election, increasing their share of the national electorate and their support for President Obama over 2008 election levels. In the end, President Obama received 71 percent of the Latina/o vote (compared with 27 percent for Mitt Romney), surpassing all previous presidential candidates with the exception of Bill Clinton, who garnered 72 percent of the Latina/o vote in …

Latina Political Participation, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

Contemporary Latinas and Latinos constitute a growing political influence in American politics. Moreover, in 2000 Latinas/Latinos reached a demographic milestone, surpassing African Americans in becoming the largest ethnic minority group in the United States (see Ennis, et al. 2011 and Grieco and Cassidy 2001 under General Overviews). However, despite important political gains made over the past thirty-five years, Latinas and Latinos continue to experience significant structural and resource barriers to their political incorporation, resulting in enduring forms of marginalization for the population. Latinas specifically inherit a long history of political activism dating back to early resistance against US expansion both …

Multiplexing Racial And Ethnic Planes: Chinese American Politics In Globalized Immigrant Suburbs, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

Contemporary American suburbs offer critical insights into the multiple planes of racial and ethnic consciousness and community formations that shape new Chinese American political agendas. In a 2009 Amerasia Journal article entitled "A New Gateway: Asian American Political Power in the 21st Century," I examined the importance of location for understanding the ability of Asian American communities to attain and sustain elected representation. Like real estate, location matters in explaining the political question of "where" Asian Americans are winning elected representation in American politics. That article's thesis was that, rather than focusing solely on metropolitan gateways that had been central …

Voting Behavior And Political Participation, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

Asian Americans have been labeled as the "next sleeping giant" in American politics in key geopolitical states such as California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. ¹ Much of this perception is fueled by the dramatic growth of Asian American communities in these and other states as a result of federal immigration reforms beginning in 1965. This section highlights the major areas of Asian American political participation and behavior that will likely determine whether Asian American politics will live up to this label. These include voter behavior and turnout in local, state, and federal elections as recently as …

A New Gateway: Asian American Political Power In The 21st Century, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

Don T. Nakanishi's prescient 1985 Amerasia Journal essay, "Asian American Politics: An Agenda for Research" argued for an interdisciplinary approach to gain a better understanding of Asian American politics. His essay provided an integrated micro/macro and a domestic/transnational approach that was well ahead of its time. Nakanishi's timely essay would prove influential in defining future research parameters of the political behavior of Asian Americans. At the time of the essay's publication, Asians, compared to African Americans and Latinos, were not found in the extant political science literature. Nearly twenty-five years later, however, Nakanishi's interdisciplinary approach has become even more useful …

Crossing Disciplinary Borders: Re-Examining Latino/A Studies And Latin American Studies In The 1990s, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

Over the 30 years of their existence, studies of Latinos/as in the U.S. and the field of Latin American Studies have emerged largely as divided disciplines. That is, despite what would appear to be similar sensibilities including comparable criticisms of Western hegemony and the neocolonial practices of the U.S., as well as the political, economic, and cultural displacement of similar populations, the two areas of study have more often regarded each other as competitive colleagues rather than complimentary practices. In the following study, I examine the nature of the two disciplines paying particular attention to the political context surrounding their …

Transforming Chicana/O And Latina/O Politics: Globalization, And The Formation Of Transnational Resistance In The U.S. And Chiapas, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

In 1993 Congress passed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with great anticipation at home and abroad that the newly formed regional alliance between Mexico, the United States, and Canada would increase productivity, reduce inefficiency, and strengthen the states' economies. However, the agreement was not met with universal enthusiasm. Among many of the rural poor, campesinos, working classes, racial minorities, and indigenous populations of all three states, NAFTA's passage signaled an unprecedented move toward globalization and mounting economic pressures (Mander and Goldsmith, 1996). In particular, in Chiapas, Mexico, peasants, campesinos/farmers, and indigenous populations had for some time been under …

Introduction: Processes, New Prospects, And Approaches, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

One of the best ways to begin to understand the cultures of the Latina/o populations of the United States is to consider the term as it has been used and appropriated over time. The term "Latino" (Spanish Latino Americana), according to David Bushnell 0970: 3) was first used by the Colombian publicist Jose Maria Torres Caicedo in 1856 (Miguel Tinker Salas, personal communication, 2001). "Latin" was used in the United States, especially in films from the 1920s through the 1960s as a cover designation that masked the origin of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans superseding the word "Spanish" to accomplish the …

Conclusion: New Projects And Old Reminders, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

Globalization and the transnational networks established by economic integration have produced a context in which the gathering of knowledge about Latina/o and Latin American communities is largely devoid of any processual perspective. This means that we must construct an alternative methodology to capture the international and transnational social fields and arenas of this multinational population. Nowhere does this type of dialogue appear more necessary than in studies of immigration from Latin America to the United States. In particular, we maintain that the integration of Latin American and Latina/o studies requires viewing these new waves of migrants as part of a …

Beyond Symbolic Representation: A Comparison Of The Electoral Pathways And Policy Priorities Of Asian American And Latino Elected Officials, Kim Geron, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

This is an exploratory study of the impact of Latino and Asian American elected officials on their respective groups' political incorporation. The authors argue that Latino and Asian American elected officials' paths to elected office do not always fit the biracial coalition model of political incorporation for minorities, and instead suggest a reconstructed model to explain the distinctive character of Latino and Asian American group efforts toward political representation. The results of this paper are based on information gathered from two nationwide mail surveys of Latino elected officials (LEOs) and Asian American elected officials (AAEOs). The 2000 National Asian American …

Crossing Disciplinary Borders: Latino/A Studies And Latin American Studies In The 1990s, Anna Sampaio

Ethnic Studies

Over the 30 years of their existence, studies of Latinos/as in the U.S. and the field of Latin American Studies have emerged largely as divided disciplines. That is, despite what would appear to be similar sensibilities including comparable criticisms of Western hegemony and the neocolonial practices of the U.S., as well as the political, economic, and cultural displacement of similar populations, the two areas of study have more often regarded each other as competitive colleagues rather than complimentary practices. In the following study, I examine the nature of the two disciplines paying particular attention to the political context surrounding their …

Racially Polarized Voting And Its Effects On The Formation Of A Viable Latino-Asian Pacific Political Coalition, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

In "Paths To Political Incorporation For Latinos and Asian Pacifies in California," Steven P. Erie, Harold Brackman, and James Warren Ingram Ill (Erie et al.) examined the potentials and barriers for political incorporation of Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Pacifies in California. According to their findings, they argue that a bi-racial political coalition between Latinos and Asian Pacifies is likely based on the following factors: language and immigration issues. They stated:

Regarding a possible Latino alliance with Asian Pacifies, there appears to be a strong basis for collaboration on behalf of an immigrant rights agenda and in opposition to resurgent …