Leveraging Latinx Parents’ Cultural Wealth: Pláticas With Parents About Their Involvement In Post-Secondary Educational Spaces In Western North Carolina

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Juan Esteban Ramírez-Escobar (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Advisor
Laurie Ann Ramirez

Abstract: Everyday practices continue to normalize racism and perpetuate deficits and disparities. In North Carolina, for example, appalling projections indicate that Latinxs will fall short in educational attainment for the next 40 years. This project serves as both an invitation to revisit and transform educational attainment in the region of Western North Carolina, the rest of the state, and the nation as a whole. Critical Race Theory (CRT) informed by LatCrit “consciousness,” referred to as CRT/LatCrit, is used as the theoretical lens to explore this phenomenon. This lens centralizes race and ethnicity, along with their many intersections, and promotes critical attention be given to disparities of outcomes that continue to be related to race and ethnicity. Further, this study provides a space via pláticas in which the lived experiences of Latinx parents and families, including my own, are funds of knowledge. This idea runs contrary to divergent views, such as colorblindness, that render communities of color invisible and buries the formidable cultural wealth that communities of color employ to foster success. By design, this project uses Thinking with Theory interwoven with analysis, theories, my own observations, thoughts and complications, and the co-participants of this project as we occupy the willed and planned space of confianza produced by our arrangement. This project recognizes that its very presence is disrupting, preparing, and plowing the ground before seeds can be sown and cultivated. Moreover, this paper promotes pragmatic solidarity for innovation and transformation by paying attention to programs that are already helping to change the landscape of education in our region by being culturally responsive, collaborative, and thinking of families and parents as crucial participants in the educational experience. In conclusion, this study entreaties for more spaces in which teaching and learning can simultaneously occur, particularly from those who are silenced and marginalized. Pláticas present a possibility worthy of consideration.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Ramírez-Escobar, J. (2019). Leveraging Latinx Parents’ Cultural Wealth: Pláticas With Parents About Their Involvement In Post-Secondary Educational Spaces In Western North Carolina. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Language: English
Date: 2019
Keywords
Pláticas, Cultural Wealth, Strength-Based, Funds of knowledge

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