This dissertation is a qualitative case study designed to explore the political agency of a Los Angeles-based Latina/o immigrant parent group - ALIANZA. Utilizing a Latina/o Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) framework, this study contends that deficit characterizations of Latina/o parents operate from normalized standards of what it means to be a "good" parent and fail to acknowledge the educational participation of Latina/o parents as well as the institutional barriers they face in schools. It also reveals how educational policy, despite its democratic intent, can often render silent the voices of Latina/o parents in educational and civic reform efforts. To examine notions of consciousness and collective action, this study uses a Freirean pedagogical perspective that broadly guides its main inquiry.
Data for this study were collected in collaboration with 15 ALIANZA parents in the form of semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and organizational archives using a participatory action research approach grounded in Chicana feminist epistemology. Data was analyzed using critical race grounded theory that allowed this study's broader conceptual frameworks to assist in isolating emergent themes that best explain the intersecting experiences of ALIANZA parents.
Findings from this study suggest that political agency was developed throughout the life histories of ALIANZA parents. Namely, three important junctures were collectively identified as important toward this end: early schooling, migrating to el norte, and encountering U.S. public schools as mothers for the first time. These formative moments became "triggers of political agency" for ALIANZA parents by disrupting their sense of belonging, extending their threshold of hope, and developing their consciousness as agents of change. Building and capitalizing on these lived experiences, ALIANZA further developed its members as political actors through the use of key strategies and pedagogical approaches aimed at helping them heal from past abuse and racist encounters, identifing and speaking out against injustice, and building a collective and shared political capital to leverage their voice and participate in local reform efforts.
Findings from this study can serve future research and practice on building school-community partnerships in Latina/o immigrant communities and support a greater inclusion of Latina/o parents in school decision-making. Cases like ALIANZA, whose members are immigrants, many of whom are undocumented, complicate traditional notions of who can and cannot participate in creating social change. Documenting their efforts can help us further theorize about the role Latina/o undocumented immigrants can and should play in transforming schools and society.
