UCLA

This qualitative dissertation examined the role that mothers play in the educational success of Mexicana/Chicana working-class first-generation college students. Research has shown that Mexicana/Chicana mothers are integral to the educational achievement of their daughters, however few studies have explained why, or outlined specifically what it is that they do to inculcate educational success (Gándara, 1982, 1995, Gándara et al., 2013). Using Chicana/Latina feminist theory (Delgado Bernal & Elenes, 2011), this study explored the teaching and learning practices between Mexicana/Chicana immigrant working-class mothers and their first-generation college daughters. I focused on 10 mother-daughter dyads from Los Angeles County. The majority of the mothers are immigrants from México with an average of an elementary school education. Nine of the daughters are enrolled in Ph.D. programs in Los Angeles and one is an assistant professor at a local university. I facilitated 30 pláticas: 10 pláticas with the mothers, 10 pláticas with the daughters, and 10 mother-daughter pláticas. Additionally, I conducted 18 home visits, collected photographs and personal items, and kept a journal for self-reflexivity. I analyzed the data using modified grounded theory (Calderon, 2008; Malagón, Pérez-Huber, & Velez, 2009) with a Chicana/Latina feminist sensibility to generate theory from their lived experiences. During my analysis, I recognized the ways systems of oppression impact the lives of Women of Color. When preliminary themes were identified, I shared them with the mothers and daughters in the mother-daughter pláticas to discuss analysis, receive feedback, and engage in a collaborative data analysis process. Following this, I engaged in a final analysis stage where concluding themes were identified. My findings show that Mexicana/Chicana mothers use a pedagogy of the borderlands to raise muxeres truchas. A pedagogy of the borderlands encompasses the creative, defying, and empowering ways in which Mexicana/Chicana immigrant working-class mothers raise their daughters. It uses a bodymindspirit approach to instill a conocimiento of how to navigate, thrive in, and transform the physical and metaphorical borders that inform the everyday lives of Mexicanas/Chicanas. It is grounded in the epistemologies and ways of being of Mexicana/Chicana mothers and used to raise muxeres truchas. These are women who embody a unique form of intelligence of how to live in the world and transform it as Women of Color. Implications for this study point to the importance of improving the connection between Mexicana/Chicana mothers, daughters and schools, particularly for families of first-generation college students, reframing how we understand and measure success and achievement in schools, and the significance of continuing to develop Chicana/Latina feminist pedagogies and methodologies.