Papers by Tanya J Gaxiola Serrano
Urban review/The Urban review, Jun 18, 2024
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, May 9, 2024
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Feb 23, 2023
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education

Living in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, residents have intimately learned about the impact of the ... more Living in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, residents have intimately learned about the impact of the militarized policing of the physical border on their lives. While not often discussed, the policing transcends the border institution and targets the ways of knowing of People and Immigrants of Color. This essay features pláticas between two Mexican women educators from the border, la frontera, to challenge epistemic violence on the lives of U.S. Chicanas/Latinas. Intergenerational pedagogies of a mother-daughter dyad from the Tijuana-San Diego region serve as exemplars of the survival and resistance found in the borderlands. The narratives highlight their unique experiences, one as a Mexican mother and preschool educator in Mexico, and the daughter as a first-generation professor working within the realms of academia in the United States. The authors, a mother and a daughter, offer their lived realities stemming from the border to humanize their epistemologies and build bridges across mothers-daughters, P-20 schooling, and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
Racism: Science & Tools for the Public Health Professional, 2019
Using Anzaldúa’s theory of conocimiento—a fluid journey of reflection and knowledge production—we... more Using Anzaldúa’s theory of conocimiento—a fluid journey of reflection and knowledge production—we examine how two Latina undergraduates experience critical consciousness within an ethnic studies course. We challenge that critical consciousness is an end-all, be-all state by highlighting contradictions in thinking, internal shifts, bodymindspirit, and actions that move us to praxis. These aspects of conocimiento are capable of disrupting dominant ideologies, systems of oppression, and coloniality, allowing for transformative ruptures to occur. We offer conocimiento as a way to underscore the beauty of tensions and transformations found in the processes of critical consciousness and the significant role of ethnic studies for Latinx undergraduates.

As a group, Latina/o students are more likely to experience a substandard K–12 education complete... more As a group, Latina/o students are more likely to experience a substandard K–12 education complete with underresourced schools, high teacher turnover, and fewer college-preparatory courses. It is this same inferior education that denies many Latina/o high school students the opportunity to engage in college-choice—leading to their disproportionate enrollment in
community colleges over 4-year colleges or universities. In California alone, approximately 75% of Latina/o students in higher education can be found in the community college sector—making this an important pathway for many Latina/o students. This qualitative study incorporated a Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education framework to focus on the racialized K–12 experiences of four Latina/o graduate students who started their postsecondary career at a community college. This study was undertaken to better understand what led Latina/o students to enroll in community colleges after high school. Exploring the pathways of Latina/o students from high school to community college is imperative to community college practitioners (i.e., faculty, staff, and administrators) when considering best practices for their large Latina/o student body, as is found in California. The initial findings suggest that racism in K–12 in the forms of tracking, limited college information, and low expectations from academic personnel had a direct impact on the postsecondary experiences and opportunities available to Latina/o students. Lastly, the findings challenge prevailing portrayals where Latina/o students passively accept their marginalized position in education by highlighting their voice, resiliency, and agency in the face of systematic racism, as evidenced by their successes in academia.
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Papers by Tanya J Gaxiola Serrano
community colleges over 4-year colleges or universities. In California alone, approximately 75% of Latina/o students in higher education can be found in the community college sector—making this an important pathway for many Latina/o students. This qualitative study incorporated a Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education framework to focus on the racialized K–12 experiences of four Latina/o graduate students who started their postsecondary career at a community college. This study was undertaken to better understand what led Latina/o students to enroll in community colleges after high school. Exploring the pathways of Latina/o students from high school to community college is imperative to community college practitioners (i.e., faculty, staff, and administrators) when considering best practices for their large Latina/o student body, as is found in California. The initial findings suggest that racism in K–12 in the forms of tracking, limited college information, and low expectations from academic personnel had a direct impact on the postsecondary experiences and opportunities available to Latina/o students. Lastly, the findings challenge prevailing portrayals where Latina/o students passively accept their marginalized position in education by highlighting their voice, resiliency, and agency in the face of systematic racism, as evidenced by their successes in academia.
community colleges over 4-year colleges or universities. In California alone, approximately 75% of Latina/o students in higher education can be found in the community college sector—making this an important pathway for many Latina/o students. This qualitative study incorporated a Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education framework to focus on the racialized K–12 experiences of four Latina/o graduate students who started their postsecondary career at a community college. This study was undertaken to better understand what led Latina/o students to enroll in community colleges after high school. Exploring the pathways of Latina/o students from high school to community college is imperative to community college practitioners (i.e., faculty, staff, and administrators) when considering best practices for their large Latina/o student body, as is found in California. The initial findings suggest that racism in K–12 in the forms of tracking, limited college information, and low expectations from academic personnel had a direct impact on the postsecondary experiences and opportunities available to Latina/o students. Lastly, the findings challenge prevailing portrayals where Latina/o students passively accept their marginalized position in education by highlighting their voice, resiliency, and agency in the face of systematic racism, as evidenced by their successes in academia.