Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2023

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph. D.

Department

Counseling and Human Development

Degree Program

Counseling and Personnel Services, PhD

Committee Chair

Longerbeam, Susan

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Hirschy, Amy

Committee Member

Hirschy, Amy

Committee Member

Alagaraja, Meera

Committee Member

Archuleta, Adrian

Author's Keywords

Latinx students; Latino students; testimony; identity development; The New South; healing

Abstract

Latinx college students in el Nuevo Sur face many barriers to their educational success. Latinx students in el Nuevo Sur live in a part of the country where few opportunities to embrace their cultures are present or centered in educational settings. Reclaiming and remembering their cultures within the higher education setting could act as a catalyst for their success and is the motivation for this dissertation. Through testimonios, photo/image-elicitation, and journal writing with ten participants, I listened to and witnessed the students’ stories. Through unfolding the students’ testimonios, I uncovered and supported students to rediscover healing practices as a tool for their success in college and beyond. Through this project, I embarked on a journey with the testimonialista to discover when healing began for them, where they learned healing practices, how they defined and experienced their healing, and how higher education and community have played a role. Using my autohistoria, I shared with the participant's similar experiences and grounded myself in this research as a Queer, Latinx woman who grew up and was educated in the South. Using the lenses of Latinx critical race theory, traditional healing practices, Latino identity development and orientations, and community cultural wealth and situating my own lived experiences in the research, this project uncovered the healing practices of Latinx college students in el Nuevo Sur.

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Mar 13 2024

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