Chicano Studies Courses: Latina/o Student Engagement in Community Colleges

<p>Community colleges play a vital role in expanding access to higher education for historically marginalized students, particularly Latina/o and first-generation college students. However, many students arrive carrying the effects of cultural erasure, racial marginalization, and deficit-based schooling experiences that shape their academic engagement, sense of belonging, and future aspirations. This qualitative study examines how Chicana/o Studies courses foster student engagement, identity development, belonging, and future orientation within the community college context. Guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the concept of racial microaffirmations, the study conceptualizes Chicana/o Studies as a transformational educational space that affirms students’ lived experiences, challenges Eurocentric curricular traditions, and nurtures agency and purpose. A qualitative research design was employed, drawing on semi-structured interviews with fourteen Latina/o community college students, supplemented by faculty interviews and non-participant classroom observations to provide contextual insight into instructional practices. While faculty interviews and classroom observations provided important insight into the instructional environment, the study is deliberately centered on how students experience and make meaning of Chicana/o Studies, although faculty perspectives inform the broader instructional context. Data were analyzed thematically using a multi-phase coding process that centered student voice and honored counternarratives, allowing for an in-depth understanding of how curriculum, pedagogy, and classroom relationships shape students’ experiences. Findings are organized around three interconnected themes: racial awakening; humanizing counter spaces and belonging; and transformational agency and future orientation. Students described developing critical consciousness through exposure to counter-historical narratives and culturally rooted curriculum, leading to a deeper understanding of their identities and communities. Chicana/o Studies classrooms functioned as relational and affirming environments, where culturally responsive teaching and racial microaffirmations fostered confidence, participation, and connection. Participation in these courses also shaped students’ academic goals and future aspirations, including increased motivation to persist, transfer, pursue advanced degrees, and contribute to their families and communities. This study contributes to scholarship on Ethnic Studies, culturally relevant pedagogy, and community college student success by centering Latina/o student voices and demonstrating how Chicana/o Studies serves as a humanizing and transformative educational space. The findings highlight the importance of sustained institutional investment in Ethnic Studies programs, faculty, and curriculum as equity-driven practices that support belonging, agency, and holistic student success in community college contexts.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Madrigal Uribe, Marisol Celeste

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tom Luschei
• Frances Gipson
• José Aguilar-Hernández

• belonging
• Chicana/o Studies
• community college
• Latina/o students
• racial microaffirmations
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1129

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2151