Facilitating Intersectional Identity Development Among Latina Adolescents Through Critical Inquiry Groups

The Intersectional Identities and Experiences of Latina Girls

The lives, knowledge, and revolutionary capabilities of Latina youth are crucial to the disruption and dismantling of interlocking systems of oppression (Bondy, 2016). Like other girls and femmes of color, Latina youth are exploring the contours of their identities within a society dominated by white heteropatriarchy—“a system that enforces the intersections of white supremacy, gender normativity, and patriarchy” (Player, 2022, p. 1,785). This makes it necessary to contextualize the ethnic-racial identity and critical race consciousness development of Latina youth at the intersection of multiple axes of oppression (e.g., gendered racism). Contrary to the fallacy that Latinx youth have a singular and shared racialized experience, they have myriad identities (e.g., racial, gendered, national, generational, etc.) that shape how they experience, understand, and engage the world around them as Latinx people (Bañales & Rivas-Drake, 2022).

Latinidad refers to the boundaries of who is considered Latinx (Chávez-Moreno, 2021). As a social and political construct, Latinidad has historically operated as a function of whiteness, rooted in the colonial racial ideologies and state policies of mestizaje (i.e., cultural and racial mixing) (L. E. Gómez, 2020). Mestizaje claims that Latinxs have “transcended” race, reflecting a mixture of white, Black, and Indigenous people, while reinforcing anti-Indigenous and anti-Black colonial logics (L. E. Gómez, 2020). This ideology manifests itself in the racial and gendered socialization Latina youth experience. At home, Afro-Latinas are encouraged to perform mestizaje by distancing themselves from their Black identity (e.g., creating distance from other Black groups) and conforming to mestiza beauty standards (e.g., straightening their hair) (Salas Pujols, 2022). These experiences communicate that being a part of the Latinx community is incompatible with Blackness. Similarly, representations of Latinidad in the media and school fail to represent the languages and experiences of Latinx indigeneity (Alberto, 2017). Yet, how Latinas define who they are can expand our understandings of what it means to be Latinx in ways that uplift Blackness and Indigeneity and challenges cultural values that replicate violent and harmful narratives (Bañales & Rivas-Drake, 2022).

Latina youth must also contend with disempowering gender dynamics at home and in organizing spaces. At an early age, Latina youth are socialized to conform to rigid gender norms that place them in positions of servitude to men (Gallegos-Castillo, 2006). Marianismo, in particular, polices young girls to be self-sacrificing, passive, and remain virginal until marriage (A. Morales & Pérez, 2020). Scholars explain that marianismo is historically rooted in colonialism and served to justify the racial-gendered violence Indigenous women faced (Chavez-Dueñas et al., 2022). Familial dynamics also reveal the intersection between paternalism and sexism as it relates to Latina youths’ freedom and agency (Gallegos-Castillo, 2006). Latina youth often report experiencing greater parental restrictions compared to male siblings even when they are older (Stein et al., 2014). Yet, Latina youth will act on their sense of gender injustice by questioning and challenging their family (Blackwell, 2011; Gallegos-Castillo, 2006). This form of resistance is also reflected in the intersectional activism of Latinas during civil rights movements (Beltrán, 2010). For instance, in response to the sexism Chicana women experienced within the Brown Berets, they established Las Adelitas de Atzlan to not only challenge racism but to encourage Chicana women to challenge machismo by taking on roles outside of their family (Beltrán, 2010).

In social justice movements (e.g., Chicano Movement, mainstream feminist movements), the intersection of Latinas’ racial and gendered experiences is often relegated to the sidelines (Montoya & Seminario, 2022), leaving many Latinas to feel unable to fully address the social issues that affect their lives (Blackwell, 2016). Latina feminisms challenge traditional gender dynamics within the Chicano movement while expanding the racial focus of white feminist movements (Beltrán, 2010). Unfortunately, Chicano men framed calls to consider the oppression of women as a form of cultural betrayal, claiming it would undermine the racial movement by weakening the patriarchal and heteronormative family (Beltrán, 2010). As girls define what it means to be part of the Latinx community, they must also disrupt the boundaries of Latinidad that privilege whiteness, machismo, and heteronormativity. Spaces where youth can interrogate their lived experiences and engage in actions to respond to systems of oppression may provide Latina girls a space to reclaim their agency and redefine themselves.

Conduits for Ethnic-Racial Identity and Critical Racial Consciousness Development

Within a social justice framework, critical inquiry groups can serve as counterspaces—dynamic sites of collective resistance designed to interrogate, disrupt, and transform oppressive systems. Counterspaces are contexts where individuals with shared social identities and marginalized experiences come together to build community, engage in critical social analysis, and challenge deficit-oriented narratives (S. Morales, 2017; Solórzano & Yosso, 2000). Research highlights that counterspaces play a key role in enhancing the well-being of marginalized communities by facilitating three psychological processes, (a) narrative identity work, (b) acts of resistance, and (c) direct relational transactions (Case & Hunter, 2012). Narrative identity work mirrors ethnic-racial identity exploration and racial reflexivity, as it involves interrogating one’s identities and how they one is perceived in society to make meaning of and challenge dehumanizing experiences (Case & Hunter, 2012). Specifically, by engaging in resistant narratives individuals can uplift the stories that instead speak to their community’s strengths and dignity. Acts of resistance highlight the strategies marginalized communities enact to critique, subvert, and reclaim power from oppressive systems. This is similar to racism awareness and anti-racism action whereby young people actively interrogate and act against racist systems (Bañales, Aldana, Richards-Schuster, & Merritt, 2023). Finally, direct relational transaction refers to how counterspace members integrate support systems to build a sense of belonging and ameliorate distress.

Although there is no research to our knowledge that uses critical inquiry groups as counterspaces, previous work suggests they can be an agentic way for youth to critically reflect on and make meaning of their experiences. In one study, researchers co-constructed monthly inquiry groups to discuss student views on a range of topics including their relationships with teachers and school staff, their perceptions of the curriculum and instructional strategies that motivated them to learn, and their opinions about peer relationships (Jones & Yonezawa, 2008; Yonezawa & Jones, 2009). Within these spaces, youth’s stories highlighted disparities by racial, gendered, class, and immigrant backgrounds (Jones & Yonezawa, 2008). From this, university and youth researchers cultivated a research and action agenda that culminated into a presentation for their school faculty to shape school reform. Similar studies with practicing teachers find that inquiry groups can be a way to challenge traditional narratives of who is a qualified educator and reimagine educational reforms (Nieto, 2003).

During adolescence, Latinx youth are navigating a minefield of information surrounding their social and cultural identities, in search of a better understanding of who they are and who they can be (Rivas-Drake & Umaña-Taylor, 2019). Critical inquiry groups provide the opportunity for youth to analyze and address the social, economic, and political conditions that shape their schools and communities, thus providing youth the opportunity to directly challenge negative narratives surrounding their ethnic-racial group (Ozer, 2016). By engaging in discussions of how youth are making sense of ethnic-racial messages, youth can collectively conceptualize how larger systemic issues lead to community-level problems rather than internalize these issues as a reflection of themselves (Mathews et al., 2023; Ozer, 2020). Moreover, other youth dialog-based interventions suggest that dialogic practices promote youths’ knowledge and awareness of racism while promoting a clearer sense of who they are and how facets of their identities fit within the broader sociopolitical context (Aldana et al., 2012; Umaña-Taylor & Douglass, 2017). For example, youth who participated in Youth Dialogs on Race and Ethnicity reported significant increases in awareness of privilege, discrimination, and blatant racial issues (Aldana et al., 2012). Intergroup dialogs mirror the structure of critical inquiry groups, suggesting that a dialogic approach has the potential to increase youths’ ethnic-racial identity and awareness of injustices that affect their ethnic-racial community.

Narrators of Their Own Experience: Latina Identities and Critical Inquiry Groups

Studies suggest that Latinx youth are actively involved in creating counterspaces in schools, communities, and online (V. Gomez & Cabrera, 2023; Yosso et al., 2009). Their motivations for engaging in counterspaces are to challenge dehumanization and empower themselves from the margins (Yosso et al., 2009). Among Latina youth specifically, studies find that counterspaces allow them to use their racialized and gendered ways of knowing to make meaning of their lived realities (Ybarra, 2020). For example, Latina youth engaged in a community-based ethnic studies program located in an (im)migrant housing community used the space to disrupt dominant narratives about Chicanx/Latinxs’ retention rates by identifying the systemic ways students are pushed out of schools. For Latinas, counterspaces provide the opportunity to draw on their intergenerational knowledge, center the collective within a larger sociopolitical terrain, and disrupt spaces and discourses that perpetuate dominant ideology (Ybarra, 2020).

Critical inquiry groups are also in line with Chicana Feminist methods that center collective sensemaking and theory building by weaving together everyday lived experiences and research inquiry (Fierros & Bernal, 2016). For example, the engagement in mean-making dialogs is similar to group pláticas (i.e., informal conversations rooted in oral traditions) and open the doorway for Latinas to share their testimonios, or their reflections of the oppressive conditions that afflict them and their communities (Flores Carmona et al., 2021). In critical inquiry groups, youth of color have their voices elevated, and can acknowledge the intersection of race and racism with other forms of domination and challenge dominant ideology (S. Morales, 2017; Solórzano & Yosso, 2000), thereby lending themselves as the ideal vehicle for Latina youths’ healthy development. Moreover, the emphasis on youth voice ensures that dialogs will be relevant to making sense of intersectionality in tensions they may be grappling with as they engage in identity exploration.

Project Background and Partnership

This research is part of a community-based partnership with Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) ¹ with whom we collaboratively designed a youth participatory action research (YPAR) curriculum that centered Latina youths’ ethnic-racial identities and sociopolitical development. Our collaboration was guided by a collective vision to design a developmentally relevant program that could equip Latina youth with the tools they need to recognize and challenge systems of inequalities that harm and exploit their communities. Using a YPAR framework, we designed and piloted the program, ¡Orgullosas y Poderosas!, to engage Latina youth in producing, sharing, and creating new knowledge based on their lived experiences. ¡Orgullosa y Poderosas! was structured in a way that we began our sessions with critical inquiry groups then transitioned into workshops and activities that focused on the research-action component of the program. This structure was intentional in helping Latina youth root their research-action project in their lived-experiences and community needs.

HOPE staff have been at the forefront of developing Latinas’ civic and political capacities through various high school and college programming, working with hundreds of Latina high school youth across California every year. Within our initial conversations we brainstormed how a collaboration focused on ethnic-racial identity development could potentially enhance their current curriculum offerings. After solidifying our research agenda, HOPE staff and the university team co-developed the curriculum to implement in the summer of 2022. For this collaboration, we drew on the youth engagement, school and community ties, and policy experience of the HOPE staff. HOPE’s expertise regarding the political, economic, and academic state of Latinas in California informed how we shaped the intervention and ensured that the project was useful in promoting academic, economic, and political equality for young Latinas growing up in California. The university team identified evidence-based practices for empowering young people and ensured that all research was conducted rigorously and ethically in ways that are developmentally appropriate.

To gain insight into how critical inquiry groups facilitated Latina youths’ ethnic-racial identity and critical race consciousness, we drew on data from the larger project to generate a qualitative case study (Yin, 2017). Case studies center the experiences and perspectives of participants by providing an in-depth and contextualized understanding of a particular phenomenon (Merriam, 1988). In line with other qualitative scholars (de los Ríos, 2018), we recognize that although the findings of our study are not generalizable, there is the potential for transferability. This means that the experiences and perspectives Latina youth share in this space may resonate with other Latina/x youth and provide a starting point for a discussion where this intervention can be reimagined and extended into other contexts. In line with rigorous case study methodology (Yin, 2017), we collected multiple sources of evidence to test convergent lines of inquiry as well as examine if any divergent information appears (Merriam, 1988). We also drew on critical ethnographic methods, which take an explicit stance in using research to dismantle systems of injustice and better the lived conditions for research participants (Denzin, 2017; Madison, 2011). This approach involves collecting multiple sources of data including observations, fieldnotes, and artifacts as with conventional ethnographic methods; however, there is also a constant inward reflection on the researcher’s positionality (Madison, 2011). Each session was video- and audio-recorded, and all files were scrubbed of all identifying information and transcribed via a third party. The sources of data for the present analyses include de-identified session transcripts, field notes, analytic memos, and artifacts created within the critical inquiry groups (e.g., Jamboards).

Recruitment and Participants

Upon receiving IRB approval, we began to recruit youth in the spring, approximately 2 months before the implementation of the larger YPAR program in which the critical inquiry groups were embedded. Youth were eligible to participate in the ¡Orgullosas y Poderosas! program if they self-identified as Latina, were between the ages of 14 and 19 years, were available for weekly virtual trainings, had a passion for advocacy in the Latinx community, and lived in California. We recruited participants for the program by directly advertising to the 2021 HOPE Youth Leadership Program (HYLP) cohort as well as through HOPE’s social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn) that were then reshared via the authors’ social media.

Interested youth were invited to a family session where we introduced ourselves, the research-practice partnership, and the program outline. Youth were encouraged to bring their parent or caregiver, and both were asked to share about their dreams, hopes, and activism experiences. All youth who participated in the program attended this session. Of the 20 youth who initially submitted consent forms, 9 elected to participate in the program, of which 8 completed all program sessions. All nine participants were all self-identifying Latina high school students located across Southern California whose ages ranged from 16 to 18. Although we did not ask for specific school data, Latina girls shared that they attended different public high schools across the Los Angeles metropolitan area. During our sessions Latina youth shared a range of ethnic and political identities including Chamorro/Mexican/African American, Chicana, Mexican, and Mexican/Salvadorian.

To participate in the ¡Orgullosa y Poderosas! program, youth who expressed interest were asked to sign and submit an electronic assent form. Youth who were under the age of 18 were also asked to submit a signed parental consent form. The program ran weekly over 2 months. Given the COVID-19 guidelines at the time and the concern for youths’ health, all sessions were conducted via Zoom. Although we began with three meetings a week, this eventually transitioned to two meetings after the first week due to concerns about the amount of time spent on Zoom. Each meeting was about 2.5 hr in length. For their participation in the program, youth were provided a $200 scholarship from HOPE.

In terms of the content, a primary focal point of the critical inquiry groups was to interrogate what it means to be Latina. In collaboration with the youth, we identified a set of topics and questions to discuss; these included what it means to be Latina in the U.S., other identities that may inform what it means to be Latina, how Latinas fit into social justice movements, the importance of young people to have role models they can identify with, and how to use their culture and identity as a tool to empower other young people. Unfortunately, due to time constraints we were unable to discuss the final topic session which was related to solidarity and allyship with other groups. At the beginning of the program, we split the youth into two separate critical inquiry groups and would debrief the conversations they had as a large group. Over the course of the program, however, this was condensed into one larger critical inquiry group that included all program participants. Although not a focus of this article, Latina youth’s program experiences set the foundations for an action-research project that explored the issue of gentrification.

Team Positionality

In line with critical ethnographic approach, we begin by acknowledging the role our identities, positionalities, and experiences play in the conceptualization and implementation of the larger project and collaboration. The author/research team comprises five Latina scholars and professionals dedicated to the healthy development and empowerment of Latina adolescents. We write from our perspectives as cisgender, heterosexual, college educated Latinas with tawny beige skin color. ² Four of us were born in the U.S. and grew up in immigrant parent and immigrant households. Similar to the Latina youth in this article many of us grew up in predominantly ethnic enclaves and lacked spaces to explore what it meant to be Latina in culturally affirming and empowering ways. We consider these identities and experiences as formative to shaping our roles as adult allies where we seek to cultivate and sustain power balanced relationships with youth.

To complement the authors’ proximity and connection with the organization and the youth community, we enlisted a group of research assistants to help analyze the data to provide new perspectives to the patterns and narratives that were generated and to further describe how these experiences can be broadened to the larger Latinx community. Our analysis team was composed of four members including: two graduate students, an alumna of the second author’s research lab, and an undergraduate student. All research team members identified as bicultural Latinas and grew up in different geographical regions across the U.S. including California as well as other states in the Southeast and Midwest.

Data Management and Analysis Strategy

Thematic analysis of session transcripts was conducted to identify how Latina youth utilized the critical inquiry group space (Braun & Clarke, 2006). To reduce our interview data into a more manageable and concise dataset we used the “rigorous and accelerated data reduction” (RADaR) technique (Watkins, 2017). The RADaR technique uses readily accessible word processing software (e.g., Excel) to organize interview transcripts into all-inclusive, data tables that undergo several reductions across four phases (for more detail see Watkins, 2017). The first two phases reduce the data tables by eliminating text that do not directly answer the research questions. The third phase involves assigning codes and subcodes to the remaining data. For the fourth and final phase, the information from the notes and codes/subcodes is used to develop overarching themes covered across the data file and identify exemplary quotes (Cross et al., 2018).

We implemented RADaR using a team-based approach. Prior to data analysis, each member of the analysis team wrote a reflexivity statement about how our lived experiences and social positioning may inform our understanding of the data (Holmes, 2020; Merriam et al., 2001). To navigate power dynamics, we co-created community norms to guide our interactions and ensure parity. Since RADaR’s validity is founded on team check-ins to move forward through the phases, these conversations served to orient our data analysis process as well as build an environment where each member felt their interpretations and perspectives were valued.

Given that we used an inductive coding structure, three of us met collectively to analyze the first session’s transcript. Together we clarified any logistical and conceptual questions surrounding the RADaR process as it related to our area of interest. After we completed the initial data reduction phases, we collectively generated codes and began the foundations of the codebook that was later iteratively revised as we coded the rest of our transcripts. Many of our codes categorized when Latina youth discussed their identity, ethnic-racial socialization experiences, sense of social responsibility, and engagement in critical reflection. These codes were then used to develop overarching themes across sessions and program participants.

Thematic Mapping

For our across session analysis, we engaged in thematic mapping by printing out each of the fourteen sessions’ themes and organizing them into clusters that aligned with our theoretical framework (Braun & Clarke, 2022). For example, the following theme “critical inquiry groups lend themselves as a vehicle for Latina youth to develop their critical race consciousness by giving space where youth can reflect on discriminatory experiences in predominantly white spaces and how they informed their understanding of their identity” was grouped with similar themes of Latina youth reflecting on their identities and positionality within systems of oppression. This activity served to further reinforce certain themes that were initially identified as well as to generate new perspectives for others. Afterwards, the first author drew on the thematic maps and re-clustered the themes to write the initial draft of the findings of this study. Themes were further refined through the writing process.

Making Identities Central: Challenging Negative Representations to Redefine Themselves

Early critical inquiry group conversations focused on sharing moments where they first realized what their identities meant to them. For many of the youth, these moments were fraught with prejudice, with one Latina summarizing their group’s identity awakening experiences as “a slap in the face.” School was commonly identified as a primary channel for mainstream perceptions of Latinx communities. Many of them expressed how they felt othered, picked on, and scrutinized for the way they looked, what they ate, and the languages they spoke. As Guadalupe ³ shared, “I quite literally could not eat in peace without the little white girls asking me what the hell I was eating [laughs].” Through their stories and reflections, they uncovered how political rhetoric, lack of diversity, and discriminatory experiences made them hyper aware that they were different.

I think a similarity across our stories was like the people around us not being able to grasp like cultural relativism and not being able to respect differences, which was the factor that made us, I guess, like that emphasize our identity and made us aware like okay like I’m different from my peers, but also just kind of what happens after that, in which we kind of feel negative towards our identity and then the good part in which we learned that we don’t have to conform to be able to be seen as I guess valuable in a way. (Guadalupe)

Youth noted that the salience of their ethnic-racial identities was strongest when they were exposed to primarily white spaces. For some youth, these experiences came when they moved neighborhoods and had to switch schools, whereas other youth described having such experiences when leaving their diverse California communities. Relatedly, they also discussed the pressure of navigating mainstream “American” culture that reinforced white upper middle-class ideals. They shared feelings of exasperation about how their culture was frequently portrayed in a negative light in the media but was seen as trendy when appropriated by white people on social media. They also discussed how these experiences fed into the tensions they felt, as they related to retaining their heritage culture. Lucia shared the loss she experienced when her parents elected not to teach her Spanish out of fear she would be unable to speak “perfect English,” as well as the hypocrisy in the assimilation expected of Latinx immigrants.

And you know I’m kind of really jealous [laughs], like I want to know, Spanish and I want to communicate with my grandparents. . . now I teach like these elementary school—White kids—who are learning Spanish and English and I’m like-I’m so jealous of these kids. I mean, I’m not going to hold them against them, of course, this is their education. But it’s kind of like infuriating to see, and I think we see a lot of that in America, just like again like. . .look at the way you’re treating me. (Lucia)

Ultimately, youth shared that these experiences served not to deter them from forming positive ethnic-racial identities but rather reaffirmed the importance of being proud of them. Further, they identified experiences that served to affirm their understanding of their identities in positive ways, including cultural experiences with their family as well as exposure to other cultures. They often emphasized the value they placed in growing up in California where they could interact with other Latinx people as well as people from other cultures and backgrounds. In particular, youth shared how being exposed to Asian and African American communities in school encouraged them to consider differences in a positive way. In reflecting on her extracurricular experiences Rebecca exclaimed, “that’s where I understood that damn [laughs], it’s not all about Mexican and Hispanic culture because not everybody goes home and eats their caldo de res!” Moreover, counter to many of the instances of peer discrimination, some youth discussed their experiences in ethnic studies as a space where they were able to learn about their racialized histories. In particular, youth highlighted the impact of reading the work of Black feminist scholars and activists (e.g., bell hooks, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur). In articulating how these experiences translated to how they understood their identities today, Carmen shared “once I get to college where it will also be a PWI [Predominantly White Institution], I need to understand that I don’t have to conform to anyone’s standards. And I need is to take pride in what makes me different.” Moreover, many of the youth shared their intentions in wanting to learn more about their identities moving forward to regain that cultural connection.

Some areas for growth, learning more native languages or just being more in tune with like my culture, because I feel like I got really detached from it. . .(Carmen)

I feel like something for me personally that I have to like focus on is like being more in touch with my culture and learning more about myself. . .(Isabella)

How youth operated within the space also became a way to redefine themselves. As a collective, the youth were intentional in fostering a space of mutual care, vulnerability, and collaboration. Formal community agreements such as, “add to the discussion even if you aren’t confident/sure of your ideas” and “lend a helping hand; if someone is confused try to help them out” encouraged one another to see each other as a support system. Other notes such as, “no one knows everything; together we know a lot” underscored a co-learning space rooted in communal strength. During critical inquiry groups, these community agreements resonated through the vulnerable and authentic conversations youth engaged with one another. When asked about how these conversations felt differently from conversations they may have in school, youth shared:

I think at school it’s more like people are participating to obviously like earn credit or like for a participation point so it kind of feels forced. But with this conversation it felt more like wanting to actually talk and voice your opinion and it felt something, um, just natural is the best way to explain it. (Guadalupe)

And I also feel like you kind of talk more about deeper topics and that you probably wouldn’t usually be talking about in school or at school settings. (Isabella)

I think, to go off of both of them. . .there’s more of a passion and there’s more sincerity. Um, and here, you’re kind of are aware that you’re here to talk about deep topics, and I think there’s a sense of comfort comfortability [sic], that there isn’t a school. (Carmen)

Through youths’ facilitation, critical inquiry groups became a space to affirm each other, identify shared and divergent experiences, and connect around shared values. Importantly, they reflected on challenges in their identity construction due to others’ negative perceptions and the way they chose to redefine themselves in more culturally prideful ways. Participating in the critical inquiry groups also encouraged Latina youth to create opportunities to discuss and explore what it means to be Latinx with peers outside of the program. Specifically, they expressed interest in understanding how “people define their own identity” and how they thought their culture and community informed that understanding.

Youth often shared they had few opportunities to connect with their peers to process and make meaning of their racial and cultural experiences. By sharing and hearing each other’s stories, youth felt more united through the recognition that the feelings and struggles they felt were isolated were, in actuality, shared experiences by others with similar identities. When describing what the program cultivated, one youth noted, “a sense of like sistership.” Sisterhood became a space for youth to (re)define their identity not only as an individual characteristic of self-identification but also identify as a collective and shared lived racial-ethnic experiences.

Analyzing Power: Recognizing External and Intersectional Forces that Impede the Well-Being of Their Community

Conversations surrounding identity within the critical inquiry groups foregrounded future topics by further exploring the intersections of their ethnic-racial identity with their youth and gendered identities. These explorations were often in conversation with their sense of agency at home and in organizing spaces. At home, youth were cognizant about the cultural gender norms expected of Latina women and girls within the households. These expectations frequently included cooking and cleaning while the men worked. On an interpersonal level, youth described the constraints they felt from their parents and caregivers as it related to their sense of agency and empowerment. Typically, youth wished they could travel freely by themselves rather than being accompanied by an adult or male sibling. However, youth nuanced their caregivers’ actions as a form of love and cultural protection, noting that “it’s just very common, especially in Latino families, to want to protect their kids.” They also validated these concerns by detailing the gender-based violence women and girls experienced here and around the globe:

It’s just insane how overlooked, we as Latinas are not only in America, but all over the world like in our own countries like Mexico the femicides that continue to happen and are like not being researched and there’s no investigations and it’s like infuriating. . . (Lucia)

Even so, Latina youth also described how they experienced tensions with their parents’ concerns. In response to the injustice they witnessed, youth felt it was necessary for them to be engaged in civic demonstrations to advocate for social change. However, they shared that their caregivers were not as hopeful or willing to let them engage in social movements out of concern for their safety.

I know, for me, like I wanted to get involved with social justice movements and then, when I asked to go to like marches my mom. . .didn’t really let me because she’s kind of like scared for me. . .cops will get involved, and it can be an intimidating environment. (Emely)

As agents of change, Latina youth also considered how their ethnic, racial, and gendered identities as well as age informed their civic experiences. Specifically, youth described differences between white feminists and the need to center the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Latina women and girls.

Um, and then also like going back to what Lucia said about like white mainstream feminism. It becomes frustrating, because. . .the things that they struggle with as women are not the same things that I do or my community struggles with as women, and you can also see it on all over social media. Where you’ll have like these mainstream white feminism accounts talking about, “oh it’s okay to have your period, it’s okay to have body hair.” Yeah, everyone knows it’s okay, but those aren’t things that I think that, like should be most talked about. Why don’t we talk about period poverty, or why don’t we talk about how so many like Indigenous women are going missing, you know, like all these things but it’s. . .I was reading a book, it’s called Hood Feminism which I really think everyone should read. And she talks about how like anything that women struggle with is a feminist issue if women in a certain area or don’t have easy access to water and that’s a feminist issue. If they don’t have access to health care that’s a feminist issue, and I think that’s really true, but for mainstream feminism so many white women easily can go to their kitchen and get water, so they don’t see it as a feminist issue. (Guadalupe)

The oppression of women of color in society was particularly salient as the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision was overturned during the program’s implementation period, curtailing reproductive rights for women. When processing the judicial decision, youth were vocal that this action targeted low-income Black and brown women and would serve to further exacerbate systemic issues affecting their community such as the school-to-prison pipeline.

In youth-adult organizing spaces, adultism was another point of concern. As Lucia noted, “he [a male adult figure] said some pretty questionable things to me, and I think he gets off thinking he can treat me this way because of my ethnicity and because I’m younger and because he just assumes that I’m going to respect him because he’s in this quote, unquote place of authority.” Critical inquiry groups thus became a space where Latina youth could reflect, validate, and make meaning of each other’s experiences of racism, sexism, and adultism.

As noted, the youth’s conversations about identity served as a starting point for understanding broader issues of inequity. When engaging in critical reflection, youth branched out to discuss issues affecting their community. These topics ranged from accessible health care, pollution, quality education, policing, and systemic racism. The diversity in experiences these Latina youth brought into the space also informed how they conceptualized their understandings of these issues. For example, a pressing issue within the state of California is the lack of affordable housing and the rise in people who are unable to find an affordable place to live. When discussing changes they would like to see in their communities, one of the youth shared, “I guess more homeless shelters because like everywhere I walk there’s like many homeless people.” In response, another youth provided a systemic level lens and solution:

But three things that I think I would like to see a change in my community is, for one, other people have pointed out is the homelessness crisis. I think about it, I think a lot of us are very privileged that we’re able to not worry about where we’re sleeping and is definitely a housing crisis, which goes into the other one, which is the modern luxury buildings. I think we should be having more housing, but the buildings that are being built around my community all look the same. They’re very modern and no one can really afford it other than people that make a lot of money, obviously. (Guadalupe)

She further expanded on this by connecting housing insecurity to food disparities where people in low-income areas depend on fast food, liquor stores, and a market for food, whereas others in wealthier areas have access to a variety of fresh produce. Upon further discussion, youth also connected gentrification to demographic and cultural changes in their community, noting how “POC [People of Color] safe spaces” were starting to change:

I know that, growing up, my mom in [location] would bring me to the mercado. I just went recently with my aunt, and it was so dead, and I didn’t even recognize it. It was just really heartbreaking to see the way it was affected, I think, not only by the pandemic because I’m sure that’s the main reason, but, also, just, like we were saying, it’s not a safe space anymore. (Lucia)

Through these conversations, Latina youth lamented about the cultural loss and history that was being erased with the influx of white wealthy residents who failed to not only honor the current residents but push them out in the process. They also recognized how gentrification was a global concern, identifying the increasing number of U.S. citizens buying up property in Mexico.

I think it like, grossly ignores the problems that Mexico has, in itself, [laughs] like I think that’s like a really privileged way to look at Mexico. Like my grandparents give everything to immigrate to this country for better opportunities and you want to move there because the housing is cheaper. Like I think that’s really just ironic and. . .I think it’s like pretty disheartening, you know? (Lucia)

This quote also serves to highlight the youths’ grievances with white gentrifiers, which was that underlying problems that harmed people of color and low-income people living in the community being gentrified were not being solved. Many youth discussed how beautifying the community was needed; however, the change they wanted to see was a financial contribution to the community already living there. Throughout the program, cultural unity and gentrification would become the focal point of their wider youth participatory action research project.

Encouraging Collective Action: Identifying Strategies for Social Change

In this project, the critical inquiry group became a space where Latina youth could educate and encourage one another to deeply reflect and act on the root of the issues affecting their community. Indeed, many participants shared they joined ¡Orgullosas y Poderosas! because they wanted to help their community. In her introduction to the group Guadalupe shared, “That’s also like one of the reasons I’m here. I really love what this program is about, and I really want to be able to help my community and give back, like many of the ladies here do too.” Although the program was designed to facilitate youths’ ethnic-racial identity and sociopolitical development, youth had agency in deciding and facilitating the topics of interest within the critical inquiry group. When identifying topics they would like to further explore, the youth brainstormed a range of social justice topics, their social responsibility, and the need for representation. Although no formal femtoring ⁴ structure was established, those who were younger often posed questions for the group, seeking guidance about how they could be better involved in social justice in their community. Older adolescents who were transitioning into college after the end of the year—many of whom had taken ethnic studies classes—were usually the first to provide suggestions.

When you guys ask, how are you involved in your community, I was wondering, curious about that, how you guys feel like you’re involved or what you guys have done so far? Because I feel like I see it, but I’m not as involved and I don’t know how I’m helping, or making a difference or what I’m doing. (Isabella)

Yeah, I could definitely relate to you. Sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough, but how you call it. . .Which is why going to workshops that talk about homelessness, or period poverty [inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools]. I definitely try to go to those workshops and try to be more active. (Andrea)

I definitely have moments where I feel like I’m not doing enough, but what I like to think is that simply just educating yourself is a big step because we didn’t come into this world knowing what’s right and wrong. Obviously, we had to develop what we see as morally right. So [laughs]. . .but it’s good to just pick up a book about something. Personally, with the quote that we read in the beginning of the meeting, Angela Davis, I was so happy to read that because Angela Davis is one of my favorite authors. And she’s one of the people who inspired me to want to do research in mass incarceration. Just reading her books makes you, like, straying away from ignorance is a big step is just the overall message that I’m trying to send. But if you want to be involved in your community, it’s also good to volunteer into different places you can research. Also, maybe school clubs is a good local thing to do. (Guadalupe)

In reflecting on the social ills that were plaguing society such as gun violence and climate change, youth emphasized their responsibility in addressing these issues. As the new generation, they recognized that issues they saw today were the result of previous generations and a legacy of historical racism. As such, they felt it was important to be active as youth, especially when formal avenues of democracy (e.g., voting) were exclusionary:

Youth activism realizes that silence is a privilege. So basically kind of acknowledging that our generation and generations after us are going to be dealing with the consequences that the generations before us, um, are kind of manufacturing with the choices that they’re making industrially and the environment and. . .socially as well. (Carmen)

These Latina youth often situated themselves in a position of responsibility, and their activism reflected a commitment to making things better for the future generation. For instance, one youth stated that she “also aspire[s] to make a difference and to help like the community for younger generations.” Many of the youth discussed growing up without seeing positive Latinx representation and the impact it had on their views of themselves and noted that “it wasn’t instilled in myself to think that those from my community could excel to greater things in life.” Together they reflected on their experiences to inform how they could address this concern. Schools were often identified as a point of intervention.

Something that I feel like has helped me kind of understand my identity better was like in school, when I was younger like elementary school. I went to a charter school mostly [led]. . .by Latina teachers. . .so they would teach us more about like the Latino culture, so I was like learning about the Brown Berets and I was like in second and third and fourth grade. . .now that I’m in a public school I don’t really learn about that. (Isabella)

Structural changes they imagined were driven towards addressing a Eurocentric curriculum that youth felt left out their own communities. As one youth put it, “we don’t get taught about things that happen within our own community.” Youth also shared excitement that California had recently passed a bill requiring ethnic studies in high school.

As a form of personal action, youth shared how they were involved in extracurricular activities to learn more about influential people who shared their cultural background. These experiences inspired other youth to join identity-based clubs within their school like Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) or the Latinx Student Union.

Hearing how other people’s experience how they talk about like that they were leaders or and all these different groups at school, um, made me just realize like, wow I’ve never really been a part of like this school’s social scene, like I’ve never really been into and like put myself out there. . .it is my last year in high school, so it makes me want to go. . .look into what the school has to offer. And if it doesn’t, maybe even like go and make a new club and like get other people to be more involved and. . .how we can make a change for Latinos. (Isabella)

Through these conversations youth were able to piece together a vision of a (re)imagined society rooted in justice. Necessary to making their visions come to fruition was thinking about how they could leverage their “culture and identity as a tool to empower other youth and advocate for social change.” These suggestions also aligned with their perspectives that society should better provide resources and opportunities for young people within their community.