Imagining the Future of Jotería Studies as a Framework in the Field of Higher Education

  • Antonio Duran Auburn University
  • Roberto C. Orozco Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University–New Brunswick
  • Sergio A. Gonzalez Claremont Graduate University

Abstract

Although research on queer Latinx/a/o college students has increased in recent years, only a few studies employ frameworks that originate from queer Latinx/a/o communities. To center ways of being and knowing rooted in queer Latinx/a/o experiences, this manuscript argues that educators, scholars, and practitioners interested in the study of higher education should mobilize Jotería Studies as a framework. In this manuscript, the authors offer an overview of Jotería Studies before discussing how Queer of Color frameworks have emerged in education. Following this foundation, the authors generate recommendations for how educators, researchers, and higher education professionals can use Jotería Studies to guide their work.

Author Biographies

Antonio Duran, Auburn University

Antonio Duran (he/him/el) is an assistant professor in the Administration of Higher Education program at Auburn University. Informed by his identities as a queer cisgender Latino man, Antonio is particularly passionate about centering the experiences and knowledge of queer and trans people of color in higher education. Related to this fervor, Antonio's research agenda involves using critical and poststructural frameworks to complicate understandings of student development, experiences, and success for minoritized individuals—including queer and trans Latinx/a/o people.

Roberto C. Orozco, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Roberto C. Orozco is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Higher Education Program at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. His scholarship centers the experiences of queer Latinx/a/o college students with a focus on student activism and identity development through a Chicana Feminist and Jotería Studies lens. Roberto utilizes critical theories that seek to illuminate the ways queer Latinx/a/o people engage and develop spaces of agency, resistance, and transformation. Furthermore, his scholarship adds to the production of knowledge and practices that account for queer Latinx/a/o narratives.

Sergio A. Gonzalez, Claremont Graduate University

Sergio A. Gonzalez is a doctoral student in the School of Educational Studies Department and Dual Master of Arts student in the Applied Gender Studies Program at Claremont Graduate University. Sergio earned his M.Ed. in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs from the University of Southern California (USC) and his B.A. in Communication Studies from Manhattanville College. Currently, he is a Research Associate at the Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His research interests focus on Jotería pedagogy, social justice, undocumented/Dacamented students, and Queer Latinx students in higher education.

Published
2020-08-24