Mexican American female principals and their chameleon identity: working against a socially constructed identity in a predominantly white school district
Year: 2003
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The identity of Mexican American women and the influences of the social \nconstructions on their identity is the focus of this dissertation. The focus and purpose \nof the research was to reveal, to describe, and to examine the success of Mexican \nAmerican female educational leaders and how their identities have been influenced \nby assigned attributes, self-assigned attributes, Chicana feminism, and educational \nleadership styles. The study focused on 4 successful Mexican American female \nprincipals and the influences on their chameleon identity from family, culture, and \nsociety. The three research questions that guided this research were (a) What does \nidentity mean to Mexican American female educational leaders? (b) how does the \nMexican American female identity change due to experiences, influences, and \nexpectations from family, culture, society, and self? and (c) what does the prototype \nof a successful Mexican American female educational leader “look like” according to \nthe narratives gathered for this study? \nQualitative research was used for this study, specifically the approaches of \nnaturalistic and narrative inquiry. This approach was used to find in-depth stories of \nthe experiences of 4 successful Mexican American female principals. The data were \ncollected through two individual interviews with each participant and one group \ninterview. The open-ended interview method was used to encourage informal \nconversations, which helped themes to emerge (Patton, 1990). This method allowed \nfor spontaneous questions and uninterrupted narratives. \nThis study helps fill the gap in research on women and minorities. It serves as \na beacon that illuminates the chameleon identity of successful Mexican American \nfemale principals. This beacon has implications for recognizing the need to identify \nMexican American females as different from Hispanics and Minority women as a \nwhole. Additionally, this beacon has implications for practice in schools, for policy at \nthe district and state levels, and for further research. The study findings confirm other \nresearch in the area of female and minority identity, placement of female principals \nwithin a district, and influences in identity; they also provide a new realization of the \nprototype of a successful Mexican American female principal based on the 4 \nwomen’s stories.
Author: Laura Angelica Trujillo-Ball
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1733454095