Telling Stories About School: Using Critical Race and Latino Critical Theories to Document Latina/Latino Education and Resistance

Abstract

Education researchers have increasingly begun to use critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical theory (LatCrit) in their qualitative studies. This article draws on those methodological and theoretical frameworks to examine the educational experience of a Latino student in a public high school in Chicago, Illinois. By exploring this student’s narrative, the author gained insight into how the student understood his own personal educational experience as well as that of his fellow Latina/Latino classmates. Moreover, this narrative highlights how he and his classmates resisted inadequate schooling by sometimes choosing alternative activities or practices over attending school. The author argues that it is of critical importance to use Latina/Latino students’ stories, not as accessories to our research but as the centerpiece of qualitative studies that aim for a better understanding of the issues these students face in contemporary schooling.