Mexican American female principals and their chameleon identity: working against a socially constructed identity in a predominantly white school district
Abstract
The identity of Mexican American women and the influences of the social
constructions on their identity is the focus of this dissertation. The focus and purpose
of the research was to reveal, to describe, and to examine the success of Mexican
American female educational leaders and how their identities have been influenced
by assigned attributes, self-assigned attributes, Chicana feminism, and educational
leadership styles. The study focused on 4 successful Mexican American female
principals and the influences on their chameleon identity from family, culture, and
society. The three research questions that guided this research were (a) What does
identity mean to Mexican American female educational leaders? (b) how does the
Mexican American female identity change due to experiences, influences, and
expectations from family, culture, society, and self? and (c) what does the prototype
of a successful Mexican American female educational leader “look like” according to
the narratives gathered for this study?
Qualitative research was used for this study, specifically the approaches of
naturalistic and narrative inquiry. This approach was used to find in-depth stories of
the experiences of 4 successful Mexican American female principals. The data were
collected through two individual interviews with each participant and one group
interview. The open-ended interview method was used to encourage informal
conversations, which helped themes to emerge (Patton, 1990). This method allowed
for spontaneous questions and uninterrupted narratives.
This study helps fill the gap in research on women and minorities. It serves as
a beacon that illuminates the chameleon identity of successful Mexican American
female principals. This beacon has implications for recognizing the need to identify
Mexican American females as different from Hispanics and Minority women as a
whole. Additionally, this beacon has implications for practice in schools, for policy at
the district and state levels, and for further research. The study findings confirm other
research in the area of female and minority identity, placement of female principals
within a district, and influences in identity; they also provide a new realization of the
prototype of a successful Mexican American female principal based on the 4
women’s stories.
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