Six Reference Works on Mexican-American Women: A Review Essay

Chicanas and Higher Education: Three Decades of Literature and Thought

“…Multidisciplinary in its approach, the scholarship uses a variety of methodological approaches to the study of Chicanas and higher education. Cordelia Candelaria (1980), writing in response to the emerging scholarship by and about Chicanas in 1980, noted that "Chicana Studies is an interdisciplinary field emerging from two contemporary social movements: the Chicano movement and the modern feminist movement" (p. 75). Similarly, the field of Chicanas and higher education has its origins in the grassroots and activism of the Chicana/o movement; this activity continues the historical involvement on the part of Chicanas with respect to struggles for educational equity (Cockcroft, 1995;Delgado Bernal, 1999;Donato, 1997;Gonzalez, 1999;Moreno, 1999;San Miguel, 1987) most often pertaining to elementary and secondary schooling.…”