Five Generations of a Mexican American Family in Los Angeles

Front Cover
Rowman & Littlefield, 2007 - 183 pages
"Despite their citizenship and English monolingualism, Mexican Americans have long been known to remain largely working class, which, academically, has meant that they tend to be mostly high school graduates with low rates of college attendance and completion. Attempting to understand this phenomenon, Five Generations of a Mexican American Family in Los Angeles chronicles the home work, and school lives of the author's multigenerational family throughout the twentieth century. Using oral histories of thirty-three members across five generations, the Fuentes story illuminates the interactions among race, ethnicity, and class at home, in the labor market, and in schools, which circumscribe the opportunity and resources - or lack thereof - for academic success."--BOOK JACKET.

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Contents

Introduction
1
The Fuentes Family An Overview across Generations
15
Home Part I The Original Fuentes Home
39
Home Part II LaterGeneration Fuentes Homes
57
Fuentes at Work
77
School Part I Fuentes in Schools
95
School Part II Fuentes Homes Language and Literacy
123
Fuentes Homes and School Parental Involvement
137
Conclusion What the Fuentes Family Teaches Us
151
Bibliography
163
Index
177
About the Author
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

A graduate of Stanford's School of Education, Dr. Christina Chavez is now an assistant professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in the Liberal Studies Department. She teaches undergraduate teacher candidate courses in the history of education and politics of teaching, families and schools, and language, culture and identity. Her research interests are in Latino families, later-generation Chicanos, minority teacher education, and language and literacy issues of linguistic and racial minority students.

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