Winner, 2018 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship Book Award
presented by the American Sociological Association's Section on Race,
Class, and Gender
Honorable Mention, 2018 Distinguished Contribution to Research Book
Award presented by the American Sociological Association's Latina/o
Sociology Section
How Latina teachers are making careers and helping students stay in
touch with their roots.
Latina women make up the fastest growing non-white group entering the
teaching profession at a time when it is estimated that 20% of all
students nationwide now identify as Latina/o. Through ethnographic and
participant observation in two underperforming majority-minority schools
in Los Angeles, as well as interviews with teachers, parents and staff,
Latina Teachers examines the complexities stemming from a growing
workforce of Latina teachers.
The teachers profiled use Latino cultural resources and serve as agents
of ethnic mobility. They actively teach their students how to navigate
American race and class structures while retaining their cultural roots,
necessary tactics in an American education system that has not fully
caught up with the nation's demographic changes. Flores also explores
the challenges faced by Latina teachers, including language barriers and
cultural acclimation, and professional inequalities that continue to
affect women of color at work.
An unprecedented look at an understudied population, Latina Teachers
presents an important picture of the women who are increasingly shaping
the way America's children are educated.
