1st Edition

Doing the Public Good Latina/o Scholars Engage Civic Participation

Edited By Kenneth P. Gonzalez, Raymond V. Padilla Copyright 2007

    How can scholars reconnect themselves—and their students—to higher education’s historic but much diluted mission to work for the public good?Through the lenses of personal reflection and auto-ethnography—and drawing on such rich philosophical foundations as the Spanish tradition of higher learning, the holistic Aztec concept of education, the Hispanic notion of bien educado, and the activist principles of the Chicano movement–these writers explore the intersections of private and public good, and how the tension between them has played out in their own lives and the commitments they have made to their intellectual community, and to their cultural and family communities.Through often lyrical memoirs, reflections, and poetry, these authors recount their personal journeys and struggles—often informed by a spiritual connectedness and always driven by a concern for social justice—and show how they have found individual paths to promoting the public good in their classrooms, and in the world beyond.Contributors include: Jennifer Ayala; Dolores Delgado Bernal; Flora V Rodriguez-Brown; Kenneth P. Gonzales; Miguel Guajardo; Francisco Guajardo; Aida Hurtado; Maria A. Hurtado; Arcelia L. Hurtado, Raymond V. Padilla; Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner; and Luis Urrieta Jr.

    1. Latina/o Faculty Perspectives on Higher Education for the Public Good. An Intergenerational Approach—Kenneth P. González and Raymond V. Padilla; 2. Res Publica. Chicano Evolving Poetics of the Public Good—Raymond V. Padilla; 3. Voces in Dialogue. What Is Our Work in the Academy—Jennifer Ayala; 4. Tres Hermanas (Three Sisters). A Model of Relational Achievement—Aída Hurtado, María A. Hurtado and Arcelia L. Hurtado; 5. Two Brothers in Higher Education. Weaving a Social Fabric for Service in Academia—Miguel Guajardo and Francisco Guajardo; 6. Agency and the Game of Change. Contradictions, Consciencia, and Self-Reflection—Luis Urrieta Jr.; 7. Toward Public Education as a Public Good. Reflections from the Field—Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner; 8. For the Public Good. A Personal Reflection—Flora V. Rodriguez-Brown; 9. In Search of Praxis. Legacy Making in the Agregate—Kenneth P. González; 10. La Trenza de Identidades. Weaving Together My Personal, Professional, and Communal Identities—Dolores Delgado Bernal; 11. Latina/o Cuentos Shape a New Model of Higher Education for the Public Good—Kenneth P. González and Raymond V. Padilla; Contributors; Index.

    Biography

    Kenneth P. Gonzalez is Associate Professor of Education at the University of San Diego. Raymond V. Padilla is Professor, College of Education and Human Development, University of Texas at San Antonio. His most recent book is Debatable Diversity: Critical Dialogues on Change in American Universities.

    "This volume will appeal to educators deeply invested in civic engagement for the public good. Readers will no doubt explore what the public good means to them and how they pursue civic engagement for the public good."

    Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement

    "Twelve senior and mid- /early-career Latino scholars contribute 11 chapters offering personal and critical reflection about how their work as faculty members connects with the civic mission of the university. In the concluding chapter the editors analyze the major insights that emerge from the contributing authors' lyrical memoirs, reflections, and poetry, using this information to create a new model of higher education for the public good, develop a sense of urgency to address it, encountered various barriers in promoting it, and used specific strategies to achieve it.

    Book News

    "These are brilliant, elegant and provocative essays that sing across generations and geography to create a volume that is as intellectually compelling as it is politically urgent.”

    Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, The Graduate Center - City University of New York