Faculty Publications

“‘I Was Gonna Go Off, But My Best Friend Is White.”: Hispanic Students’ Co-Cultural Reasoning In A Hispanic Serving Institution

Document Type

Article

Keywords

co-cultural theory, Hispanic serving institutions, Hispanic students, qualitative research

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Communication Quarterly

Volume

67

Issue

2

First Page

158

Last Page

177

Abstract

The researchers engaged in a qualitative analysis (using journaling and focus group methodology) of the communicative behaviors of Hispanic students with White institutional members at a medium-sized, Southwest HSI. Utilizing Co-Cultural Theory and Elaborative Coding analysis, the authors mapped how Hispanic students narrated their co-cultural communication and reasoning (i.e., why they engage in one strategy rather than another). The findings show that, although Hispanic students used almost all co-cultural strategies, their responses were clustered primarily around assimilationist strategies–indicating that they engage in a high degree of self-monitoring and self-censorship when interacting with White institutional members in an HSI. These results suggest that even when Hispanic students constitute a large or majority part of the institution’s population, they still feel the need to engage in behaviors that navigate White norms. The study concludes by examining the findings for co-cultural theorizing as well as providing insights for instructors who wish to engage in inclusive teaching practices.

Department

Department of Communication and Media

Original Publication Date

3-15-2019

DOI of published version

10.1080/01463373.2018.1557723

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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