Jessica Lopez Humanities and Social Science
Regimes of Parenthood: Race, Familia, and the State in Latino Los Angeles
My research will look comparatively at how the ideology of public education, the ideology of American parenthood, and the ideology of the Latino cultural community come to intersect into existing and developing parental practices. Using participant-observation methods and a framework of discourse theory, I will analyze the linguistic practices of the Latino mothers and fathers at the Centro Latino for Literacy in Los Angeles as they index values of parenthood, education, and power hierarchies. By engaging in ongoing discussions about parenthood and conducting personal interviews, I hope to gain an understanding of the infrastructure of strategies and perceptions that affect interaction between Latino parents and experts, parents and other parents, and parental-child interchange. I am interested in analyzing how a parent is subject to influence by ideologies and institutions which stress new forms of family interaction, social responsibility, and academic involvement.
Message To Sponsor
SURF has given me the means with which to pursue my interests in applied linguistic anthropology. With SURF I have been able to design my own research project and do field work within a community of special interest to me. I look forward to producing work that accelerates the process of action, engagement, and advocacy for underrepresented minorities. The SURF program has been a great source of advice, guidance, and direction in my academic endeavor and I am thankful for this opportunity to pursue research as an undergraduate.