Lived Experiences of Women of Color in Education

Abstract

By building upon previous research of women of color in academia, this article focuses on the lived experiences and narratives of two faculty members. Their stories are presented as case studies which explicate the distinct difference between reading and researching poverty and having experiential knowledge of this circumstance. The first narrative presents a scholar from a farmworker background who understands and has lived in poverty. Because of this background, she is able to apply her own community cultural wealth to her work in education. The second narrative depicts a scholar with a rich academic background that did not have the opportunity to engage fully with her research agenda. Her life in academia was very rich and she was able to help many students, schools and communities. However, she was forced to set aside her dreams of conducting in depth research of the issues confronted by her underserved community.