Issue 28(1)
Mi
Voz, Mi Vida: Latino College Students Tell Their Life Stories.
(2007) Andrew Garrod, Robert Kilkenny, and Christina Gómez (Eds.).
Cornell University Press. 280pp., $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-8014-7386-9.
Review
by: Amy K. O’Dowd
Academic
Advisor
Briercrest
College
“Dignity
and Doubt.” “The Double Life.” “The Hatred Within.” These chapters
from Mi Voz, Mi Vida: Latino College Students Tell Their Life
Stories reflect not only the external and internal conflicts
that mark the lives of the book’s fifteen student contributors,
but the struggles of Latino men and women on campuses throughout
the United States. Garrod, Kilkenny, and Gómez compiled the memoirs
of fifteen Dartmouth
students who expose the reader to a fantastic range of intimate
thoughts, private moments, heartbreaking histories, and personal
triumphs. Although each essay reflects a unique experience, collectively
they define the status of many young Latinos in higher education
and thus make the book a welcome contribution to the research
on diversity within the academe.
These
fifteen students are, in some ways, as different from each other
as any fifteen students we might meet on campus: rich and poor,
from stable families and dysfunctional ones, oppressed and privileged,
addicted and sober. Yet they share the struggle to come to terms
with what it means to be Latino, the endeavor to find positive
role models, and the effort to meet expectations of some and defy
the expectations of others. Each of the fifteen authors discusses
how they grapple with their Latino-ness, or “Latinadad,” including
what Latinadad means growing up and what it means on campus. How
did their home, family, income, and language affect their sense
of being either “too-white” or stereotypical? One student-author
said that being Latino created a “duality of lives” for him (p.17).
Another student expresses the same feeling:
The
editors did an excellent job finding articulate student authors
with a diverse collection of stories to tell. Several students
expressed the uncertainty of thinking of oneself primarily as
a Puerto Rican, a Dominican, a Colombian, a Mexican, or an American.
Many found their first taste of comfort with their heritage after
joining a Latino campus organization. The search for positive
role models was also a common thread in these autobiographies.
While several praised their parents for their bravery, ingenuity,
and fortitude, others fought the traditional gender roles to which
their parents adhered. The image of the stereotypical Latino male
– abusive and macho – was also pervasive in these chronicles.
Some bemoaned the lack of minorities with whom they could identify;
others longed for the opportunity to become a positive role model
and give back to their community. They also shared the experience
of trying to fulfill the expectations of family and community.
Mi
Voz, Mi Vida is not a
manual for advising Latino students; it spent very little time
addressing the educational issues faced by the authors as students
at Dartmouth .
One wishes that they had spent a bit more time sharing that part
of their experience. Still this book serves as a good reminder
that we as advisors should view each of our students, whether
Latino, African-American, or International, as individuals who
come to us with their own stories based upon a family and a culture
that has shaped them. I would recommend this book to any academic
advisor who wants to understand students in context.
