While Latinos and Latinas are the youngest and largest U.S. minority group, they continue to be among the poorest and least educated. A major contribution of Creating Alternative Discourses in the Education of Latinos and Latinas is that it provides scholars, teachers, and practitioners with counter-hegemonic theories, methods, and pedagogies that challenge the mainstream assumptions about the education of this group. Drawing on rich ethnographic portrayals including life history interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, this interdisciplinary volume bridges diverse bodies of literature in an attempt to bring about changes in the education of Latinos and Latinas.

The Editors: Raul E. Ybarra is Associate Professor at the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. He earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to articles in the Journal of Basic Writing and the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, he is the author of Learning to Write as a Hostile Act (Peter Lang, 2004). Nancy López is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from The City University of New York. In addition to articles in Race, Ethnicity and Education, Teachers College Record, Equity and Excellence, The Latino Studies Journal, and The City University of New York Dominican Studies Institute Monograph Series, she is the author of Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys: Race and Gender Disparity in Urban Education (2003).