Survival Strategies of Mexicanas

Research Design

The major stages of this research encompassed data collection, analysis, preparation of a written report, and poster presentation. The method used for the data collection was a literature review, specifically of Mexicanas living in the United States. The readings were comprised of essays, articles, and books based on ethnographic studies and theories about Mexicanas’ lives. Ten books relating to the topic were found at the University of North Texas library. An additional thirteen articles were found by searching through Internet engines such as Anthrosource and other social science search engines. One of the main authors whose work influenced this paper was Sofia A. Villenas, an anthropologist and education professor at Cornell University. Other influential scholars include Vicki Ruiz, a historian in Latino/a Studies, and Concha Delgado-Gaitan, an anthropologist and activist for immigrant Latino education reform.

The analysis of the literature reviewed was arranged based on the common themes of survival strategies found in the readings and their relevance to four aspects of life: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. These four aspects of life were mentioned by a mentor who influenced my thinking about psychology and other disciplines in the social sciences. Also, because a short period of time was given to write this paper, the readings were organized by writing abstracts and keeping annotations. The analysis was done by writing about the interrelatedness of the strategies in daily journals.