Living Testimonios: How Latinx Women Persist and Enact Social Justice within Higher Education

Our article responds to a need for social justice coalitional action to better support women of color in higher education, particularly first-generation college students who seek graduate degrees in TPC. We deploy Royster and Ratcliffe’s concepts of “rhetorical listening” in response with/to Latinx women in higher education to confront “patterns of inequality and injustice [that arise as a] result of historical and systemic (in)actions that discriminate against and delegitimize the experiences of some groups” as noted in the call (Royster, 1996; Ratcliffe, 2005). Thus, the case study we propose highlights Latinx women’s higher-education experiences through the use of “testimonios”—first-person stories designed to relay significant experiences so that others can learn by example. Testimonios reveal the resistance, resilience, and hope Latinx women engage in their research to collectively foster social justice. Testimonios also support Latinx researchers to document and inscribe