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Transnational studies at Los Angeles University: a study of a promising practice

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Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University: A Study of a Promising Practice
by
Stephanie Yamilet Lemus

Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

August 2021

ii

© Copyright by Stephanie Lemus 2021
All Rights Reserved

iii

The Committee for Stephanie Lemus certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Douglas Carranza Mena
Maria Ott
Bryant Adibe, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2021

iv
Abstract
This study examined the promising practices utilized in the Transnational Studies Department at
Los Angeles University, which focuses on studying the Central American diaspora and
experience. Furthermore, this study also recognized challenges that present themselves to Ethnic
Studies departments such as the Transnational Studies Department, which falls out of the
foundational four disciplines recognized as Ethnic studies: African American, Chicana/o/x and
Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies. Triangulation of
data included: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The data analysis suggests that
the Transnational Studies Department differs from the four traditional foundational disciplines
through its transnational and interdisciplinary approach to the discipline and its rejection of the
Latina/o and Hispanic identifier in examing and understanding the Central American community.
This study can benefit faculty, administrators, and leadership from higher education institutions
and at-large stakeholders seeking to develop Ethnic Studies Departments outside of the four
traditionally recognized disciplines and implement a transnational and interdisciplinary
approach.

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Dedication
To my grandmother and mother: I am proud to be the granddaughter and daughter of strong
single immigrant mothers. Abuelita Maria Trasito Jules, Mom, Ana Ruth Lemus, Brother, Brian
Lemus and Sister Michelle Sanchez, this is for you! Thank you for all of your love, support, and
most of all for always believing in me and always letting me know and feel how proud you are of
me. I am thankful for our story, my story! I love my community, where our story in America
began in Pico-Union/ Westlake. A community west of downtown Los Angeles that during the
1980s became a hub for Salvadorans and Central Americans escaping Civil Wars, political
instability, repression and violence, and consequently lack of economic and social mobility
opportunities. Our journey has not been easy; we have had a lot of obstacles. But our journey has
shaped me to strive for greatness, to strive to accomplish all my dreams and goals. My
grandmother took a long, uncertain journey north to Los Angeles in 1979 at the cusp of the civil
war in El Salvador, and my mother followed suit in 1985. My grandmother and mother both have
worked as domestic workers for over 30 and 20 years. I am very proud to acknowledge and value
your work because you have instilled in me strong values of compassion, respect, humility, and
work ethic. In essence, your values and spirit of always looking forward and never giving up is
something that I carry in all my work as a community leader, educator, and engaged citizen of
this country. With your loving support, Abuelita y Mom, I managed to be the first of my family
to go to college and the first doctora. I am forever grateful for your sacrifices, your love, si se
pudo, los amo! Lastly, thank you to the Central American diaspora, the community that fuels my
passion, academic, and community work. To my ancestors, my family in El Salvador and the
United States, and my descendants, this is for you!

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Acknowledgments
To my dissertation committee, I am so grateful for your support, guidance, and time. Dr.
Bryant Adibe, thank you for guiding me through my dissertation journey and supporting me at
every step of this tough and challenging process. Dr. Maria Ott, since Spring 2019, when I took
the 524 course titled ‘Challenges in Urban Education: Leadership,’ your expertise and leadership
have inspired me so much. I knew then that I wanted you to be part of this special journey in my
life; thank you much! Dr. Douglas Carranza, thank you for all of your mentorship, your
expertise, and the incredible work you do for the transnational Central American community. Dr.
Carranza, your mentorship has allowed me to grow professionally, academically, and as a
community leader. Thank you for always believing in me and guiding me! I cannot thank you
enough and express my gratitude, mil gracias!
To all the OCL professors who were part of my journey from Spring 2018 to Spring
2021, who in each class brought amazing insight, and made me grow as a student and leader.
Thank you, Dr. Wayne Combs, Dr. Jane Rosenthal, Dr. Jennifer Phillips, Dr. Courtney Malloy,
Dr. Eric Canny, Dr. Derisa Grant, Dr. Adrian Donato, Dr. Raquel Sanchez, Professor John De
Mita, and Dr. Esther Kim. Special thank you to Dr. Wayne Combs, who, along with his
knowledge and insight with an infectious smile and exuberant energy, made me excited to be
part of this program and lead with change in my first class of OCL EDU 620 Fundamentals of
Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship!
Thank you to all my OCL Cohort 12 classmates whose leadership, expertise in diverse
fields, and contribution to classroom discussions enriched our in-and-outside the class
experiences. A very special and grateful recognition to the ‘Empowerment Group’ classmates
Patricia Gonzalez, Maria Silva-Palacios, Helen Iese, Colleen Leigh, Lisa Bagby and Alia Ashley.

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Thank you for all the Sunday writing sessions, the early days to late nights we spent together on
Zoom, on the phone, through text messages supporting each other, celebrating the big and small
milestones we accomplished within this program. You are my cohort sisters for life!
To all my friends, peers, mentors and colleagues, a big thank you. Thank you for
celebrating and supporting me at different parts and times of my personal and academic life. Two
very special mentors, Dr. Beatriz Cortez and Dr. Beth Baker, thank you for your unwavering
support, both of you are amazing and fierce doctoras who’s academic, and academic work
inspired me as a student and beyond! You inspired my own journey! Special shutouts to my best
and greatest of friends Elena Gonzalez, Socorro Mendoza, Jocelyn Duarte, Julia Diaz, and Alma
Chavez, who are like sisters, family!

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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ........................................................................................................................................v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii

Chapter One: Introduction to the Study ...........................................................................................1
Context .................................................................................................................................1
Historical Context: Central American Migration to the U.S. ..................................1
Central American Population in the U.S..................................................................3
The Transnational Studies Department in the U.S. ..................................................4
Background of the Problem .................................................................................................4
Importance of a Promising Practice .....................................................................................5
Importance of the Study .......................................................................................................6
Overview of Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................7
Purpose of the Project ..........................................................................................................8
Research Questions ..............................................................................................................9
Definitions............................................................................................................................9
Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................................11

Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................................12
Overview of Ethnic Studies ...............................................................................................12
Ethnic Studies in K-12 ...........................................................................................15
Ethnic Studies: Diversity and Inclusion .................................................................17
Multiculturalism .....................................................................................................17
Post-Nationalism ....................................................................................................18
Transnationalism and Transnational Identities ..................................................................18
Influences of Challenges in Ethnic Studies .......................................................................20
Colonial Discourses ...............................................................................................20
Identity: Belonging, National Identity, and Multiple Identities .............................21
Higher Education: Funding Challenges for Ethnic Studies ...................................24
Challenging Traditional Institutional Understandings of Ethnic Studies ..............25
Promising Practices in Higher Education: Ethnic Studies .....................................25
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework ..................................26
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ...................................................27
Knowledge .............................................................................................................27
Motivation ..............................................................................................................29
Organization .......................................................................................................................30
Higher Education: Funding Challenges for Ethnic Studies ...................................31
Redefining Ethnic Studies in Higher Education Institutions:
Transnationalism ........................................................................................31
Promising Practice: Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University .............................32
Conceptual Framework: Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ...........34
Summary ............................................................................................................................36

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Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................37
Research Questions ............................................................................................................37
Overview of Design ...........................................................................................................37
Research Setting.................................................................................................................39
Participants .............................................................................................................39
Data Sources ......................................................................................................................40
Interviews ...............................................................................................................40
Documents and Artifacts........................................................................................40
Data Collection Procedures and Instrumentation ..............................................................41
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................41
Reliability and Validity ......................................................................................................42
The Researcher ...................................................................................................................43
Ethics..................................................................................................................................44

Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................................45
Participating Stakeholders .................................................................................................45
Findings for Knowledge, Motivation, and Organzational Influences ................................47
Knowledge Influences .......................................................................................................48
Beyond the U.S.: A Transnational Approach to Ethnic Studies ............................48
Homogenizing Studies: Latina/o and Hispanic Identities ......................................51
An Interdisciplinary Approach ..............................................................................55
Motivational Influences .....................................................................................................57
Transnational Studies Supports Institutional Diversity and Inclusion ...................57
Interview Findings .....................................................................................57
Document Analysis ....................................................................................59
Summary ....................................................................................................59
Transnational Studies Department Supports Representation of Central
American Students .....................................................................................60
Interview Findings .....................................................................................60
Document Analysis ....................................................................................61
Summary ....................................................................................................61
Transnational Studies: Value to the Central American Transnational
Community ................................................................................................62
Interview Findings .....................................................................................62
Document Analysis ....................................................................................63
Summary ....................................................................................................65
Growth in Numbers: Enrollment and Graduates in Transnational Studies ............65
Document Analysis ....................................................................................65
Summary ....................................................................................................65
Organizational Influences ..................................................................................................67
Understanding Transnational Studies: Institutional Support, Sustainability,
and Growth.................................................................................................67
Breaking Away from Traditional Understanding of Ethnic Studies
Interaction Between Organizational Influences and Stakeholder Knowledge and
Motivation ..............................................................................................................72

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Summary of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ..............................72

Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations..........................................................................77
Discussion of Findings .......................................................................................................77
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences ............................................78
Recommendation 1: Reimagine Ethnic Studies & Examine Latino/Hispanic
Identity in American Higher Education Institutions ..................................79
Recommendation 2: Transnational Approach to Ethnic Studies ...........................80
Recommendation 3: Institutional Support for the Growth of Ethnic Studies ........81
Integrated Recommendations .................................................................................82
Limitations and Delimitations............................................................................................85
Recommendations for Future Research .............................................................................86
Connection to the Rossier Mission ....................................................................................87
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................87

References ......................................................................................................................................89

Appendix A: Demographic Survey ................................................................................................96
Appendix B: Interview Protocol ....................................................................................................98
Appendix C: Documents and Artifacts Protocol .........................................................................104

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List of Tables
Table 1: Data Sources ....................................................................................................................38
Table 2: Interview Participants ......................................................................................................46
Table 3: Student Graduation Demographics ..................................................................................66
Table 4: Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Assets or Needs ........................................76
Table 5: Transnational Studies: An Introductory Program for Higher Education
Stakeholders ...........................................................................................................83

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................35
Figure 2: Student Enrollment Per Semester from 2004-2019 ........................................................66
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Chapter One: Introduction to the Study
Transnational Studies is a growing field. This study will focus on the first Transnational
Studies Department in the nation founded at Los Angeles University in 2015. A promising
practice for Ethnic Studies, Transnational Studies has a transnational and interdisciplinary
approach to the study of Central America.
In examining the importance of the Central American diaspora, it is essential to note that
Central Americans are the third largest and fastest emergent Latino population in the country;
despite being a significant demographic presence, there has been little scholarship focused on
this group (Cardenas, 2018). The problem of practice this study will examine is the need for the
continuing expansion and support of Ethnic Studies programs and departments in higher
education institutions in the United States. This study will focus on Los Angeles County and the
necessity of expanding the field of Transnational Studies. This study will investigate how
Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University may inform needs across the nation, particularly
cities with large Central American populations such as Washington D.C. and New York.
Although Central Americans make up a large majority of the Latino population in the United
States, higher education institutions lack representation in this important population.
Furthermore, Transnational Studies is an evolving field with an interdisciplinary approach that
emphasizes Central Americans' transnational character in the diaspora (Gonzalez & Ayala,
2015).
Context
Historical Context: Central American Migration to the U.S.
A large and growing Central American community exists in the United States. A mass
exodus from Central America to the United States began most prominently in the 1970s and
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1980s. The region was plagued by political instability, violence, economic decay, and oppression
and marked by the civil conflicts, revolutionary processes, and armed warfare occurring in El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua (Padilla, 2013). Post-war efforts failed in the countries
mentioned above from the 1980s through the 1990s, and thus, increasing waves of migrants from
Central America to the United States continue.
As Gonzalez & Ayala (2015) explained, the Central American region continues to be
affected by socio-economic and political factors, but notably the policy that has had the most
significant impact on Central America is the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or DR-
CAFTA. The region also continues to experience environmental decay which exacerbates the
reality of most impoverished and disenfranchised Central Americans. As Padilla (2013) stated,
Since the 1990s, Central American international migration has been largely conditioned
by the implementation of free trade policies and initiatives in various countries
throughout the region, resulting in the displacement of populations, increased economic
disparity and bleak prospects for employment and competitive wages. It has, likewise,
been influenced by the devastating effects of tropical weather storms and natural disasters
such as Hurricane Mitch, which heavily impacted many countries in 1998. (p. 152)
The Central American migration experience has not limited or stopped the cross-border
exchanges that Central American immigrants have with family back home. Central American
immigrant communities foster and maintain transnational economic, political, and cultural
connections with their respective countries, with remittances becoming a significant and an
essential part of the national economies of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua
(Padilla, 2013). The Central American transnational community’s continued migration to the
United States shapes and contests the new cultural spaces they inhabit and challenges the
3

traditional national identities institutionalized by their home and receiving country (Gonzalez &
Ayala, 2015). The continued influx of Central American migration to the United States will
continue to impact the dialogue of how Central Americans can imagine themselves as part of a
transnational community that goes beyond regional, national, and international borders (Padilla,
2013). Central Americans face both the challenge of U.S. national agendas of immigrant
assimilation into the larger national American culture or into larger Latino communities that look
to overpower them (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). Lastly, as more Central Americans arrive in the
United States, their sense of belonging will be continuously contested within the exchange of
transnational, U.S. assimilation, and Latino community concepts and cultural processes.
Central American Population in the U.S.
Albeit an ever-increasing population, Los Angeles University offers the only
Transnational Studies Department in the nation. Central Americans make up the fourth, sixth,
and ninth-largest groups of Latino/Hispanic groups in the country (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011).
In 2010, 12.3 million Hispanics were counted in the United States Census. Furthermore, of those
classified as “other Hispanic,” 1.4 million were of Dominican origin, 4.0 million were of Central
American origin (other than Mexican), 2.8 million were of South American origin, 635,000 were
Spanish, and 3.5 million reported general terms such as “Hispanic” or “Latino.” Among Central
Americans, Salvadorans were the largest group at 1.6 million, followed by Guatemalans (1.0
million) and Hondurans (633,000) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). With 3.5 million Central
American immigrants, Los Angeles holds the largest Central American diaspora population
outside of the Central American region (Migration Policy Institute, 2019).

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The Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University
15 years after being founded, the Transnational Studies program at Los Angeles
University received departmental status. The change from program to departmental status
corroborates the success of the department’s ability to attract Central American students to the
campus, and departmental status demonstrates the institutional investment in the field of
Transnational Studies (Barbarie & Gama, 2019). Since its inception, 7% of Transnational Studies
graduates have moved on to graduate school, where many continue to explore Transnational
Studies and reproduce the department’s mission of community work (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015).
Background of the Problem
There is a lack of scholarly research in studying Central Americans. The problem is the
lack of Transnational Studies departments in Los Angeles County higher education institutions.
According to Yang (2011), “Ethnic Studies is concerned about all ethnic groups but focuses on
minority groups such as African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans” (p .90). Thus,
traditional notions of Ethnic Studies disciplines typically ‘reflect’ Latino/Hispanic groups
through Chicano/a Studies, Latin American Studies, or Latino/a Studies. As Amanda Morrison
(2020) stated:
Ethnic Studies is the umbrella term that encapsulates the following scholarly disciplines:
African American Studies, Native American Studies, Chicanx and Latinx Studies, and
Asian American Studies. Although Ethnic Studies can be taught through a hemispheric,
trans-Atlantic, and transnational lens, the focus has always been on communities of color
in the U.S.. (para. 1)
These disciplines absorb Transnational Studies in their curriculum. The nation’s only
Transnational Studies Department offering a bachelor of arts major is at Los Angeles University
5

(Los Angeles University, 2019). The Transnational Studies Department is symbolic of the
importance of the transnational Central American community locally and nationally. But
although the Central American community is a growing population in the U.S., Transnational
Studies is not fully reflected in U.S. higher education institutions.
As Barbarie & Gama (2019) noted, because there is only one Transnational Studies
department in the nation, most researchers focusing on engaging in this field of study have done
so on their own without infrastructural support. The first Transnational Studies program was
established in 2000 at Los Angeles University (Barbarie & Gama, 2019). The department offers
the B.A., Double B.A., and minor in Transnational Studies (Barbarie & Gama, 2019).
Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University has a triadic mission. First, to empower the
large and growing Central American community in the United States by supporting academic
excellence, community engagement, and cultural diversity. Second, to open spaces of global
citizenship and interchange between academia and society that contribute to constructing a
Central American transnational identity. Lastly, the department encourages an understanding and
awareness of the diverse Central American cultures, ethnicities, experiences, and worldviews
from an interdisciplinary global perspective (Los Angeles University, 2020).
Importance of a Promising Practice
There is a lack of consensus among Ethnic Studies scholars for a generalized definition of
the field. Traditional approaches to the disciplines leave emerging fields of study, such as
Transnational Studies with its transnational approach, out of the traditional sense of Ethnic
Studies. According to Yang (2011),
The National Association for Ethnic Studies defines Ethnic Studies as “an
interdisciplinary voice for the continuing focused study of race and ethnicity”, while
6

others consider Ethnic Studies as the study of minority groups. Still others maintain that
Ethnic Studies should focus on the intersection among race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
(Butler, 1991, p. 7)
Highlighting promising practices can help identify appropriate alignment, strategies, and
methodologies faced by institutions. Ethnic Studies departments are more important than ever as
our nation continues to grapple with issues of structural racism, inequity, inequality, and lack of
understanding and value of diverse ethnic and cultural groups.
In this promising practice study, the researcher reviewed the Transnational Studies
Department's journey from 2000 to 2020 to examine how changes, improvements, and
adaptations to enhance the alignment of critical pedagogy the Central American transnational
experience were implemented. Also, the implementation of Transnational Studies as a field of
study within the Ethnic Studies discipline was outside of a U.S. centered approach to studying
ethnic and cultural diversity in the country. Instead, the department was implemented with a
transnational framework, approach, and practice of understanding and examining the Central
American community. Lastly, the department also departed from utilizing the Latina/o and
Hispanic identity as a framework to understand the Central American community, but opted to
center Central American identity through the celebration of diversity and differences of the
Indigenous, Afro-Carribbean, Latino, and recently arrived immigrants to the region.
Importance of the Study
The literature will review Ethnic Studies and the challenges of Ethnic Studies, such as
colonial discourses, identity challenges for Latino/Hispanic populations from a U.S. and
regional/historical perspective, transnationalism, transnational identities, and funding challenges
for Ethnic Studies. Significant to this study is the examination of the Transnational Studies
7

Department at Los Angeles University and its performance in attaining departmental status and
attracting and graduating Central American students, who then go onto graduate work and
continue the mission of Transnational Studies through their own community work. Rodriguez
(2009) argued that the lack of expansion of Transnational Studies as a field of study supports the
invisibility of the Central American community in relation to the prevalence of the other large
Latino groups such as Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican populations. The lack of Transnational
Studies results in the failure to understand a large portion of the United States population, rich in
diversity, and further understanding its historical ties to the United States economically,
politically, and socially. Departments such as the Transnational Studies Department at Los
Angeles University strive to advance a greater understanding and appreciation of the
transnational Central American community’s experiences, cultures, and contributions to the
United States (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). It is also important to explore how migration and
transnationalism have contributed to notions of Central American identity and immigrant
incorporation into the United States (Padilla, 2013). This study will examine the literature on
Ethnic Studies to understand the challenges related to the lack of presence of additional
Transnational Studies departments.
Overview of Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework utilized for the problem of practice is Clark and Estes’ (2008)
gap analysis framework. The focus is to understand the influences of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences on the expansion of Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University as
a course of study and highlight the need to expand Transnational Studies in academic institutions
in the United States. Clark and Estes (2008) classify three factors for exploration in a gap
analysis: knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational factors. The gap analysis
8

framework will help identify the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational factors
that supported the creation and the further expansion of Transnational Studies at Los Angeles
University.
Purpose of the Project
The purpose of the study is to highlight the need for the expansion of Transnational
Studies. The study will focus on the Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University
as a promising practice related to the process of successful alignment of critical pedagogy tied to
the Central American immigrant experience. Also, the implementation of an Ethnic Studies
discipline is outside of a nation-centered study of ethnic and cultural diversity, but rather within a
transnational framework.
The need for expansion will be in the field of study growing in higher education
institutions, particularly in Los Angeles, which holds the largest community of Central
Americans outside of the Central American region. The analysis will focus on knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences related to achieving the organizational goal. The focus
of these analyses will be on the influences of the lack of Transnational Studies. The literature
review will provide a general overview of Ethnic Studies as well as a discussion of
transnationalism and transnational identities as it pertains to Ethnic Studies. The study will also
review the challenges of Ethnic Studies, such as colonial discourses, identity challenges for
Latino/Hispanic populations from a U.S. and regional/historical perspective, and funding
challenges for Ethnic Studies. Lastly, the study will also be in conversation with Los Angeles
County academic institutions that offer Transnational Studies courses, minors, and majors.

9

Research Questions
The following research questions were designed to examine this promising practice:
1. What knowledge of the Central America community is needed in order to support the
expansion of Transnational Studies as a field of study in Los Angeles higher education
institutions?
2. What is the motivation for expanding Transnational Studies?
3. What are organizational barriers faced when expanding Transnational Studies?
Definitions
Key concepts that will be explored in my research will be transnational, transnational
identity, Latino/a, and Central American.
Central American
Central Americans are people from the region known as Central America, but also
includes Central American peoples, communities, and groups which are not constrained to the
colonial dimensions of a nation or a territorial region, but a more permeable and malleable
understanding of a cultural region and movements of displaced peoples (Gonzalez & Ayala,
2008, 2015, 2017).
Transnational Studies
Transnational studies is an interdisciplinary academic space that emphasizes the
transnational character of Central American communities in the diaspora (Gonzalez & Ayala,
2008, 2015, 2017).
Chicana/o Studies
Chicana/o Studies is a field of study with a multidisciplinary approach that advances a
critical understanding of the Chicana/o experience in the United States (Acuña, 2011).
10

Diaspora
A diaspora denotes religious or national groups living outside an (imagined) homeland
(Bauböck & Faist, 2010).
Ethnic Studies
Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and comparative study of ethnic
groups and their interrelationships with an emphasis on groups that have been historically
neglected (Cortés, 2013, Yang, 2000).
Latin American Studies
Latin American Studies is a disciplinary or interdisciplinary academic study about the
Latin American Region. (Bray, 2004, Mu & Peyrera Rojas, 2015)
Latina/o Studies
Latina/o Studies is a diversity of localized and transnational experiences of Latin
American and Caribbean national origin populations in the United States (Caban, 2003, Mize,
2018).
Latino/a
Latino/a refers to people who come from the region known as Latin America (Lopez,
Krogstad, & Passel, 2019, Sandrino-Glasser, 1998).
Transnational
Transnational is defined as processes and/or interactions which extend and go beyond
across national borders (Basch, Glick Schiller, & Szanton Blanc, 1994; Blitvich, 2018; Gonzalez
& Ayala, 2008, 2015, 2017; Gupta, 1992; Gupta & Ferguson, 1992)

11

Transnational Identity
Transnational identity is related to transnational communities which identify with dual or
at times multiple communities, since they are connected to two countries, belonging to a
community spanning borders and form organizations that express their identity as a transnational
group (Gupta 1992; Mato, 2010; Tsakiri, 2005).
Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation study is structured utilizing five chapters. Chapter One introduces
readers to the background of the problem of Ethnic Studies traditionally dominated by four
disciplines, recognized as Ethnic studies: African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native
American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies. Also, a brief overview of Clark and
Estes's (2008) gap analysis framework as the theoretical framework used throughout this study
and the proposed methodology was provided. Chapter One concluded with definitions of key
terms and a detailed overview of the study. Chapter Two provides a literature review as it
pertains to Ethnic Studies and Ethnic Studies disciplines. This chapter focuses on the historical
content and challenges of the problem, the role of colonialism and colonialist knowledge
production, an overview and history of identity for Latina/o and Hispanic populations in Latin
American and the United States, an overview of transnationalism and transnational identity, and
a review of the role of promising practices. Chapter Three describes the study’s methodological
approach, the three main guiding research questions, and data sources. Chapter Four delivers the
study results and findings. Finally, Chapter Five provides an overview of the study’s findings
and connects the findings to existing literature and the study’s conceptual framework. Moreover,
Chapter Five concludes with three recommendations, an integrated recommendation overview,
an identification of limitations and delimitations, and recommendations for future research.
12

Chapter Two: Literature Review
This literature review will examine influences that contribute to gaps in the expansion of
Transnational Studies as an academic discipline in colleges and universities. The review begins
with general research on the development and growth of Ethnic Studies departments. This
literature examination will provide an overview of the literature on Ethnic Studies to understand
the challenges of Transnational Studies expansion. The chapter will review Ethnic Studies and
transnationalism/transnational identities as it pertains to Ethnic Studies, and also the challenges
of Ethnic Studies such as colonial discourses, identity challenges for Latino/Hispanic populations
from a U.S. and regional/historical perspective, and lastly, funding challenges for Ethnic Studies.
After exploring the general literature, the review utilizes Clark and Estes’ (2008) Gap Analytic
Conceptual Framework to assess the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on
the expansion of Transnational Studies as a course of study. This section also includes an
overview of a best practice model focused on the Transnational Studies Department at Los
Angeles University.
Overview of Ethnic Studies
Ethnic Studies has a contentious history in the United States. The foundation of Ethnic
Studies was primarily a critique of Western civilization (Ferguson, 2005). According to Sleeter
(2010), Ethnic Studies arose in efforts to challenge the western mainstream curriculum. Ethnic
Studies includes units of study, courses, or programs focused on an ethnic or racial group's
epistemologies, reflecting its histories and points of view of that group’s experiences and
scholarship (Sleeter, 2010). During the latter part of the 20th century, growing civil strife in
American society gained impetus from the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement.
With the demand to change the higher educational system, students occupied administrative
13

offices in the late 1960s and 1970s (Hu-DeHart, 1993). In revolutionizing the available areas of
study, the Ethnic Studies movement had several objectives to change the existing Eurocentric
educational system (Wing, 1999). Student demands focused on radical changes for their vision of
what Ethnic Studies would encompass. The vision for Ethnic Studies was grounded on education
connected to the struggles for racial justice and beyond, programs that would produce
interdisciplinary scholarship for and by people of color, programs structured by students and
community, and lastly, the power to hire faculty and enroll students (Wing, 1999). Ethnic Studies
can also be framed under a broader practice of de-colonial epistemic shift, bringing other and
non-western epistemologies, principles of knowledge and understanding, and subsequently, other
economies and politics.
California public universities played essential roles in nationwide student demands for
Ethnic Students. Student movements elucidated how university institutions were part of a global
system of neocolonial and racialized capitalist exploitation; students determined to change the
university's function (Hong, 2008). East Mountain University is now known as Los Angeles
University. It was a fundamental California public university where students were involved in
the anti-war, anti-draft, and solidarity movements. Crucial student activism brought awareness
and questioned race relations in society and clamored for equal opportunities for minority and
low socio-economic students (Kelsey & Kacy, 2013, 0:03:35). As Hong (2008) stated:
Rather than being a site of knowledge production that legitimated and reproduced U.S.
state power—particularly egregious as the U.S. was engaging in imperialist wars in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America—the university that these students imagined was a
means of redistributing resources, producing counter-knowledges, and critiquing white
supremacy and imperialism. (p. 100)
14

Students of color led these movements but had support from students and faculty of all
backgrounds. With the takeover of an administrative building in 1968, students presented a list of
demands for the changes they sought at East Mountain University (Halsted & Kemal, 2020).
Led by the Black Student Union (BSU), East Mountain University students wanted to increase
the number of black students and demanded a Black Studies department (Halsted & Kemal,
2020). Ultimately, the BSU’s activism resulted in the Educational Policies Committee's review
of ‘minority studies’ proposals, consequently resulting in new Africana and Chicana/o Studies
Programs in 1969 (Halsted & Kemal, 2020). Fellow pioneers of the Ethnic Studies movement
were the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and the Ethnic Studies
Department at UC Berkeley. According to Butler and Schmitz (1992), ethnic programs
flourished in the early 1970s as financial resources supported program development, student aid,
and faculty members' professional advancement.
As Ethnic Studies developed in U.S. higher education institutions in the late 1970s, a
reintroduced interest in the study of white ethnic groups led to several Ethnic Studies programs
focused on European groups such as Armenians, Germans, Italians, Polish, Jewish, English,
Czechs, and others (Yang, 2000). The survival of Ethnic Studies and its development would be
continually challenged. By the mid-1970s, fiscal crises resulted in harsh cutbacks and the
consolidation of Ethnic Studies programs; only half survived by the 1980s. Despite obstacles, the
1990s brought a revitalized and robust field of Ethnic Studies (Yang, 2000). Currently, the
United Stated holds over 800 Ethnic Studies programs and departments (Bataille, Carranza, &
Laurie, 1996). Ethnic Studies is represented by five professional associations: the National
Council of Black Studies, the National Association of Chicano Studies, the Asian American
Studies Association, the American Indian Studies Association, and the National Association of
15

Ethnic Studies (Hu-DeHart, 1993). Also, the growth of Ethnic Studies is marked by Ethnic
Studies courses becoming part of the requirements for degree programs or curricula, such as in
the case with many UC and Cal State campuses. Universities have also installed Ethnic Studies
departments and programs. All twenty-three Cal State campuses have Ethnic Studies
departments or ethnic-specific departments or programs (Yang, 2000). Ethnic Studies is an
integral part of higher education and society, reflecting the diversity of the United States’ diverse
cultural and ethnic groups.
On August 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1460,
which will require California State University students attending all 23 CSU campuses who enter
as freshmen in 2021-22 to take an Ethnic Studies course (California Legislative Information,
2020). The requirement will be a 3-unit class in Native American studies, African American
studies, Asian American studies, or Latina and Latino studies, making California the first state to
require Ethnic Studies as a university graduation requirement (EdSource, 2020). A similar Ethnic
Studies requirement for high school students would be mandated by Assembly Bill 331, which
would require students to take a one-semester Ethnic Studies course in high school, starting with
entering ninth grade in the fall of 2025. If Assembly Bill 331 becomes law, California would be
the first state in the nation to decree such a high school requirement (EdSource, 2020).
Ethnic Studies in K-12
Although most cases of Ethnic Studies are centered in higher education, the field has also
had an impact outside of higher education in K-12 schooling. Throughout the United States, K-
12 schools have experienced an expanding movement for Ethnic Studies. Communities such as
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Honolulu, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and many other
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cities are fighting to institutionalize Ethnic Studies curriculum and courses (Sleeter & Zavala,
2020).
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest school district in
the nation after the New York Department of Education. The district comprises 1,386 schools
and centers, 25,418 teachers, and over 673,849 students (LAUSD, 2019). The LAUSD student
population is 73.4% Latino, 10.5% White, and 8.2% African American. In the last decade,
LAUSD has moved to integrate Ethnic Studies into its student curriculum. Most recently, on
August 25
th,
2020, LAUSD adopted “Ethnic Studies for All.” The mandate will ensure that by
the 2022-2023 school year, all high school students will have the opportunity to take at least one
Ethnic Studies course at their high school and implement Ethnic Studies as a graduation
requirement by the 2023-2024 school year (LAUSD, 2020).
Institutional and stakeholder support is essential for the expansion of Ethnic Studies in
the K-12 arena. But not all Ethnic Studies are welcomed by institutions and stakeholder groups,
as Ethnic Studies are considered soundly political and influenced by political pressures
(McKenzie, 2020). The challenges faced in higher education with institutional support and
expansion of Ethnic Studies have also been felt in the K-12 arena. Development and
maintenance of Ethnic Studies has also been a challenge for K-12 Ethnic Studies programs and
curriculum. A recent infamous example of Ethnic Studies and the struggles in the K-12 milieu
was the 2015 case of Arizona’s Tucson School District. The Tucson Unified School District’s
Mexican-American Studies Program instructed cultural pride and its impact was felt through its
success in raising students’ academic achievement in Tucson’s segregated schools (Dotts, 2015).
The program soon came under scrutiny and attack, as the program was deemed “un-American
and racist” (Dotts, 2015).
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Ethnic Studies: Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion measures in higher education reveal support for diverse ethnic
and cultural groups in the United States. Rather than an abstract view of diversity, an
institution’s concrete understanding of diversity results in diversity strategies founded in
teaching, research, and professional standards of specific disciplines and academic departments,
such as Ethnic Studies (Williams, 2013). The Learning, Diversity, and Research Model, a model
formulated and put into practice since the 1960s and 1970s, has been utilized to diversify higher
education campuses in all areas of university life (Williams, 2013). Within the model’s strategy
of change is Ethnic Studies as part of its diversity requirements (Williams, 2013). According to
the American Council of Education (2012), higher education institutions share a common belief
that diversity in their student bodies, faculties, staff, and administration is significant to fulfill
their chief mission of providing high-quality education. Diversity and inclusion measures ensure
that higher education institutions reach their diversity goals and focus on improving education
for student bodies with diverse backgrounds and communities. Diversity and inclusion in higher
education ensure that students become citizens of a diverse society that can produce leadership
with greater social awareness and critical thinking skills to ameliorate social problems related to
inequality complexities (Hurtado, 2007).
Multiculturalism
It is important to note that Ethnic Studies and Multiculturalism are not synonymous
concepts or disciplines. Grosfoguel (2012) argues that Ethnic Studies is fragmented between
liberal multiculturalism and nationalist absolutization. Multiculturalism discusses diversity and
pluralism. Consequently, multiculturalism is erroneously thought to challenge the construct of a
unified and homogeneous nation (Mermann-Jozwiak, 2013). As the traditional form of the
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Ethnic Studies discipline centers on the experiences from a local, national, and American-
centered experience, multiculturalist thinking also ultimately remains nation-centered
(Mermann-Jozwiak, 2013).
Post-Nationalism
A post-modernist and post-nationalist framework aids in understanding Ethnic Studies
outside of essentialist frameworks of ethnicity and race. As stated by Green (2006),
postnationalism is “a postmodern approach to identity, substituting new answers to the grand
ontological questions which have previously been satisfied by religion and nationalism.”
Exploring identities within a post-national lens allows vision beyond nation-centered identities.
The process of post-nationalism includes the loss of importance of a nation state’s national
identity in proportion to multinational and global entities. Post-nationalism discourse inserts
culture, society, government, politics, and the economics of a nation into an increased regional,
continental, hemispheric, and globalized lens narrative: a complex construct that overlaps, blurs,
and shifts borders (Nunn, 2011).
Transnationalism and Transnational Identities
In understanding diverse cultural and ethnic groups as it pertains to the immigrant
experience, it is vital to comprehend transnationalism and transnational identities as part of the
immigrant experience in the United States and the Central American experience and
Transnational Studies. Transnational Studies emphasizes Central American communities’
transnational character in the diaspora (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). According to Briggs,
McCormick & Way (2008),
As much as it belongs to the worlds of free trade agreements and export processing
zones, transnationalism belongs to genealogies of anti-imperial and decolonizing thought,
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ranging from anticolonial Marxism to subaltern studies to Third World feminism and
feminisms of color. (p. 628)
A transnational lens exalts a multiplicity of cultural, social, and political flows, decentering the
nation (Mermann-Jozwiak, 2013).
Transnationalism alludes to the fluidity of objects, ideas, capital, and people (Basch,
Glick Schiller, & Szanton Blanc, 1994). Transnationalism also signifies people’s movement
across borders, boundaries, human activities, and social institutions (Bauböck, 2018).
Transnational communities are part of (re)imagined communities. Displaced peoples form a
community in their new locality (ies) around remembering or (re)imagining their homelands and
communities (Gupta & Ferguson, 1992).
As Bloemraad, Korteweg, & Yurdakul (2008) note, “Migrants, through their daily life
activities and social, economic and political relations create social fields that cross national
boundaries” (Basch et al. 1994, p. 27).” Along with (re)imagined communities, identities are also
reshaped. Transnational identity refers to the identity fluidity of dispersed peoples, belonging to
two different places, even without claiming to be of that country—in relation to the host country
(Nagel & Staeheli, 2004). Dual or multiple identities can be constructed, identities shaped by
belonging to a community that crosses borders; organizations, hometown associations, clubs, and
other groups are formed to express their identity as a transnational group (Nagel & Staeheli,
2004). Transnationalism and transnational identities allow groups to communicate and practice
fluid realities of community, space, and sense of belonging.

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Influences of Challenges in Ethnic Studies
Modern western universities are legacies of the colonial system. Integral to the colonial
apparatus was conquest and enslavement of newly conquered colonies to European hegemony
(Stein, 2017). Furthermore, “[…]the value produced from colonization and slavery helped to
fund modern higher education institutions, while epistemologically, claims about the
universalism of Western knowledge could only become meaningful through the violent
production of racial and colonial particularism/difference in colonial contexts” (Grosfoguel,
2013, as cited in Stein 2017). The effects were simultaneously economic and epistemological.
Higher education institutions are centers of European/Western epistemic reproduction and
replicate learning through a colonial framing. Systems centered on Western knowledge are
embedded in educational institutions and “also in the ontological and material organization of
modern life, a global imaginary that was birthed in the simultaneous rise of modernity and
colonialism” (Stein, 2017).
Colonial Discourses
Modern universities are centers of production and dissemination of knowledge. Higher
education institutions also help to institutionalize the practice of conserving and producing
certain types of knowledge while removing or erasing others (Hong 2008). Stein (2017) argued
that traditional approaches to higher education further establish and reproduce the Euro-centered
colonialist foundations of modern Western higher education. Historically, European colonial
settlers implemented racial difference and superiority ideas, establishing a hierarchy casting
Native and Black peoples as subhuman, which consequently justified land expropriation, chattel
slavery, exploitation, and genocide (Sleeter & Zavala, 2020). The colonial apparatus’s
implementation of European/White superiority also included epistemic genocide, a process to
21

exterminate cultural traditions and ways of knowing (Sleeter & Zavala, 2020). Following
colonial discourse models, as Ruiz (2019) stated, “A colonial education model is a system of
schooling that denies students access to knowledge that honors diverse communities’ history and
culture in the classroom” (p. 24). Higher education institutions are part of an apparatus that
maintains social control and the status quo by which students are disenfranchised by the upkeep
of prevailing dogmas and a colonial structure of education (Buenavista, Stovall, Curammeng, &
Valdez, 2019). As Seed (1991) extrapolated, “Colonial discourse has therefore undertaken to
redirect contemporary critical reflections on colonialism (and its aftermath) toward the language
used by the conquerors, imperial administrators, travelers, and missionaries” (p. 183). A colonial
approach to education limits the student educational experience. It introduces and sets student
experience to a homogenized understanding of the world; thus, students absorb and understand
the world within a westernized colonial lens. Said referred to this process as “how Western
discourse about the Other is supported by ‘institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery,
doctrines, and even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles’” (as cited in Smith, 1999). But to
understand how the colonial structure of higher education supports the erasure of
Latino/Hispanic population diversity, it is essential to know the historical nuances of
homogeneity through the lens of ‘Latin America’ and also through Latino/Hispanic identities in
the United States.
Identity: Belonging, National Identity, and Multiple Identities
Identity is a complex notion involving many aspects of the inner, outer, private, public,
collective, and subconscious selves. Identity theory posits that self-categorization is significant to
the construction of one's identity, in which classification depends upon a named and classified
world (Stryker, 1980 as cited in Stets & Burke, 2000). As Anthias (2009) explained,
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The concept of identity can cover on the one side notions of the ‘core self’ or the
‘aspirational self’ (e.g. Erikson 1968) and on the other side notions of how people are
identified by objective measures, like country of birth or primary language. The notion
also covers identification processes (with others or ‘groupings of others’) and relates to
the construction of collectivities and identity politics (both of which insert the political
into the arena of identity formation). From another point of view, identity can be seen as
a question of claims and/or attributions. (p. 9)
Identity is also a process dependent on context, meaning, interests, values, goals, and projects
(Anthias, 2009). Identity also reveals a sense of belonging or a lack of it. Identity and belonging
are reflective of boundaries and hierarchies, both existing within and across boundaries (Anthias,
2009). Identity relies on identification by the Other on being recognized or identified (Wei,
2010). Benedict Anderson famously stated in his breakthrough analysis on imagined
communities that nation and national identity was an imagined political community, as national
identity is constantly being constructed and renegotiated (Martin-Jones, 2006). People can hold
different identities simultaneously while belonging to different categorizations depending on the
context, situation, and meaning (Anthias, 2009).
Mestizo/Ladino Identity in Latin America
During the colonial period in Latin America, modern nations arose, influenced by
European liberalism. The notions of unity and equality were sanctioned through a practice that
maintained difference by making it invisible and normalized while it promoted a discourse of
equality and inclusivity (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). Mestizo/Ladino identities in colonial Latin
America are defined as individuals deemed to be of Indigenous and European descent. The more
‘European’ peoples of indigenous and African descendants were, the more they had access to
23

power, status, and resources. It was a way to unify the race to appeasement of
European/Western societies.
Nation-building doctrines of powerful elites vied for national security measures that
crafted racial unity (Spickard, 2005). Miguel Angel Asturias, one of Central America’s most
prolific writers, argued in 1926 that the idea was to erase Indigenous people from the national
landscape in favor of mestizaje, a uniform national subject (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015).
Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities were subject to marginalization via social,
political, and economic means, including being left out of national subjectivity in the quest to
unify diverse sets of peoples of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Specifically,
Indigenous communities were seen as part of a distant past but not a present or future (Gonzalez,
2015). A homogeneous identity is essential for nation-states to define national subjects and draw
the nation parameters.
(Im)migrant Identifiers: Latino/Hispanic as Problematic Identifiers in the United States
The Latino/Hispanic population encompasses a diverse set of peoples. Maldonado (2009)
argued that pan-ethnic categorization of Latino/a or Hispanic blur vast differences in national
origin, mode of incorporation, citizenship, race, and class. The term Latino refers to people who
come from the region known as Latin America and generally encompass Mexicans, Puerto
Ricans, Cubans, Central Americans, and South Americans (Jones-Correa & Leal, 1996, Lopez,
Krogstad, & Passel, 2019). The institutionalization of the word Hispanic in the United States had
colonial origins and was used to classify an enormous and diverse population in the United
States. If one speaks Spanish as the first language, one must be Hispanic (Mignolo, 2015). The
broad term of Latinos/Hispanics as a signifier for a diverse set of peoples is done automatically,
referencing a formed community; the diverse and broad ethnoracial and cultural groups are the
24

very evidence of why the notion of a large community of these peoples is problematic and in
need of critical examination (Cohen, 2015). Homogenization of this group of people further
marginalizes and disenfranchises the ethnically and culturally diverse set of peoples from Latin
America. The terms Latino and Hispanic otherize the various groups and peoples they intend to
identify. It is also how the dominant culture has historically used and continues to use its
hegemony to attempt to define, dominate, and subdue the others (Sandrino-Glasser, 1998).
Contemporary scholars have highlighted the role of heterogeneity within the Latino community
as it relates to identity (Jones-Correa and Leal, 1996).
Higher Education: Funding Challenges for Ethnic Studies
Support for the creation and sustainability of Ethnic Studies departments warrants a fiscal
commitment to higher education institutions’ diversity and inclusion goals. Budget cuts often
affect public higher education institutions due to their reliance on state and federal monies
(Williams, 2013). Inside Higher Ed’s (2017) Survey of College and University Business Officers
established that 71% of respondents agreed that higher education institutions are experiencing
significant financial challenges. Hovey (1999) explained as summarized by Delaney & Doyle
(2011),
[…] higher education serves as a ‘balance wheel’ for state budgets. He observed that in
good economic times, higher education is an attractive area for states to fund; it tends to
be funded at a higher rate than other categories in state budgets. In bad economic times,
the reverse is true. Higher education is often one of the first state budget categories on the
chopping block and it is cut more than other state budget categories. (pp. 343-344)
Many universities with Ethnic Studies departments across the nation face budget cuts that
perpetuate underfunded and understaffed programs. For example, the Ethnic Studies program at
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Cornell University has struggled to keep up with recurring budget cuts, as they have experienced
significant cuts in the last decade (Snabes, 2017). Fiscal cuts plagued Ethnic Studies and identity
programs largely due to the university’s overall fiscal landscape (Snabes, 2017). Higher
education’s precarious budgetary conditions make departments face uncertain futures.
Challenging Traditional Institutional Understandings of Ethnic Studies
Ethnic Studies has a challenge of being understood by traditional definitions, which
relegate the study to the study of minorities, or to race and ethnicity. Ethnic Studies can also be a
site of reproducing euro-centered ethnic/racial hierarchies through identity politics. Ethnic
Studies departments can also be at fault for reproducing exclusionary identities for othered sub-
groups such as Afro-descendant communities and Indigenous peoples. According to Grosfoguel
(2012), Ethnic Studies is in a dilemma between identity politics of multiculturalism in the United
States and the disciplinary colonization of traditional Western colonial human sciences such as
social sciences and humanities (Grosfoguel, 2012). As new Ethnic Studies disciplines emerge,
there can be institutional roadblocks if Ethnic Studies cannot be understood through a more
globalized context of identities and human exchanges. As Rizvi (2011) explained, diversity can
be experienced in deterritorialized spaces affected by numerous, malleable and networked
affiliations.
Promising Practices in Higher Education: Ethnic Studies
Promising practices in higher education reveal approaches that promote student success.
Critical to achieving success for students is a pedagogical approach that is connected to student
experiences. Extensive theoretical and qualitative literature highlight the promise of instructional
practices and subject matters aligned with minority student experiences (Dee & Penner, 2017).
Ethnic Studies is an example of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) (Dee & Penner, 2017).
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Critical pedagogy gives room for educational curricula that can be understood as a movement
made up of diverse ideas, opinions, backgrounds, groups, and theories (McArthur, 2010).
Exploring diverse ideas includes engagement and action, which is as essential to critical
pedagogy as knowledge (McArthur, 2010). An essential objective of Ethnic Studies coursework
is the guidance of students to explore their identities and engage with the community, while
incorporating assignments that emphasize an ongoing connection with community, family, and
social activism (Dee & Penner, 2017, as cited in Ladson-Billings, 1995; Tintiangco-Cubales et
al., 2015). A significant and common aspect of critical pedagogy is the intent to nurture public
spaces, where learning in higher education is not separated from society at large, and to engage
with society in creative and transformative interaction, marked by inclusive and diverse
epistemologies (McArthur, 2010).
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) afforded an analytic framework that aids in examining the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences and how they can contribute to a problem.
Krathwohl (2002) provided definitions and a framework for the four types of cognitive domains
to understand knowledge influence: factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural
knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. Factual knowledge is knowledge that must be
acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it. Conceptual knowledge refers to the
interrelationships among the basic components within a larger structure that allows them to
function together, while procedural knowledge alludes to inquiry methods. Finally,
metacognitive knowledge addresses the awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition
(Krathwohl, 2002). Motivation stimuli are understood as active choice, persistence, and mental
effort for goal achievement (Clark & Estes, 2008). Organizational influences can include work
27

processes, material resources, and organizational culture. Clark & Estes’ (2008) knowledge,
motivation, and organization barriers are addressed in terms of the gap analysis of the objective
to support Transnational Studies’ expansion as a field of study. The first section includes a
discussion of the knowledge and skills assumed to influence the lack of expansion of
Transnational Studies as field of study. Motivational influences on expanding Transnational
Studies are examined through expectancy-value theory. Finally, organizational barriers to
funding hinder the ability of Ethnic Studies to keep courses and programs afloat and expanding.
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Knowledge
The study focused on conceptual knowledge influences that will support higher education
institutions in their continuing development for diversity and inclusion and expansion of Ethnic
Studies. According to Kezar (2001), resources for stakeholder engagement in change provide
some helpful strategies, but most lack the conceptual knowledge necessary to make and sustain
change. The identified conceptual knowledge influences include: 1) Higher education institutions
need to understand how to reframe Ethnic Studies away from the colonial discourse, and 2)
Higher education institutions need to understand the historical and present nuisances of race and
ethnicity when it comes to Latino/Hispanic populations Higher education institutions can have a
better awareness of structural challenges that prevent diversification of Ethnic Studies beyond
the homogenous understanding of race and ethnicity by comprehending how colonial discourses,
the historic homogenization of Latino populations in Latin America, and how this is reinforced
in the United States. Comprehending how theories, practices, and models interconnect will
support the conceptual knowledge of institutions seeking to expand Transnational Studies as a
field of study within its Ethnic Studies departments and programs.
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Western and Euro-centered Epistemologies
Conceptual knowledge focuses on interconnections among basic elements within a larger
structure that allow them to function together. It examines knowledge of classifications,
categories, principles, generalizations, theories, models, and structures (Krathwohl, 2002).
Conceptual knowledge is essential to begin to implement theoretical perspectives, principles,
models, and structures applicable to diverse Latino/Hispanic populations to make meaningful
change in the expansion of Ethnic Studies, specifically, for the growing Central American
population in the United States.
Prevailing Westernized and Euro-centered epistemologies pose challenges to the
expansion and support of Ethnic Studies. Colonial discourses hinder how Ethnic Studies
departments or programs develop. The institutional colonial framing in conjunction with a
hegemonic discourse that permeates Ethnic Studies is chronically problematic (Ruiz, 2019). The
erasure of diversity is currently sustained with the colonial framing of higher education and
through the use of homogenous identifiers of ethnically and culturally diverse populations such
as Latinos/Hispanics.
Latino/Hispanic Identities Knowledge Influences
The terms Latino/Hispanic ease the process of dominance/subordination to dominate and
oppress these groups (Sandrino-Glasser, 1998). Transnational Studies depart from
Latino/Hispanic identifiers because of the conceptual erasure that identity entails to Central
American peoples’ culturally and ethnically diverse realities. Transnational Studies critiques the
Ladino/Mestizo identity, rejects the image of Central American identity as Hispanic, and seeks to
open spaces for the knowledge and understanding of Central America’s diverse cultural and
ethnic identities (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). Conceptual knowledge of the colonial model of
29

discourses is needed for Latino/Hispanic groups, which is conflated with homogenized identities.
These processes continue to seek to disempower and disenfranchise these communities through
the erasure of the rich diversity of Latin America peoples.
Motivation
In looking at higher education institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion,
motivation is an essential factor to consider when looking at the active choice and persistence to
support and expand Ethnic Studies at their respective campuses. Motivation is the active choice,
persistence, and mental effort to achieve a goal (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Expectancy Value Theory
According to Wigfield (1994) and Eccles et al. (1983), the expectancy-value model of
achievement choice is a framework for comprehending performance. Also, Eccles et al. (1983)
argued that achievement performance, persistence, and choice of achievement tasks are most
directly foretold by their expectancies for success and the subjective value of success relegated to
tasks (Wigfield, 1994). Furthermore, Eccles et al. (1983) argued that achievement performance,
persistence, and choice of achievement tasks are most directly foretold by their expectancies for
success and the subjective value of success relegated to tasks (Wigfield, 1994). The model by
Eccles et al. (1983) also identified different elements of achievement values such as attainment
value or importance, intrinsic value, utility value or usefulness of the task, and cost. Wigfield &
Eccles (2000) defined intrinsic value as the interest that a person receives from a task, utility
value as the efficacy of a task for the quest of other short and long-term goals, and attainment
value, the relevance of a task to a person’s sense of self, identity, and core personal values. Cost
refers to how the decision to participate in one activity limits other activities, the cost of effort to
accomplish the activity, and the emotional cost.
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Diversity and Inclusion
Supporting the expansion of Ethnic Studies is directly tied to U.S. higher education
institutions’ short and long-term goals of diversification strategies. Supporting diversity is
significant because it enriches the educational experience, it encourages personal growth and a
healthy society, it strengthens communities and the workplace, and it augments America’s
economic competitiveness (American Council of Education, 2012). For universities to continue
expanding their diversity and inclusion strategies, they must be accompanied by the motivation
of their Ethnic Studies courses, programs, and departments’ utility value. Ethnic Studies can lead
the way for other diversity programs to be established and direct attention to diversity issues (La
Belle, 1996).
Organization
Organizations need work processes that are efficient and effective with material sources
that support an organization’s achievement goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Organizational barriers
are formal or informal organizational policies, processes, or resource levels that prevent goal
achievement. Work processes are understood as interacting processes, which specify how people,
equipment, and materials must link and interrelate for goal achievement, while material
resources are palpable supplies and equipment to achieve goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). With
increasing budgetary constraints, higher education institutions have to decide where to distribute
funds within their institutions. In the last decades, budget cuts have burdened many higher
education institutions, as national and state government structures have increasingly decreased
funding (Manning, 2013). In challenging economic times, campus leaders face difficult choices
when trying to ensure institutional long-term fiscal stability, and often diversity strategies are
low in the hierarchy of institutional priority (Williams, 2013).
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Increasing budget cuts made to education at the national and state level are a constant
threat to Ethnic Studies departments and programs. A traditional sense of understanding of
Ethnic Studies can further aggravate the budget shortcomings to the discipline for new sub-
categories to emerge in the field and to receive budgetary support. Redefining the traditional
definitions of Ethnic Studies can support the emerging field of studies that fall out of the
discipline’s conventional spectrum.
Higher Education: Funding Challenges for Ethnic Studies
Ethnic Studies is consistently subjugated to de-/underfunding, obligatory consolidation,
or even termination. A recent example is the attempted closure of the U.S.’s first and only
College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University (Asimov, 2016). Supporting Ethnic
Studies with financial resources can ensure support for higher education institutions’ strategic
goals of diversity and inclusion. Despite this, underfunding of higher education schools
continues to impact Ethnic Studies. Ethnic Studies departments often function as marginalized
and underfunded programs or departments (Caban, 2003). According to De-Cuir Gunby,
Chapman, and Schutz (2019), higher education is faced with “continued attacks on multicultural
education/initiatives, and Ethnic Studies,” coupled with the elimination of affirmative action
policies. Ethnic Studies can continue to support addressing essential and necessary questions of
diversity through sustained funding (Butler & Schmitz, 1992).
Redefining Ethnic Studies in Higher Education Institutions: Transnationalism
An institutional understanding of Ethnic Studies in its traditional sense is relegated to the
experiences of diverse cultural and ethnic groups in the U.S. The discipline is limited in its
discourses around cross-national exchanges (Mermann-Jozwiak, 2013). Ethnic Studies has
mostly reproduced U.S. heterogeneity, frequently and unintentionally re-elaborating ideologies
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of American exceptionalism against the logic of its own critical and disciplinary drive (Lugo-
Ortiz et al., 2007). Redefining Ethnic Studies will be important in a better ethical and political
understanding of the shift toward the transnational. Reimagining Ethnic Studies scholarship will
promote continued questioning and critique of politicized histories of racialization and the
consequences of racialized institutional designations for embodied subjects, political collectives,
and cultural products (Lugo-Ortiz et al., 2007). Ethnic Studies and transnationalism should not
be poised against each other; instead, transnationalism in Ethnic Studies informs a growing
change in understanding the field's changing dynamics. Transnational perspectives are
significant in creating transnational social spaces and questions and “address how ‘old’ national,
international and local institutions acquire ‘new’ meanings and functions in the process of cross-
border transactions” (Faist, 2010, p. 1666). Challenging in this change to the institutional change
toward the transnational can lead to “erase or dismiss the continued intellectual and political
necessity of Ethnic Studies as a discipline and area of specialization” (Lugo-Ortiz et al., 2007, p.
11).
Promising Practice: Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University
Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University is a promising practice for expansion of
Transnational Studies in Los Angeles and beyond in the United States. Transnational Studies is
vital for students who want to comprehend their heritage, work with the expanding Central
American community in the United States, and for those who have scholarly interests in
understanding this transnational community (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015).
Transnational Studies takes on an interdisciplinary approach to understand the Central
American community’s intricacies and includes studying politics, gender, art, culture, identity,
and literature. The foundation of Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University was with the
33

understanding the Central American identity is different and in contention with
Chicano/Latino/Hispanic identities, making it essential to create a cultural space for the
construction, visibility, and study of Central American identity on its own (Gonzalez & Ayala,
2015).
Transnational Studies deconstructs Ladino/Mestizo identity, rejects the Central American
identity as Hispanic, and opens spaces for understanding Central America’s diverse cultural and
ethnic identities. As Ayala (2019) explained, “Celebrating differences as a central dimension of
identity spaces that Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University established was
fundamental.” Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University focuses on a Central American
identity that is reflective of an ethnically and culturally diverse community, which besides a
Ladino/Mestizo identity, also encompasses Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean identities, identities
which have co-existed since the colonial era to the present (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015).
The Transnational Studies Program was inaugurated in August 2000 at Los Angeles
University. Transnational Studies was spearheaded by students, faculty, and community support
and continue to enjoy the support of those constituencies. The Transnational Studies Department
was inaugurated as a minor program and was initially formed under the Chicana/o Studies
Department (Ayala, 2019). The Chicana/o Studies Department's support of Transnational Studies
was significant during its foundational years because the program was created to satisfy a need
and a gap to “address an identity that represented a space of difference in relation to the
Chicana/o identity” (Ayala, 2019, p. 7).
By the year 2006, the program established its first Bachelor of Arts in Transnational
Studies. The Transnational Studies department’s goal at Los Angeles University is to give
prominence to the Central American cultural and ethnic diversity and transnationalism, post-
34

nationalism, and immigration experiences (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015). Also fundamental in its
growth was the institutional support via program resources and administration. In 2015, the
Transnational Studies Department finally achieved departmental status (Barbarie & Gama,
2019). Twenty years after its inception, Transnational Studies has graduated almost 200 students
with a degree or minor in Transnational Studies, many of whom have gone on to graduate school
and to service in their communities.
Conceptual Framework: Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Maxwell (2013) explained that a critical component of study design is the conceptual
framework, a system of concepts, assumptions, expectations, beliefs, and theories that support
and inform the research (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Robson, 2011). The theoretical framework
informs this conceptual framework’s format of Clark and Estes (2008), who use the influences of
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. The conceptual framework addresses the
effects of knowledge, motivation, and organization influences on the study of the expansion of
Transnational Studies as a course of study.
Figure 1 (on the following page) illustrates the influences of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational factors to expand Transnational Studies as a course of study. The figure highlights
relationships between influences of higher education in knowledge and organization. The three
circles represent the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Transnational
Studies’ expansion to higher education institutions in Los Angeles and beyond necessitates the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that promote the importance of Ethnic
Studies.

35

Figure 1
Conceptual Framework

Conceptual knowledge influences include the following: First, higher education
institutions need to understand how to reframe Ethnic Studies away from colonial discourse and
models; secondly, higher education institutions need to understand the historical and present
nuisances of race and ethnicity when it comes to Latino/Hispanic populations. Lastly, higher
education institutions need to know how transnationalism functions as an applicable framework
for Ethnic Studies. If higher education institutions have this knowledge, they will be more likely
to expand Ethnic Studies than if they do not possess this knowledge. Motivational influences
include the degree to which higher education institutions are committed to diversity and
inclusion. Higher Education institutions must view supporting the expansion and sustanaibility of
Knowledge
• Colonial discourse
• Homogenization of
Hispanics/Latinos in
the United States
• Transnationalism
Organizational
Barriers
• Funding
• Traditional
approach to Ethnic
Studies as a
discipline
Motivation
• Diversity and
Inclusion
36

Ethnic Studies and its disciplines as a channel to advance institutional diversity and inclusion
goals and objectives. Lastly, there are organizational barriers to the expansion of Ethnic Studies
such as funding, which create roadblocks for the expansion of Ethnic Studies departments. Also,
in conjunction with limited funding, a traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies can limit new
approaches to the discipline, especially with the existing and growing literature around a
transnational disciplinary approach.
Summary
This literature review examined the challenges in expanding Transnational Studies as a
course of study. The review began with an overview of the history of Ethnic Studies
departments in relation to Transnational Studies. Then the review utilized Clark and Estes’
(2008) gap analytic conceptual framework and discussed the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences on the expansion of Transnational Studies. Lastly, it profiled the
Transnational Studies Department as a promising practice, implementing a transnational
approach to the field of study.

37

Chapter Three: Methodology
This chapter outlines the methods and methodology utilized to conduct the research and
examine participant interviews. The study aims to understand the need for Transnational Studies
departments in higher education institutions in Los Angeles. This study highlights the only
Transnational Studies Department in the nation as a promising practice for higher education
institutions to model for expanding their respective Ethnic Studies programs and departments.
This study will employ a qualitative methodological approach. According to Creswell
and Creswell (2018), qualitative research aims to explore and understand the meaning
individuals or groups attribute to a social or human problem. Key participants will be current and
past faculty, department chairs, and administrators of the Transnational Studies Department at
Los Angeles University. This chapter includes an overview of the study design, research setting,
the researcher, data sources, validity and reliability, ethics, limitations, and delimitations.
Research Questions
The research questions for this study are the following:
1. What knowledge of the Central American community is needed to support the expansion
of Transnational Studies as a field of study in U.S. higher education institutions?
2. What is the expectancy-value for expanding Transnational Studies?
3. What organizational barriers are faced when expanding Transnational Studies?
Overview of Design
The methodological approach will be a qualitative research method. This study follows a
basic qualitative study model, applying qualitative findings that grow out of the two kinds of data
collection: in-depth, open-ended interviews, and secondly, written documents (Patton, 2002).
Merriam & Tisdell (2016) asserted that necessary qualitative studies focus on connotation and
38

understanding; these studies develop focused sample collection via interviews, observations,
documents, while data analysis is inductive, and comparative findings are richly descriptive and
presented as themes/categories. The researcher used interviews and secondary data, specifically
document analysis; Table 1 below maps the research questions to the data sources.

Table 1
Data Sources
Research question Interview
Document
analysis
RQ1: What knowledge of the Central America
community is needed in order to support the
expansion of Transnational Studies as a field of
study in U.S. higher education institutions?
X X
RQ2: What is the expectancy-value for expanding
Transnational Studies?
X X
RQ3: What are organizational barriers faced when
expanding Transnational Studies?
X X

39

Research Setting
The target population focused on faculty, department chairs, and key administrators from
higher education institutions in Los Angeles which have Transnational Studies as a department,
program, or course of study. Participants were selected based on participant self-identification as
current or past faculty, department chair, or administrator in relation to the Department of
Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University. The total number of participants for the study
were a total of 8 faculty, department chairs, and administrators. The researcher implemented
purposeful sampling, defined by Yin (2011) as “the selection of participants or sources of data to
be used in a study, based on their anticipated richness and relevance of information concerning
the study’s research questions” (p. 311).
Participants
The target population focused on stakeholders from the Transnational Studies
departments and courses offered at Los Angeles University. Participants were selected based on
participant self-identification as stakeholders with the Transnational Studies and courses. Those
who identified as professors/instructors/lecturers or administrators related to the Transnational
Studies at Los Angeles University were invited to participate. The total number of participants
for the study was set at a minimum of 8. I implemented purposeful sampling, as stated by Yin
(2011) as “the selection of participants or sources of data to be used in a study, based on their
anticipated richness and relevance of information concerning the study’s research questions” (p.
311).
40

Data Sources
Interviews
Interviews yield direct quotations from people about their experiences, opinions, feelings,
and knowledge. DeMarrais (2004) defined a research interview as “a process in which a
researcher and participant engage in a conversation focused on questions related to a research
study” (p. 55). Qualitative interviewing began with the supposition that anothers’ perspective is
significant, knowable, and able to be made explicit, thus utilizing interviews to enter into
participant perspectives (Patton, 2002). Before starting the interviews, each participant
completed a demographic survey containing six closed-ended nominal questions. The survey
contained questions regarding ethnic/racial, gender, age, job title, department, number of years in
the position, and education level. Interview participants were asked 14 open-ended questions.
For questions, see Appendix B.
Documents and Artifacts
Secondary data includes document analysis such as studying excerpts, quotations, or
entire passages from “organizational, clinical, or program records; memoranda and
correspondence, official publications and reports, personal diaries; and open-ended written
responses to questionnaires and surveys” (Patton, 2002). For this study, the secondary data
included journal articles, reports from higher education and educational institutions about Ethnic
Studies, Latin American Studies, Latino/a Studies, and Transnational Studies. Also, program
records and institutional data were collected from the Transnational Studies at Los Angeles
University.
41

Data Collection Procedures and Instrumentation
All data was collected through the qualitative approach of interview sessions, a focus
group, and secondary data. Due to the global COVID-19 epidemic, all interviews were
conducted through the Zoom platform and recorded with participant permission to follow
COVID safety protocols. Interviewing for the research study was necessary to capture participant
interpretations about the concepts of Latino/a, Central American identities, and their experiences
around the expansion and sustainability of Transnational Studies as a course of study.
Interviewing is a significant component in capturing past events and experiences that are not
possible to replicate (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The data was captured via video web
recordings. Video recordings capture activities and events as they happen, including nonverbal
messaging and communication (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The interview questions were
facilitated via an interview protocol. An interview protocol lists the questions or issues that are to
be explored in the course of an interview (Patton, 2002). The interview protocol was prepared to
ensure that the same basic inquiry lines are pursued with each person interviewed. The interview
protocol can be found in Appendix B.
Data Analysis
Qualitative analysis was utilized for the semi-structured interviews and document
analysis. Participant responses were revised in conjunction with the research questions and the
conceptual themes of diversity and inclusion, traditional approaches to Ethnic Studies as a
discipline, transnationalism, lack of resources/funding, and Latina/o and Hispanic identities.
Interviews were transcribed and data coded into the aforementioned themes. A priori and
inductive codes were used. Utillizing both methods allowed for established categories based on
the literature review and inductive coding allowing for codes to emerge from data (Gibbs, 2018).
42

All coded text with the same labels was combined to write passages about the specific idea or
explanations that arose (Gibbs, 2018).
The second method of data analysis was document analysis. Document analysis was used
to gather information that existed prior to the study and holds data where the researcher relies on
someone else’s description and interpretation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Document analysis
was conducted on a public record, the department’s most recent 2019 program review self study.
A program review at Los Angeles University consists mainly of a self-study done by the
department, an external reviewer/s visit, memorandum of understanding (MOU) meeting,
followed by an agreed-upon signed and filed MOU, and ending with program implementation of
said MOU (Los Angeles University, 2021).
Reliability and Validity
Reliability and validity are concepts utilized to assess the quality of research. According
to Gibbs (2018), reliability is the degree to which different observers make the same
observations or collect the same data about the same object of study, while validity is the extent
to which an account accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers. The sampling
and recruitment strategies supported the study surveys’ reliability. Interviews were administered
to stakeholders who self-identified as professors, instructors, lecturers, and administrators in the
Transnational Studies department at Los Angeles University.
According to Merriam & Tisdell (2016), triangulation is a strategy that promotes validity
by utilizing various sources of data or data collection methods to verify developing data.
Triangulation, which was used in this study, asks the same research questions of different study
participants and collects data from other sources through various ways to answer the same
questions. Also, member checks were utilized as an additional strategy to ensure validity and
43

reliability. As data collection and tentative interpretations of data were found, data was shared
with the data source to ensure that emerging data were plausible (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Also, member checks ensured that the findings were not misinterpreted or misrepresented in the
analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The Researcher
Influences upon my life includes my upbringing in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles
with a Salvadoran immigrant mother and two siblings. I am currently a doctoral student at the
University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education. Additionally, for the past
ten years, I have worked with various non-profit organizations and groups in community
outreach, education, workforce, and advocacy. Furthermore, I am an instructor in an Ethnic
Studies department in the California State University system since August 2016 and am currently
director of a transnational research institute. I also work at a Federally Qualified Health Center
founded by Central American refugees in 1983, and serve as part of the executive team. I oversee
the health center’s patient health education, advocacy, outreach, and enrollment efforts. Lastly, I
serve as a commissioner on a Los Angeles City Commission.
I acknowledge challenges with my positionality and power roles. I am an insider
regarding potential research subjects due to being a faculty member of Central American descent
and in a leadership role in a local, transnational organization. Additionally, I am a part-time
lecturer at a California university. To mitigate the issues mentioned above of bias and
positionality of power, I used the bracketing practice in which my prejudices and assumptions
are bracketed or temporarily set aside (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I do not anticipate any harm
done to any of the mentioned parties or anyone else because of this research study.
44

Ethics
As Merriam & Tisdell (2016) observe, a study's reliability and validity are contingent on
the researcher’s ethics. In involving human participants, all participants were given the
opportunity to provide informed consent before the interview or observation. Also, participants
were reminded that participation was voluntary and that all data remained confidential. The
informed consent form also allowed participants to permit video and audio recording, and all
data was secured in a private office under key.

45

Chapter Four: Findings
Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University is a promising practice. The purpose of
this promising practice study was to examine the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences present in the practices which enabled the Transnational Studies Department at Los
Angeles University to start courses that led to a fully formed department. The Transnational
Studies Department at Los Angeles University implemented and advocated a reimagining of the
traditional notions that make up Ethnic Studies departments in the United States. Specifically,
this study examines the Transnational Studies Department’s performance between 2000 and
2020 as a promising practice, identifying the successful alignment of knowledge practices in
relation to the Central American Community's transnational character and its educational and
institutional performance results.
The study followed a qualitative methodology with semi-structured interviews and
document analysis. The research findings enacted via interviews and document analysis focused
around the knowledge, motivation, and organizational practices needed to reimagine Ethnic
Studies Departments and that the Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University
embodies. The following three questions guided the study:
1) What knowledge of the Central American community is needed to support the expansion
of Transnational Studies as a field of study in U.S. higher education institutions?
2) What is the expectancy-value for expanding Transnational Studies?
3) What are organizational barriers faced when expanding Transnational Studies?
Participating Stakeholders
This study targeted stakeholders from the Transnational Studies department at Los
Angeles University. Participants were recruited based on participant self-identification as
46

stakeholders with the Transnational Studies Department who identified as current or past
professors, instructors, lecturers, and/or administrators. 15 individuals were invited to participate
in the research study. Eight agreed to participate. Participants were all asked to complete a
demographic survey which included questions about ethnic/racial identification, gender, years in
department position, current job title, current departmental affiliation, and level of education (see
Table 2 below).

Table 2
Interview Participants
Participant Demographic
Nidia Central American
Aida Latino
Fernanda Chicana/o
Ernesto Latino/Hispanic
Andres Latino/Hispanic
Victoria Multiracial
Amelia Central American
Lucia Latino/Hispanic

47

Findings for Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Findings were identified to be either be assets or needs pertaining to the performance of
the Transnational Studies Department in the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences that has allowed the department to grow from single courses to a university
department. Seven out of nine of the findings were found to be assets in the knowledge and
motivation influences and are critical components to reimagining ethnic studies through the
example and practices of the Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University. The
remaining two findings in the organizational influences were identified to be needs, giving
insight to the ongoing areas of growth to maintain department sustainability for departments such
as the Transnational Studies Department and other Ethnic Studies departments. The presentation
of findings begins with a presentation of interview findings and is followed by a document
analysis of the department’s most recent 2019 program review self-study. A program review at
Los Angeles University consists mainly of a self-study done by the department, but also includes
an external reviewer/s visit, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) meeting, which includes in
its procedure the input and involvement of university administrators, department faculty,
department students and alumni, and community members and stakeholders. This is then
followed by an agreed-upon signed and filed MOU, and the program review ends with program
implementation of said MOU (Los Angeles University, 2021). The program review ensures the
highest quality educational programs at Los Angeles University, which encourages departmental
“self-reflection and creative problem solving through effective use of internal and external
resources” (Los Angeles University, 2021).

48

Knowledge Influences
Beyond the U.S.: A Transnational Approach to Ethnic Studies
Interview Findings
Eight out of the eight participants identified the concept of transnationalism and a
transnational approach to ethnic studies as modeled in the Transnational Studies department as
an essential foundation of the department and a model to be followed by Ethnic Studies
departments in the United States. Nidia (all participant names are pseudonyms) shared that “the
uniqueness of the department stems from this transnational approach, that is embedded in the
discipline, in the materials, in the courses.” Fernanda noted, “[…] a transnational component to
any program is necessary because it forces us to look at communities that are envisioning and
creating knowledge in ways that are so revolutionary [and] are so necessary for the future of our
communities.” Participants acknowledged the impact of a transnational approach in reimagining
Ethnic Studies departments in the United States. They identified the concept of transnationalism
as core to the pedagogical approach of the Transnational Studies department. Ernesto said,
[…] it actually brought a new perspective, a new vision to Ethnic Studies. Now, the
reason why I said that is because traditionally Ethnic Studies only focuses on the people
of color in the US. In regards to the Transnational Studies (department), they do that. But
in addition, what really helps for students to understand it provides a transnational lens,
that not only we’re looking at the Central American community in the US, but we're also
seeing their link in Central America, their link with other communities in Central
America. And so it brings an extra lens to Ethnic Studies and I think that’s very, very
important.
49

Victoria supported this idea by adding that departments must take this concept and implement it
in their departments now. Victoria stated, “[…] other ethnic studies departments have to begin to
take a more transnational perspective.” Participants further underscored the need and importance
of the department’s conceptual approach by adding the value in relevance to identity and
diversity. Amelia stated,
[…] the program understands that borders are arbitrary and man-made. It's important to
acknowledge that the pre-established borders after the conquest do not necessarily reflect
the realities of the peoples in the Central American regions, especially the reality of
Indigenous people and Black people within the area. So, transnationalism today is also
referring to the fact that a lot of our demographic are people who are either immigrants
themselves or their parents immigrated. So, understanding how transnationalism affects
identity [and] affects politics is really important for students to learn and understand,
because it does reflect a lived experience that they don't get to articulate anywhere.
Participants further expanded on the importance of the concept of transnationalism in
understanding its linkage to transnational experiences and identities, particularly those of
students. Nidia also added, “You can talk about and explain to your students what
transnationalism is, or what it means. Deconstruct for them how they live transnationally. But
our department embodies it.” Also, a transnational conceptual approach impacts the strict
parameters of knowledge production based on American thought and experience. As Fernanda
explained, “The concept is important because it questions the coloniality of college. […] We are
in a university here in the United States and every knowledge production [is] centered around
what is produced within the borders of the U.S. only.” Fernanda further stated, “It replicates a lot
of awfully Western Eurocentric ways of understanding knowledge. And we're not really
50

understanding how knowledge is produced in other parts of the world, that's really problematic”.
The Transnational Studies Department’s transnational approach extends beyond a U.S.-centered
point of view to understanding diverse peoples living in the United States. As Victoria reflected
on the beginnings of Ethnic Studies, she identified how the field of study mainly became focused
on a U.S. experience and said,
I think what happened was [Ethnic Studies] just became about the U.S. experience in
relationship to the dominant society. That took over. Whereas, I think for Transnational
Studies, in some ways it honors that part of the origins of ethnic studies. So I think there's
potential for Transnational Studies to actually be the leader in ethnic studies on one hand.
But on the other hand, because the focus is so much on the U.S. experience, and the
nostalgia that people have of the civil rights movement and so on. But I think that the
diasporic experiences of Transnational Studies may make it separate from how we
understand ethnic studies.
Lastly, participants argued that a transnational conceptual approach allows for the field of study
to change and continue to push for a reimagining of diverse sets of peoples and their experiences
in the United States and beyond. Victoria concluded,
So, I think in that sense Transnational Studies is so much more complex. It's
international. It's transnational. There is a U.S. aspect to it. There's constant movement.
[…] Transnational Studies is not U.S. based, but there is a U.S. experience to it both in
the U.S., but also in Central America. That makes it just so much more complex, different
from Latino studies, Latin American studies, Chicana/Chicano studies and so on.

51

Document Analysis
The 2019 program review for the Transnational Studies Department revealed the
department’s strength in showing performance and the continuing engagement of the critical
pedagogy framed by the concept of transnationalism. Under Curricular or Mission-Related
Changes Since Last MOU, the document revealed that the Transnational Studies Curriculum
Committee is working on Transnational Studies 101: The Central American Experience, a course
that will examine the transnational experiences of all Central Americans in a transnational way.
The course design is in response to a program review recommendation to modify an existing
class focused around the Salvadoran Experience, or “creating a new course that would reflect the
transnational experiences of all Central Americans” (Ayala, 2019, p. 18).
Summary
Participants identified a transnational approach as essential to the Transnational Studies
Department’s mission and commitment to celebrate diversity in the Central American region and
its diaspora. An emphasis on acknowledging the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that exist in
the Central American community while examining and understanding the community beyond the
U.S. borders. A transnational conceptual approach is significant to the Transnational Studies
Department and their approach to reimagining the framing of Latina/o Hispanic populations,
specifically Central Americans. Also, a transnational approach allows for a reimagining of the
Ethnic Studies departments beyond a U.S.experience.
Homogenizing Studies: Latina/o and Hispanic Identities
Interview Findings
The Transnational Studies Department rises above Ethnic Studies departments that focus
on conceptual framings for their department based on established and default ethnic identifiers,
52

specifically for the Latino/Hispanic communities. Six out of eight participants identified the
Transnational Studies Department as questioning the rigid parameters around the
Latino/Hispanic identity and ethnic studies departments that support that ideological framework.
Amelia asserted, “Having Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University is different in that we
focus on the demographic of Central America as a whole, which often gets overlooked if it’s
under the larger classes of Latinx or the focus of Chicano Studies.” In explaining the approach of
the Transnational Studies Department, Ernesto expressed,
Many Chicanx, Latinx Studies departments they tend to have a frame objective of just
only focusing on the Mestizo identity. And that’s very understandable because they tend
to be the most dominant group in Los Angeles, right? The brown skin, Spanish-speaking
Latinx or Chicanx. And so what happens with that is that when we do that we tend to
exclude, as I go back, the Afro Latinx, the indigenous component, right? We exclude
other people who don't really identify or society doesn't put them in that specific identity
component. And so I think for Transnational Studies what it does, it becomes a model for
other departments that, Hey, yes, Mestizo identity is important, but we have to make sure
that we also include other specific identities that maybe these individuals or these groups
don't see themselves as a Mestizo.
The Transnational Studies department amplifies diverse identities in the Central American region
that is symbolic of the diversity that exists in Latin America. Fernanda stated, “Transnational
Studies really is pushing the boundaries of how we understand ethnic studies in a way that
questions the boundaries of identity, language, space, memory. Of just all these components of
our experiences as immigrants or children of immigrants.” Adding to the distinctiveness of the
department, Nidia explained:
53

That is unique to the experience of trying to homogenize all these different immigrant
experiences from an American standpoint because you're trying to define and unify these
different groups of Latinos. It's problematic to have something called Latino Studies,
because it doesn't allow for the diversity that exists within the different... representative
of people of all the different immigrant communities.
The Transnational Studies department strives to highlight the diversity in Central America.
Amelia concluded:
Latinx is just too broad. There's just so many different countries that fall into that, that it's
not very easy to try to be inclusive at the various regions and Central America has its own
unique social, political issues and history, that having an entire program is definitely
necessary as this is unique to the other places in Central America.
Effectively summarizing this point made by all the participants, Andres stated, “You just can't
bunch all of us together into one study.”
Document Analysis
The 2019 program review of the Transnational Studies Department reveals its stance on
identity and its pushing outside a Latino-based identity. The department effectively pushes
outside a specific focus on ethnicity/race/identity, but rather one around an interdisciplinary
approach that recognizes the diversity and myriad of identities in the Central American region.
The Transnational Studies Department and Central American identity/ies the department
explores exists in solidarity but in difference to Chicana/o Studies, Chicana/o identity, and other
ethnic identities (Ayala, 2019). The program review documents highlighted that the difference
stems precisely from the celebration of its diverse cultural and ethnic Indigenous and Afro-
Caribbean cultures with the Ladino (non-indigenous identity) and European consciousness, not
54

celebrated as a distant past, but also a significant part of present times (Ayala, 2019). As The
Transnational Studies department rejected Latina/o and Hispanic identity, the Transnational
Studies department noted that the Ethnic Studies discipline of Latina/o Studies sits outside of the
conceptual framework of Transnational Studies. The program review noted that Transnational
Studies is often compared and contrasted with Latina/o Studies, and stated:
The conscious positioning of our discipline outside of the realm of Latino Studies was a
move that had as its ultimate objective the creation of a space that allows us to explore
the diversity of Central American identities, including those that do not recognize
themselves as Latino Identities, namely, the myriad of Indigenous and Afro-Carribean
experiences. (p. 8)
Also, the review acknowledged that Latino Studies is an umbrella term where the Central
American identity can find part of its associations, but as long as it is able to do so with
difference, in solidarity, and without the erasure of its Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous
components (Ayala, 2019).
Summary
The department’s implementation of a transnational conceptual approach supports the
reimagining and questioning the imposed homogenized identity of Latina/o and/or Hispanic for
immigrant communities from the Latin American region, specifically Central Americans. The
data collected from both the interviews and the document analysis clearly indicate that the
Transnational Studies Department does not fit under the generally accepted and foundational
disciplines under Ethnic Studies such as Latina/o Studies, Chicana/o Studies.

55

An Interdisciplinary Approach
Interview Findings
The Transnational Studies approach to study the region of Central America is through a
transnational lens and an interdisciplinary methodology. Five out of eight participants identified
the importance of the Transnational Studies Department's truly interdisciplinary approach to
studying the Central American experience. Aida praised the department, stating, “The amazing
part of Transnational Studies [is] that it’s an interdisciplinary approach.” She also added,
[The Transnational Studies Department] cannot compare with Chicano studies because as
we know, Chicano studies is a very particular experience of the Mexican-American
community. It’s a more political approach. But Transnational Studies, it is a combination
of everything because it’s interdisciplinary, and we have a region that we are instantly
connected to, and also because we are dealing with this constant movement of people
back and forth.
Participants expressed the importance of an interdisciplinary lens to study the Central American
region and the Central American experience. Also, participants stated the significance of student
exposure to various lenses that are helpful in understanding the region. Fernanda explained:
On the other hand, you also have people who have been on the margins of ethnic studies,
who are trying to question those ways of looking at identity and experience, and were
trying to be more interdisciplinary as well. That’s one thing that I love about
Transnational Studies is that they’re actually, truly interdisciplinary. A lot of people say
they aren’t, but they don't really practice it. So I think that allows Transnational Studies
to be even more unique of the other departments. Where they can imagine a different way
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of envisioning Ethnic Studies that is not about exclusion, that is not about forcing people
to fit a certain narrative of what it means to be Latino or then you’re not safe.
This perspective was echoed by Nidia, who said, “Transnational Studies’ interdisciplinary
approach allows our students to learn about Central Americans in a comprehensive way, whether
we look at Central American art, films, the experiences of the diaspora, through economics,
through politics, its very impactful for our students.”
Document Analysis
The 2019 program review under curriculum and The Interdisciplinary Approach of Our
Courses revealed the intentionality and significance of an interdisciplinary approach to
Transnational Studies courses. The Transnational Studies Department explores the realms of
traditional disciplines such as literature, art, music, history, film and does so through an
interdisciplinary perspective of an Ethnic Studies program (Ayala, 2019). For example, most
courses are fully interdisciplinary, such as The Diaspora Course (Ayala, 2019). Also, department
courses examine the historical, cultural, and identity-related perspectives of particular
populations such as Afro-Caribbean cultures and identities and the changing roles of gender in
Central America (Ayala, 2019). Also, the study identifies the importance of an interdisciplinary
approach for the department as part of their student success and opportunity gaps efforts. The
report states,
The students enrolled in the program offered by the Department of Transnational Studies
come from diverse backgrounds, the majority come from Central American first
generation backgrounds that link them to the urban experience in Los Angeles [….] and
studied in over-populated high schools where they lacked the encouragement to move on
to the university setting. As a result, our Department’s objectives include being advocates
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for our students and the Central American community, and making up for the work and
opportunities that many of our students were not able to have access to, that is to offer
interdisciplinary courses that allow them to develop their critical thinking, writing, and
reading skills and that motivate them to become independent, self-driven lifelong learners.
(Ayala, 2019, p. 24)
Furthermore, the department practiced interdisciplinary collaborations with universities
throughout Central America and Mexico, such as the Colegio de La Frontera (COLEF) in
Tijuana, Mexico, and the Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas (UCA) in El
Salvador (Ayala, 2019).
Summary
The Transnational Studies Department’s interdisciplinary approach results in a holistic
examination and understanding of Central Americans and the Central American experience. The
Transnational Studies Department's interdisciplinary approach encourages and exposes students
to learn, develop, and implement critical thinking skills and explore other disciplines with the
knowledge acquired in the department (Ayala, 2019).
Motivational Influences
Transnational Studies Supports Institutional Diversity and Inclusion
Interview Findings
Six out of eight participants acknowledged that the Transnational Studies Department
supported departmental diversity and inclusion as well as Los Angeles University’s diversity and
inclusion goals on campus. One theme that emerged from the interviews was the importance of
the Transnational Department as a driver for Los Angeles University’s diversity and inclusion
initiatives. Ernesto stated:
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Transnational Studies really, really has highlighted to make sure that diversity and
inclusion, it's at the forefront in every single course, not just the Mestizo identity, but that
is not the only specific identity that exists. And so it brings a limelight, removing these
barriers of limiting the overall experience of the Latinx, or Chicanx experience. So that's,
to me, Transnational Studies has always been something that I really admire. They
promote diversity and they promote the inclusion of many different communities that
exist in Central America.
Students and faculty engaged in the Transnational Studies department come from diverse
backgrounds and interests. Amelia expressed, “Our faculty are of various different backgrounds
and different subjects that they're specialized in. Our classes are also open to anyone who wants
to study Transnational Studies. So, we have students from various diverse backgrounds.” Student
engagement in the Transnational Studies Department was described as representing the diversity
within the Central American community. Lucia said,
Central Americans are indigenous, they're black, they're Latinos, they're gay […] Central
Americans, we're everything. I think that by having this department at the university, it
gives people the opportunity to come in here and learn something different and learn
something new.
The Transnational Studies’ Department was also described as adding to the overall value of
representing different ethnic/cultural/area studies at Los Angeles University. Nidia explained,
“There is a sense of inclusion within the College of Social Arts, of trying to have representation
for all of these different groups. By not only having courses, but actual departments.” Victoria
expanded further on the idea:
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Transnational Studies as a field, as a department. As a Hispanic serving institution
Central American students make up a huge portion of that. Imagine if Transnational
Studies... Central American descent students, decided to, every single of them, pick up
and leave Los Angeles University. That would be a huge void on campus. So, I think
what the department does meets those goals [of diversity and inclusion].
Document Analysis
The 2019 program review highlights the Transnational Department’s support of
institutional efforts for diversity and inclusion. The faculty members in the department have
diverse fields of expertise and specialize in anthropology, literature, cultural studies, history,
political science, and Indigenous studies amongst others (Ayala, 2019). Also, the Department’s
faculty members come from diverse backgrounds; they hail from El Salvador, Honduras, Costa
Rica, Mexico, and the United States. Within the bounds of those nations, the faculty members
have diverse, multicultural backgrounds (Ayala, 2019).
Summary
The celebration and emphasis on the importance of diversity is reflected within the
Transnational Studies Department. Specifically, it focuses beyond the default Ladino/Mestizo
Central American population by placing importance on the myriad of past and existing Afro-
Caribbean, Indigenous communities of the Central American region and its diaspora. Also, the
Transnational Studies Department supports diversity and inclusion efforts in Los Angeles
University through the department’s diverse student and faculty demographic representation and
the faculty’s broad and diverse expertise and knowledge.

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Transnational Studies Department Supports Representation of Central American Students
Interview Findings
Eight out of eight participants identified the importance of the Transnational Studies
Department in supporting Central American student representation at Los Angeles University.
Central American student representation in the Transnational Studies Department also represents
the large significant and growing population in Los Angeles County and the United States.
Andres remarked, “The university should reflect the community that they’re in and Central
Americans are a big part of the population of Los Angeles County.” Aida added, “Here in Los
Angeles, that important presence, Central Americans cannot be overlooked anymore.” Faculty
agreed that the Transnational Studies Department has overwhelmingly represented the growing
Central American community. To that notion, the faculty agreed that Los Angeles University
Transnational Department has played a key role, and as Fernanda expressed,
When the department was growing, they were saying that it was the campus that had the
most Central American student population in California, but I would even argue [that this
campus had the highest Central American student population in] the [entire] U.S. So that
was very unique.
Fernanda added, “Los Angeles University sits in a very unique part of the city that reflects not
only the overall increasing student population from the Central American community but locally
as well.” Supporting student representation, faculty noted the importance of the department for
setting foundational understandings for students of Central American descent. Ernesto noted:
A lot of students, when they come into Transnational Studies, a lot of them are from
Central American background. So unfortunately they don't know a lot about, lets say,
their heritage, their history, which is linked to their parents. And so they're eager to take a
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course about what exactly is my identity? Who am I? I know I was born here, but beyond
that, I have a transnational identity.
The Transnational Studies Department represents the Central American experience
representative of their student population and larger Central American community. Nidia said,
The value of adding Transnational Studies is to disaggregate this idea that Mexican
Americans and Central Americans and all Latinos share the same experience. That’s why
it was so monumental for the program to flourish from Chicano Studies, into developing
courses, into then becoming a program. Then developing into a full fledged department,
because the experience of Mexican Americans differs from Central Americans.
Document Analysis
The program review states under student diversity, “Just as our faculty, students in the
Department have diverse disciplinary backgrounds, countries and regions of origin, and
academic interest” (Ayala, 2019).
Summary
The Transnational Studies Department supports the visibility of the growing Central
American population in the United States within its academic space of examining and
understanding the Central American community and its experience. Notably, the Transnational
Studies Department allows for the visibility of that population at Los Angeles University by
giving space for Central American Students to explore their experience and identity and to
further engage in a conversation within academia and the Central American community at large.

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Transnational Studies: Value to the Central American Transnational Community
Interview Findings
Eight out of eight participants expressed that the Transnational Studies Department was
an integral value to the Central American transnational community. The Transnational Studies
Department adds value to the student experience and the connection to the Central American
community by offering on-the-ground experience to students. Students are exposed to work
directly with Central American communities through intimate community relationships with the
Central American community. Aida said, “In terms of the value of the community, it's huge […]
the Central American community that now has a space for them to explore and think about their
experience, the transborder one.” The Transnational Studies Department has a purposeful
community-oriented mission which is reflected in its past and ongoing community ties and
collaborative work. Ernesto described this mission’s genesis:
It was not just created just to create, but it was created to empower the community to
work together […] I think that's what Transnational Studies has brought to Los Angeles
University—collectively working together we can bring social change.
The Transnational Studies Department has a special relationship with the Central
American community in Los Angeles County, and it is evidenced by the close-knit relationships
fostered by the department, its faculty, the students, and the community with the department.
Fernanda noted:
That relationship with the students and the community, which is very rare to see in
university campuses. I've been to several campuses. Los Angeles Univeristy is just so
unique in that sense, especially in the Transnational Studies Department. And showing up
to community events where students live and where they see their own family. To me,
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who does that? Nobody does that. I want to think that that relationship has really allowed,
it has really strengthened the program. Faculty members also work in professional
capacities within the Central American community and contributing to community-
focused scholarship and activism.
Lucia described the relationship of faculty to the community contributing to the department’s
developing relationship with the community: “Everybody is involved in one way or another and
we’re all part of the community. Whether we're on the ground or reporting about it or writing
about it, we’re all really active in the community and passionate about it.” The connectedness of
the department to the local Angelean Central American community helps the department instruct
students on the Central American experience and expose students to the community to integrate
their learning with real-life experiences. Nidia explained,
There’s definitely added value to understanding this community that’s here locally, but
also to train students to understand this community, to go out and to be able to do
whatever field of work they're going to do. If they’re going into the healthcare sector,
how do you work with this community? Understanding their history, their barriers, their
languages. Understanding how to be able to deliver a service, if you're going to become
an attorney. It becomes important.
Victoria expanded on this idea: “What Transnational Studies does for students, empowering
them, reconnecting them to their past and see how that is relevant to their present. Their realities.
To stay engaged with community.”
Document Analysis
The 2019 program review highlights the department’s interdisciplinary approach to the
study of Central America places value on community knowledge, the value that community
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connection brings to the department, and vice versa (Ayala, 2019). The document read, “Our
courses reflect the strong connection that our department has with the Central American
community at large, particularly through the required fieldwork in the community course”
(Ayala, 2019, p. 11). Furthermore, the department took added steps since the last MOU to
enhance community experiences for students to improve student success. The document details
these:
Our department has taken steps to improve student success, including the improvement of
student GPA levels, and the development of a series of programs to provide students
opportunities for involvement and community. It has been demonstrated that having a
sense of belonging is one of the most important ways to ensure student success. Our
students have the opportunities to travel to Central America as a cohort, they organize
events and fundraisers together, they collaborate with transnational communities. (Ayala,
p. 23)
In addition to interdisciplinary courses, the department hosted an annual interdisciplinary
symposium showcasing student research, an informal mentorship process where students
prepared research papers for the conference (Ayala, 2019). Augmenting the department’s value
in connection with the Central American community, the department engaged the Central
American community through clubs, associations, and internships it offers to students. The
mission of the department’s student associations and clubs is to support the growing Central
American community in the United States, succeed in the world of higher education, and become
vanguard leaders to influence the developing global, political, and economic realms and to
support Central American communities (Ayala, 2019). In addition, internships in the public
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sector to the immigrant and Central American communities in renowned Central American non-
profits and institutions allowed students to put their knowledge into praxis.
Summary
The student experience in the Transnational Studies Department is enriched by the
department’s strong connection to the Central American community. Student on-the-ground
experiences result in the development of student’s relationships with the community and
becoming leaders in the community. The department’s mission to empower and be connected to
the Central American community is evident through the praxis of students and faculty in
community work, dialogue, and change.
Growth in Numbers: Enrollment and Graduates in Transnational Studies
Document Analysis
The Transnational Studies Department has had a stable growth in numbers of enrolled
and graduating students. Figure 2 (on the following page) shows the steady growth of the
department with over 260.79% growth since 2004 and 111.69% growth since the last program
review in 2012. Since the Bachelor of Arts in Transnational Studies’ inauguration in 2007, the
department has graduated approximately 160 students (Ayala, 2019). Also, the department has
awarded 76 undergraduate degrees in Transnational Studies since its last program review in 2012
(see Table 3 on the following page).
Summary

The Transnational Studies department has had regularly increasing growth in enrolled
and graduating students. Also, the growth in enrollment and graduation marks the department as
an essential academic space. Finally, The growth in enrollment and graduation indicates the
department's importance and its performance in academically engaging and retaining students.
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Figure 2
Student Enrollment Per Semester from 2004-2019 (adapted from Ayala, 2019, p. 24-25)

Table 3
Student Graduation Demographics (adapted from Ayala, 2019, p. 40)
Academic
Year
2012-
2013
2013-
2014
2014-
2015
2015-
2016
2016-
2017
2017-
2018
Total
Degrees
awarded in
Transnational
Studies
14 12 14 10 10 16 76

0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Fall 2004
Spring 2005
Fall 2005
Spring 2006
Fall 2006
Spring 2007
Fall 2007
Spring 2008
Fall 2008
Spring 2009
Fall 2009
Spring 2010
Fall 2010
Spring 2011
Fall 2011
Spring 2012
Fall 2012
Spring 2013
Fall 2013
Spring 2014
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
Fall 2015
Spring 2016
Fall 2016
Spring 2017
Fall 2017
Spring 2018
Fall 2018
Spring 2019
Fall 2019
Enrollment
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Organizational Influences
Understanding Transnational Studies: Institutional Support, Sustainability, and Growth
The Transnational Studies Department was created to add scholarship, visibility, and
representation of the growing Central American community locally, nationally, and through
borders in the diaspora.
Interview Findings
Six out of eight faculty expressed the need for institutional support for the current and
future viability of the Transnational Studies Department. Faculty viewed understanding of Ethnic
Studies and, consequently, understanding the Transnational Studies Department, as impacting
institutional support for the department. Aida described this understanding:
The school could be doing much better in what they're doing, and I think that has to do
with the understanding because when you work with management to understand who we
are, the type of expedite process is there. But then when you have these people that don't
have any clue, it's like, "Oh god." And you have to start just from explaining what it is,
and then hoping that they understood you. And if they understood you, hoping that they
are willing to do something.
Participants emphasized the impact of the administration’s understanding of Ethnic Studies in
determining administrative and university support. Fernanda explained:
It’s super important that administrators really understand the value of ethnic studies. And
I feel like that we’re not in that place yet. And I say that because as I was in deep
conversations with ethnic studies programs, all across many universities, when we were
meeting together after the law to make ethnic studies a requirement was passed. Every
campus was sharing stories about how they were fighting administration over why this
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law had to be implemented in a way that strengthen the program. And how they were
conflicting with administrators, who thought they knew what ethnic studies was but they
really didn’t know.
Fernanda also added:
The way they understand ethnic studies is, they see it as a diversity path. But we're not a
diversity path. We're not a diversity and inclusion path. Ethnic studies is a field that is
about questioning power and questioning epistemic violence [.…] they really need to
understand what ethnic studies is and they don't. And I think a lot of their decision-
making is hurting a lot of these programs, and not allowing them to grow.
In discussing the need for institutional support and understanding Ethnic Studies
departments such as The Transnational Studies Department, institutional support for funding
sources was also highlighted by several participants. The need for funding support was identified
for several areas to help the sustainability and growth of the Transnational Studies Department.
Amelia said, “Institutional funding really does become important, in that it's not just about the
classes that we teach, it's also about the extra resources that we provide to students and we can't
really do that without that institutional support.”
Nida also added:
The expansion of the department with more full-time faculty. That comes with a
commitment of the college and the administration and the institution of funding full-time
faculty. It's great to have a lot of part-time faculty because it allows for flexibility and
growth. But it doesn't allow the faculty to grow into these positions, which would then
allow for research. And I think that's another area that there needs to be of growth, for the
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department in Transnational Studies at Los Angeles University. Is to be able to create
research, and so to have funding for research to be done.
The Transnational Studies Department exemplifies how institutional support is vital to keep
faculty, students, and the program flourishing. Victoria explained:
If we invest in our students and student programming, then I think more students come.
And then that just feeds, it brings more. It’s like a fountain that keeps giving. [When]
programming is shortchanged, that's why we continue to struggle for resources. And
faculty are overworked trying to keep a thriving program going.
Document Analysis
The Transnational Studies Department’s funding resources are vital to continuing the
sustainability of the department. The department continues to work with leadership in advocating
for resources for the department. The 2019 program review noted:
Our operational budget is limited and our faculty are overworked while the number of
students enrolled in our programs continues to grow. As a result, we need to continue to
expand our resources and as well as the number of tenure-track faculty in the Department
in order to maintain a healthy full-time/student faculty ratio and to secure a promising
future for our Department. (p. 43)
Furthermore, the department is affected by the university’s impaction, which reduced the number
of students enrolled in the 2019 school year by 10% (Ayala, 2019). Also, the department
leverages established community partnerships and writes grant proposals as support to fill
resource gaps in the department (Ayala, 2019).

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Summary
The Transnational Studies Department has received institutional support throughout its
20 years to grow from courses, then to a minor, a program, and a bachelor's degree, and lastly, a
full-fledged department. Although the significance of university and institutional support has
resulted in the department’s growth since its inception, the department still faces resource
challenges. The university fails to fully understand the uniqueness and importance of the
department as part of Ethnic Studies, the institution placing value on Ethnic Studies overall,
resulting in resource gaps.
Breaking Away from Traditional Understanding of Ethnic Studies Departments
Interview Findings
Six out of eight participants acknowledged that educational institutions' traditional
understandings of ethnic studies must be reimagined outside of strict ethnic parameters. The
participants expressed how Transnational Studies differs from a traditional understanding of
Ethnic Studies, and at the same time paves the way for a reimagining of what disciplines Ethnic
Studies includes, especial for peoples of Latin American descent, Latin American and Caribbean
region, or Hispanic. Nidia explained:
When you think about ethnic studies, you think about African American Studies, Chicano
Studies. And maybe Asian American Studies, but traditionally, those are maybe top two,
or maybe three departments or areas of studies or discipline, that are addressed with the
label of Ethnic Studies. And so it becomes problematic because it limits the
representation of all the other departments.
Also, when discussing the uniqueness of Transnational Studies, the faculty addressed the barriers
of having a traditional understanding of the field of study. Fernanda said,
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I would say that a lot of people who would say, “No, Transnational Studies does not fit
the definition of ethnic studies.” And their response is because of the very kind of rigid
way they understand identity. If you're Latino, you're experience has to look this way or
be this way. And often times the Latino narrative is very much unified around very
problematic narratives of migration.
Amelia also added, “It is a barrier because, well, for starters, the ideas behind the Cultural and
Ethnic Studies is that we are hyper-aware of making sure that people have a place at the table.”
Transnational Studies includes diverse voices, cultural backgrounds, and experiences from the
Central American region, leading to a reimagining of Ethnic Studies inclusion of diverse Latin
American communities. In thinking of a transformation of Ethnic Studies, Ernesto exclaimed,
“We have to keep in mind us and specifically those in this field is that we can never have a
definite definition of what ethnic Studies is. It has to be an ongoing process and ongoing
change.”
Summary
Challenges are presented to the Transnational Studies Department’s placement outside of
the four foundational disciplines which encompass the traditional understanding of Ethnic
Studies. Educational institutions' traditional understandings of Ethnic Studies must be
reimagined outside of stringent ethnic parameters to allow for departments such as the
Transnational Studies to be part of an alternative understanding of Ethnic Studies and garner
further institutional support. Transnational Studies diverges from a traditional understanding of
Ethnic Studies, allowing for a reimagining of the divergent frameworks which can be utilized in
Ethnic Studies disciplines.
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Interaction Between Organizational Influences and Stakeholder Knowledge and
Motivation
The organizational influences represent the environment and impact of the Transnational
Studies Department at Los Angeles University. The department’s values and practices directly
and positively impact student, community, and institutional knowledge and motivation.
Findings related to the organizational influences indicate that the Transnational Studies
department faculty valued both the importance of department sustainability and growth and the
importance of an understanding of Ethnic Studies departments outside a traditional definition.
But faculty cited challenges with university support and understanding in both areas. Thus,
faculty and the Transnational Studies Department will continue to experience difficulties without
adequate resources. The department is experiencing a lack of understanding of the department
and how it fits into Ethnic Studies.
Summary of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
This study revealed that knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences which make
the Transnational Studies Department a promising practice in looking at the Central American
transnational experience as a field of study within Ethnic Studies. Table 5 presents the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences explored in this study and their determination as assets
or needs. The knowledge and motivational influences presented assets to the study of the
Transnational Studies Department as a promising practice. The knowledge influences included
the following three findings: A transnational approach to Ethnic Studies, Identity outside of
Latina/o Hispanic, and an interdisciplinary approach. The knowledge influences identified that
the Transnational Department implements approaches and understandings outside traditional
Ethnic Studies departments practices. First, the transnational approach to ethnic studies allows
for the Transnational Studies to look at the study of Central Americans and the Central American
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experience beyond a U.S.-centered experience. A transnational approach allows for the study of
Central Americans and their experience as a diaspora in the United States and transcending
borders examining other diasporas while understanding the transnational nature of the Central
American identity by also examining the Central American region.
Secondly, the transnational approach to ethnic studies includes examining the Central
American community outside of the Latina/o Hispanic identity. The Latina/o Hispanic identity
hinders the appreciation and visibility of the diverse populations, past and present, in Central
America. The Transnational Studies Department rejects utilizing the Latina/o Hispanic identity
to celebrate the existing diversity of the Central Americans and Central American diasporic
communities. Lastly, the last knowledge influence finding included the Transnational Studies
Department’s interdisciplinary approach to the study of Central Americans and the diaspora. The
department’s academic interdisciplinary approach allows students and the community to
understand Central Americans via a diverse lens, facilitating a holistic understanding of the
population.
The motivation influences identified four findings which included: Transnational Studies
supports institutional diversity and inclusion; Transnational Studies supports the representation
of Central American students; Transnational Studies brings value to the Central American
transnational community; and lastly, growth in enrollment and graduates in Transnational
Studies. The motivational influences identified that the Transnational Department implemented
practices that strengthen the department’s values of diversity and inclusion, its community-
oriented mission, and the department’s successful performance in enrollment and retention of
students. The first finding identified that the department supports institutional diversity and
inclusion. The department supports visibilizing the large and growing diverse Central American
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community that exists in the country with its diverse student population. The department’s
faculty also bring diverse backgrounds and academic expertise to the department, which enriches
the Transnational Department as an academic space. Likewise, the second finding identified how
the Transnational Studies department supports the representation of Central American students at
Los Angeles University. The department allows for students to create and conduct dialogues
about their transnational identities and experiences.
The third finding identified that the Transnational Studies Department brings value to the
Central American transnational community. The Transnational Department’s community-
oriented mission allows students, faculty, and the at-large Central American community to
connect in dialogue, celebration, and collaboration. The hands-on experience that students and
faculty bring to the Transnational Studies Department is a unique and signficant value to student
formation as leaders and experts in understanding and connecting with the Central American
community. The last motivational influence was identified in the increase in both enrollment and
graduates in the Transnational Studies Department. The department has successfully performed
by increasing the number of enrolled students since its inception in 2000 and, consequently has
also increased the number of graduate students in the last 20 years. The Transnational Studies
enrollment and graduation of its students mark the department’s important contribution to Los
Angeles University as a significant academic space due to its performance supporting
institutional growth and student retention.
The organizational influences in this study presented findings that were identified as
needs for the growth and support of the Transnational Studies Department as a promising
practice. The two following findings were identified: Institutional support key for department
sustainability and growth, and breaking away from a traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies
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departments. The first finding identified the need for the Transnational Studies Department to
continue to have institutional support. Institutional support was found to be needed in different
department areas, but mostly focused on financial resource allocation that would allow the
department to grow. The finding revealed that a major roadblock to furthering institutional
support was not being understood by institutional administration. The second finding further
identified the department’s challenges of not being understood or recognized under the
traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies. The Transnational Studies Department is not
recognized under the four foundational disciplines encompassing Ethnic Studies: African
American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific
Islander studies. This divergent understanding of Ethnic Studies, which does not include
Transnational Studies, further aggravates the department's quest for support from the university
administration and at-large Ethnic Studies stakeholders. The need to break away from a
traditional understanding of Ethnic studies allows for a reimagining of the Latina/o Hispanic
communities and acknowledging that diversity exists within this homogenizing identifier. The
Transnational Studies deviates from a traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies, permitting for
a reimagining of the different frameworks that can be utilized in Ethnic Studies disciplines.
Furthermore, it marks how the Transnational Studies Department can illustrate the importance of
breaking away from this traditional understanding.

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Table 4
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Assets or Needs
Assumed
influence
Findings Asset or
need
Knowledge A transnational approach to Ethnic Studies Asset
Knowledge Identity outside of Latina/o Hispanic Asset
Knowledge Interdisciplinary approach Asset
Motivation Transnational Studies supports institutional diversity and
inclusion
Asset
Motivation Transnational Studies Department supports the representation of
Central American students
Asset
Motivation

Transnational Studies brings value to the Central American
transnational community
Asset
Motivation Growth in enrollment and graduates in Transnational Studies Asset
Organizational Institutional support key for department sustainability and growth Need
Organizational Breaking away from a traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies
departments
Need

Chapter Five will present recommendations for solutions for these influences based on
the qualitative data presented.

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Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations
Following the collection of qualitative data as discussed in Chapter Four, this chapter
contains four main sections. The first section discusses the findings in connection to existing
literature and research. The second section focuses on the practice recommendations,
highlighting three recommendations based on the data collected in Chapter Four. The third
section overviews the study’s limitations and delimitations. The fourth section focuses on
recommendations for future research in looking at other Ethnic Studies departments which also
implement transnational and interdisciplinary approaches ot the field of study. The
recommendations categorized under the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
are designed to help implement Transnational Studies departments. Transnational Studies
departments should be included as part of Ethnic Studies departments, and study the Central
American experience outside the constructs of the U.S.-centered approach, outside of the identity
categorization of Latina/o and Hispanic, and within interdisciplinary and transnational
approaches. After these four sections, Chapter Five ends with a conclusion that provides a brief
overview of the entire study and addresses the importance and impact of this study in regard to
the future of Ethnic Studies departments in the U.S.
Discussion of Findings
The theoretical framework utilized for this study was Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap
analysis framework. Clark and Estes classified three factors for exploration in a gap analysis:
knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational factors. This study examined knowledge,
motivational, and organizational influences that supported the promising practices of a higher
education department that has implemented the first department of its kind—the Transnational
Studies Department at Los Angeles University. The department focuses on Central American
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study, creating scholarships, and engaging with the community about the Central American
experience. Perspectives shared by eight faculty members of the Transnational Studies
Department demonstrated how a transnational, interdisciplinary, and community-oriented ethnic
studies department focused on the Central American experience is necessary and can thrive in
the United States. The findings highlighted the importance of the Transnational Studies
Department at Los Angeles University and its contributions to understanding Ethnic Studies
beyond merely a traditional understanding of the field. This study provided an example of how
the alignment of conceptually and culturally competent knowledge and university/institution
support can lead to the growth of ethnic and cultural groups in the United States.
The first research question resulted in two themes based on data collected by this study’s
interviews and data analysis: 1) a transnational approach to Ethnic Studies, and 2) breaking away
from Latina/o and Hispanic identity for Ethnic Studies. The second research question resulted in
four themes based on data collected by this study’s interviews and data analysis: 1) how the
Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University supports institutional diversity and
inclusion, 2) Transnational Studies Departmental support of Central American student
representation, 3) the department’s value to the Central American transnational community, and
4) Transnational Studies Department enrollment and graduate rate growth. The third research
question resulted in two themes based on data collected by this study’s interviews and data
analysis: 1) the importance of institutional support as key factors for sustainability and growth,
and 2) turning away from a traditional understanding of Ethnic Studies departments.
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
The recommendations for this study are based on the findings of the Transnational
Studies Department’s unique position as the only Transnational Studies Department in the
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United States, situated at Los Angeles University. The recommendations are formulated from the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that have supported the department's
purpose and mission and that have resulted in the department’s growth in the last 20 years. The
first recommendation is based on the knowledge influence of moving away from the
Latino/Hispanic identity and the importance and impact that this movement can have on students
whose origins or background stems from the Latin American region. The second
recommendation, based on a knowledge influence, is the importance of the framing of Ethnic
Studies within a transnational approach rather than a U.S.-centric one. The third recommendation
is to augment institutional support for the growth of Ethnic studies, and specifically on resource
allocation.
Recommendation 1: Reimagine Ethnic Studies & Examine Latino/Hispanic Identity in
American Higher Education Institutions
Exemplified by the Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University and
their focus on the diverse Central American community and their experiences, the findings
provided examples of the importance of breaking out of the Latina/o and Hispanic identity as it
relates to the study of peoples who come from Latin America. The examples included
understanding diversity in the Latino/Hispanic communities, the impact of the homogenization
process of Latino/Hispanic identifiers in the United States, and the impact on existing Ethnic
Studies departments and new Ethnic Studies departments such as the Transnational Studies
Department.
These findings were consistent with the literature that articulated the importance of
breaking out of Latino or Hispanic terms, as those terms otherize groups, and the terminology
attempts to define, dominate, and subdue the other’s (Sandrino-Glasser, 1998). The
80

Transnational Studies Department rejects the terms Latino/Hispanic, as these terms enact and
replicate the colonial attempt to erase Central American peoples’ culturally and ethnically
diverse realities. Transnational Studies critiques the Ladino/Mestizo identity and rejects the
outlook of Central American identity as Hispanic (Gonzalez & Ayala, 2015).
Higher education institutions need to reframe Ethnic Studies, which diverts away from
colonial discourse and models while understanding historical and present nuances of race and
ethnicity regarding Latina/o Hispanic populations. Moving from Latino/Hispanic identifiers
when studying populations from the Latin American region lends itself to comprehend the
complexities of diverse identities and cultural groups from the region. Also, it allows for the
exploration of immigrant and diasporic populations within a transnational approach and identity,
a fluid identity for dispersed people belonging to two or more different places.
Recommendation 2: Transnational Approach to Ethnic Studies
Findings supported and provided examples of the importance of a transnational approach
to Ethnic Studies and puts the Transnational Studies Department in a unique standing for its
approach as mentioned above. The illustrations included the Transnational Studies Department
being a lead example of diverting from a U.S. approach to implement an Ethnic Studies
department, the significance of a transnational approach to Ethnic Studies in amplifying diversity
and transnational identity and exploring transborder knowledge productions.
These findings were consistent with the literature that articulated the importance of
reimaging Ethnic Studies within a transnational approach. Ethnic Studies has mostly reproduced
U.S. heterogeneity, focusing on a U.S. experience for people of color (Lugo-Ortiz et al., 2007).
Ethnic Studies can limit new approaches to the discipline, especially with the existing and
growing literature around a transnational approach to the discipline. As Faist (2010) asserted, a
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transnational lens should address how national and local institutions acquire new meanings for
cross-border transactions.
A transnational approach to Ethnic Studies disciplines asks for the further exploration of
diverse ethnic, national, and cultural groups, particularly of Hispanic and Latin American
descent and heritage. To implement a transnational approach and lens, a reimagining and
reconceptualization to a transnational understanding of Latina/o Hispanic communities and their
U.S. experience is needed. This reimaginging can be a powerful tool in further understanding
the complexities of these communities and creating spaces of dialogue, visibility, and a sense of
belonging for these groups.
Recommendation 3: Institutional Support for the Growth of Ethnic Studies
Collected data provided examples of the urgency of institutional support for the growth
of Ethnic Studies departments and the Transnational Studies Department as a model. The
examples included the significance of understanding the value of Ethnic Studies and its impact
on garnering ongoing and additional institutional support and the need for added funding and
department resources.
These findings were consistent with the literature that articulated the importance of
Ethnic Studies as a growing and evolving discipline in the United States which lacks resources
and funding. As Caban (2003) noted, Ethnic Studies departments are underfunded programs or
departments. As Ethnic Studies disciplines continue to grow and support the necessary critical
pedagogy knowledge production, which is part of Ethnic Studies, such as addressing the vital
and essential dialogues and questions of diversity, Ethnic Studies departments must be supported
through sustained funding (Butler & Schmitz, 1992).
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More than ever there is a need to support Ethnic Studies departments, but resource gaps
can hinder their success. Ethnic Studies departments and disciplines continue to construct and
deconstruct the ongoing conversations highlighting the importance of diversity, inclusion,
equality, and inclusion. As the country continues to fight with rampant racism, xenophobia, and
white supremacy, Ethnic Studies encompasses an essential academic space where United States’
minority groups are given a space to create, question, and construct dialogue. Lastly, Ethnic
Studies continue to lead the decolonial epistemological shift, highlighting non-western and other
epistemologies and principles of knowledge and understanding essential to a diverse society,
which continues to grow in its ethnic, national, and cultural composition. Material support is an
important part of supporting the diverse and growing social fabric of Ethnic Studies.
Integrated Recommendations
Based on the recommendations and following Kellogg’s Logic Model (2004), a
comprehensive training program is suggested. The training program is titled Transnational
Studies: An Introductory Program for Higher Education Stakeholders. According to Kellogg’s
Logic Model, a successful method for monitoring progress toward short and long-term outcomes
in developing and using a program logic model. The training would introduce higher education
stakeholders to the Transnational Studies Department’s conceptual and theoretical framing of
their Ethnic Studies department and posit the need for the ongoing support of Ethnic Studies and
developing disciplines like Transnational Studies.
A program logic model depicts how a program works, including the theory and
assumptions underlying the program focused on a program’s logic model, and identifies
outcomes that are both short and long-term. Furthermore, a program logic model provides a
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structured outline of the program, how it is expected to function, the activities involved, and the
desired achievable outcomes (Kellogg, 2004). Table 5 depicts the training program logic model.

Table 5
Transnational Studies: An Introductory Program for Higher Education Stakeholders
Resources Activities/outputs Short-term impacts Long-term impact
 Transnational
Studies
administrators
and faculty
 Higher
Education
Stakeholders
 Students
 At large and
local
community to
higher
education
institution

 3 workshops
 1 debrief/action
steps and added
recommendations
meeting

 Increased knowledge of
the Central American
experience and diversity
in comparison and
contrast to other Latina/o
and Hispanic
communities
 Increase knowledge in
the history and impact of
Latino/a and Hispanic
identifiers in the United
States
 Evaluation of the internal
state of Ethnic Studies
department or disciplines
 Evaluation of
Latino/Hispanic
populations in respective
higher education
institutions in
acknowledging gaps in
Ethnic Studies disciplines
 Expansion of
policies,
disciplines, and
data reflective of
diverse and
different
populations
within the
‘Latina/o and
Hispanic
Identities’
 Expansion of
recognized
foundational
disciplines within
Ethnic Studies
 A Transnational
Approach more
diversely
implemented in
applicable
disciplines within
Ethnic Studies

84

The resources needed for this program include the Transnational Studies department
administrators and faculty who would implement the workshops and the concluding meeting.
Also, participants would be invited, which would target higher education stakeholders, including
Ethnic Studies faculty, at-large administrators of higher education institution, staff, students from
the higher education institution, and at-large and local community surrounding the higher
education institutions.
The activities and outputs for the training include a three-tiered workshop and one debrief
and action meeting concluding the training. Content of the three workshops would include: 1) an
overview of Ethnic Studies and Transnational Studies, 2) the concepts of Transnationalism,
Latino/Hispanic Identities as opportunities and challenges to the expansion of developing
disciplines such as the Transnational Studies Department, and 3) the importance of
administrative support and understanding of Ethnic Studies more broadly than the traditionally
accepted disciplines: African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and
Asian American and Pacific Islander studies.
The program seeks short-term and long-term impacts to benefit Ethnic Studies
departments and emerging disciplines such as the Transnational Studies Department that do not
fit in the traditional understanding and accepted disciplines of Ethnic Studies. The sought-after
short-term impacts include the increase knowledge of the Central American experience and
diversity in comparison and contrast to other Latina/o and Hispanic communities, the increase of
knowledge regarding the history and impact of Latino/a and Hispanic identifiers in the United
States. Another impact goal is to create the need for an evaluation of the internal state of Ethnic
Studies departments or disciplines and evaluate Latino/Hispanic populations in the respective
higher education institutions in acknowledging gaps in Ethnic Studies disciplines. The long-term
85

impacts would be designed to create change within higher education institutions related to
understanding the diverse communities that exist within Latina/o and Hispanic communities. The
changes would be in expanding policies, disciplines, and data reflective of diverse and different
populations within the Latina/o and Hispanic Identities, expanding recognized foundational
disciplines within Ethnic Studies, and transnational approaches more diversely implemented in
applicable disciplines within Ethnic Studies.
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations are constraints that are generally beyond the researcher’s control but could
affect the study results and often flow from methodology and study design choices (Simon &
Goes, 2013). The researcher’s goal in this study was to establish the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences of the expansion of Transnational Studies as a field of study. Since this
qualitative research occurred in the natural setting, it is difficult to replicate the study (Wiersma,
2000).
This study provides awareness for higher education institutions in the United States. The
findings do not represent all Transnational Studies programs and courses of studies in higher
education. According to Merriam & Tisdell (2016), limitations of documents need to be
measured. The first limitation acknowledged for this study was the availability of data from the
participating higher education institutions and the data’s true capture measures of performance
related to the study. Due to higher education institutions’ multifaceted objective function, it is
improbable that a single outcome measure will entirely reveal institutional performance (Cunha
& Miller, 2012). An additional limitation was the researcher's presence during data gathering,
which can affect the subject responses (Anderson, 2010). The first delimitation was that this
study only involved faculty and administrators in the Transnational Studies department at Los
86

Angeles University. The second delimitation was that the researcher’s background is in the field
of Transnational Studies. To reduce bias, the researcher used the bracketing process in which the
researcher’s prejudices and assumptions were bracketed or temporarily set aside (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). The last delimitation was the study opted to interview faculty and administrators
concerning the Transnational Studies Department, but only past and current faculty of the
department participated in the study.
Recommendations for Future Research
This study examined the Transnational Studies Department and the promising practices
that it has implemented in its Ethnic Studies department at Los Angeles University. The
department utilizes an interdisciplinary, transnational approach to studying the Central American
experience in the United States, in the region, and beyond.
Additional research needs to be done on Ethnic Studies departments with a transnational
approach in the United States, such as the Transnational Studies Department. Research focused
on such departments is needed to gather more data and information about the best practices of
implementing a transnational approach to Ethnic Studies and the implications for the future of
Ethnic Studies departments in the United States. As minority groups that include diverse ethnic,
national and cultural groups in the United States continue to grow in numbers, it will be essential
to understand how minority-majority groups continue to impact American society. Especially
important is how dialogue, policy, research and institutions respond and shape these
conversations around the concepts of diversity, inclusion, equity, equality, identity, and how it
will impact and question the notions of American identity and multiculturalism in the United
States.

87

Connection to the Rossier Mission

This study is connected to the invaluable mission of the USC Rossier School of
Education to create spaces of dialogue, research, and thought to enhance educational equity. The
Transnational Studies Department exemplifies how higher education institutions can expand and
implement departments that give visibility to growing cultural and ethnically diverse populations
in the United States, such as the Central American community. Visibility of marginalized but
growing populations is essential to increase value in diversity and inclusion in educational
institutions.
Conclusion
The Transnational Studies Department, with its interdisciplinary and transnational
approach, asks that Ethnic Studies is reimagined outside of the United States and its borders.
Consequently, the implication of this reimagining is to question and disrupt how socially,
politically, and academically the Latina/o Hispanic diverse communities are homogenized.
Transnational Studies allows for the transnational study of Central Americans and also of their
diasporic communities in the United States. The Transnational Studies Department highlights the
Central American community’s transnational identity, the community’s ongoing transnational
exchanges abroad, and lastly, the historical geopolitical importance to the United States which
continues to have social, political, economic and cultural exchanges with the Central American
region.
This study is important and significant to the growing Central American community.
After taking Transnational Studies courses or graduating from the Transnational Studies
department, students have a political, social, and economic effect on society. This impact is
augmented by the department arming them with the necessary knowledge, motivational, and
88

organizational tools: critical pedagogy, a transnational lens, an introduction to interdisciplinary
fields, feeling like they belong, knowing that their experience is meaningful, working and
organizing in the community, and building confidence that they can make an impact. The
Transnational Studies Department encourages the development of the aforementioned essential
tools in its students and members of the Central American community, with the goal to support
and empower the transnational Central American community.

89

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Appendix A: Demographic Survey
1. What is your ethnic/racial background
a. Latino/Hispanic
b. Central American
c. Chicana/o
d. African-American/Black
e. Asian
f. White/Caucasian
g. Middle Eastern
h. Other___________________
2. What is your gender?
a. Female
b. Male
c. Transgender
d. Gender Variant/Non-binary/Non-conforming
e. Prefer not to say
f. Other___________________
3. What is your current job title?
a. Faculty
b. Administration (Dean, Provost)
c. Department Chair
d. Other___________________

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4. Department
a. Transnational Studies
b. Chicana/o Studies
c. Latin American Studies
d. Latina/o Studies
e. Ethnic Studies
f. Other___________________
5. Number of Years Working in Position
a. 0-5 years
b. 5-10 years
c. 10-15 years
d. 15-20 years
e. 20-25 years
f. 25-30 years
g. Other___________________
6. Level of Education
a. Bachelor’s Degree
b. Master’s Degree
c. Ph.D/Ed.D
d. Other___________________

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Appendix B: Interview Protocol
Hello, my name is Stephanie Lemus and I am a doctoral student the University of
Southern California. Thank you again for agreeing and taking the time to speak with me. As you
know, I am conducting a study. This study will focus on the first Transnational Studies
Department in the nation founded at Los Angeles University in 2015. A promising practice for
Ethnic Studies, Transnational Studies has a transnational and interdisciplinary approach to study
Central America as a field of study. This study aims to highlight the Transnational Studies
Department at Los Angels University as a promising practice program and learn best practices
and solutions that may be valuable to other institutions who want to expand the field of study at
their respective educational institutions.
As part of this study, I will be conducting some interviews. To facilitate note taking, I
would like to record our conversation today via zoom. I will be the only person with access to
the recording which will be destroyed after transcription. Before we begin, you will need to sign
a consent form drafted to meet the USC human subject requirements. This document states that:
1) all information will be kept confidential, 2) that your participation is voluntary and you may
stop at any time you chose to, and 3) that the interview does not intend any harm nor offer a
reward. The interview will last no more than an hour.

When you are ready, please let me know and we can begin.

Let me turn on the recording.
Semi-structured interview questions (to be followed as needed by additional probing questions)
99

Opening Comments
Should we begin?
Thank you again for making time to speak with me today.
1. First, could you please describe your role at your higher education institution?
2. What have been your main responsibilities in your higher education institution?
3. Has your role changed during the last years?

Core Questions
Interview Question Potential Probes RQ Concept
1. How is the concept of
transnationalism important
to the expansion of
Transnational Studies?
Can you give me an
example?
1 Knowledge-
Conceptual Knowledge
• To identify
identity concepts
which shape
understanding of
the Transnational
Studies field of
study.

2. Does Transnational
Studies conflate with other
Latino/a Studies and/or
Chicana/o Studies
Departments, and how so?
Give me an example 1 Knowledge-
Conceptual Knowledge
• To identify
differences
between other
related fields of
studies, which
shape
understanding of
the need of
Transnational
Studies field of
study.

100

3. While the
program/course/department
was being formed what
was the expected value of
having Transnational
Studies at your institution?
Walk me through the
experience
2 Motivation-
Expectancy Value
• To identify
expectancy value
in understanding
need of expansion
of the
Transnational
Studies as a field
of study.

4. Now that the department
is formed, what remains or
has changed in terms of the
value of having
Transnational Studies at
your institution?
Give me an example 2 Motivation-
Expectancy Value
• To identify the
continued/changed
expectancy value
of the
Transnational
Studies as a field
of study.

5. How does having
Transnational Studies as a
field of study at your
institution support its’
goals of diversity and
inclusion?
Can you tell me more 2 Motivation-
Expectancy Value-
Diversity and Inclusion
• To identify the
expectancy value
of the
Transnational
Studies as a field
of study for
institutions’ goals
of diversity and
inclusion.

6. How does Transnational
Studies expand the value of
Ethnic Studies at your
institution?
Walk me through the
experience
2 Motivation-
Expectancy Value
• To identify the
expectancy value
of the
Transnational
Studies as a field
of study within
Ethnic Studies.

101

7. Does Transnational
Studies reflect the student
population at your
institution?
What was the situation? 2 Motivation-
Expectancy Value
• To identify the
expectancy value
of the
Transnational
Studies field of
study as
supporting
representation of
Central American
Students in
respective higher
education
institutions.

8. How did the department
garner fiscal support for
Transnational Studies as
course of study at your
institution?
What factors played a role? 3 Organization-
Funding
• To identify
organizational
funding barriers in
support of
Transnational
Studies as a field
of study at each
respective higher
education
institution.

9. What kind of funding
challenges has your
institution faced in the
past?
What have been some
outcomes?
3 Organization-
Funding
• To identify
organizational
funding barriers at
each respective
higher education
institution.

10. What kind of funding
challenges does your
institution face currently?
How do you feel about that? 3 Organization-
Funding
• To identify
organizational
funding barriers at
each respective
higher education
institution.
102

11. What kind of fiscal
challenges has
Transnational Studies as
course of study faced in
your institution?
What was the outcome? 3 Organization-
Funding
• To identify
organizational
funding barriers
previously faced
at each respective
higher education
institution in
relations to
Transnational
Studies as field of
study.

12. What kind of
addend/ongoing funding
support does Transnational
Studies need at your
institution?
Can you give me some
examples?
3 Organization-
Funding
• To identify
organizational
funding barriers
currently faced at
each respective
higher education
institution in
relations to
Transnational
Studies as field of
study.

13. Does a traditional
understanding of Ethnic
Studies create a barrier/s to
expand Transnational
Studies as a new field of
study?
What factors played a role? 3 Organization-
Institutional practice of
Ethnic Studies
• To identify
organizational
barriers in relation
to institutional
traditional
understanding of
Ethnic Studies and
its impact to
Transnational
Studies as field of
study

103

14. How can the definition
Ethnic Studies be
expanded to be inclusive of
Transnational Studies as a
new field of study?
Can you give me an
example?
3 Organization-
Institutional practice of
Ethnic Studies
• To identify
organizational
barriers in relation
to institutional
traditional
understanding of
Ethnic Studies and
its impact to
Transnational
Studies as field of
study

Closing comments
1. In closing, how would you describe the field of study of Transnational Studies into
the future ?
2. Is there anything you would like to add that I forgot to ask?
Thank you so much for your time today, I greatly appreciate it.
In addition, as I review our work today would it be o.k. if I reach back out to you if I have any
follow up clarification questions? Again, thank you very much!

104

Appendix C: Documents and Artifacts Protocol
Item
number
Document
Name
Document
Type
Document
Date
Document
Author(s)
and
Content
Description
Corresponding
KMO
influence
Content
Code and
Comment

Item
number
Artifact
Name
Artifact
Type
Artifact
Date
Artifact Corresponding
KMO
influence
Content
Code and
Comment

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study examined the promising practices utilized in the Transnational Studies Department at Los Angeles University, which focuses on studying the Central American diaspora and experience. Furthermore, this study also recognized challenges that present themselves to Ethnic Studies departments such as the Transnational Studies Department, which falls out of the foundational four disciplines recognized as Ethnic studies: African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies. Triangulation of data included: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The data analysis suggests that the Transnational Studies Department differs from the four traditional foundational disciplines through its transnational and interdisciplinary approach to the discipline and its rejection of the Latina/o and Hispanic identifier in examining and understanding the Central American community. This study can benefit faculty, administrators, and leadership from higher education institutions and at-large stakeholders seeking to develop Ethnic Studies Departments outside of the four traditionally recognized disciplines and implement a transnational and interdisciplinary approach.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Lemus, Stephanie Yamilet (author)

Core Title Transnational studies at Los Angeles University: a study of a promising practice

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2021-08

Publication Date 08/05/2021

Defense Date 06/28/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Central Americans,diversity,ethnic studies,interdisciplinary,OAI-PMH Harvest,transnationalism

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Adibe, Bryant (committee chair), Carranza Mena, Douglas (committee member), Ott, Maria (committee member)

Creator Email slemus@usc.edu,stephanieylemus@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC15710713

Unique identifier UC15710713

Legacy Identifier etd-LemusSteph-10011

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Lemus, Stephanie Yamilet

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu