Seeking the "Truth" in the Stories We Tell: The Role of Critical Race Epistemology in Higher Education Research

Abstract

This article focuses on how critical race theory informed the author's epistemological perspective and methodological approach as she analyzed Mexican American educational narratives and formulated her identity as a scholar. Using a storytelling technique employed in CRT, the author weaves together her position as the translator of participants' stories with her conceptualization of the formation, reproduction, and resistance of master narratives. She then illustrates the process of uncovering master narratives and counter-narratives in two Mexican American Ph.D. participants' life narratives in an effort to present multiple truths about educational attainment. The article concludes with considerations for researchers wishing to employ critical race epistemology.