Itzanya Bravo

MA Teaching + Learning in Art + Design

Echándole Ganas: Pláticas of Belonging + Resistance in Art + Design

This thesis centers the experiences of Mexican American students, alumni, faculty, and community-based artists navigating art and design higher education in the United States. Grounded in the question ¿Dónde está la gente latina?—this research examines how representation and culturally sustaining practices shape Mexican American students' sense of belonging and creative agency in a country with systems built on white supremacy.

Using pláticas as the primary methodology—a relational, conversational approach rooted in community and storytelling traditions—alongside autohistoria-teoría and Chicana Feminist Epistemology, this study draws on eight in-depth pláticas with Mexican American creatives across art + design higher education and community-based art spaces. Frameworks including Borderlands theory, Nepantla, and Culturally Sustaining Arte Pedagogies are what ground the analysis in this research.

Three themes emerged from the pláticas: the persistent lack of representation in curricula, faculty, and institutional structures; cultural resistance as a creative and generative force; and the critical role of community-built spaces in sustaining belonging when institutions fail to provide it. Findings reveal that Mexican American students have always carried the cultural wealth, creativity, and resilience to thrive in these spaces—but have been asked to do disproportionate labor to belong in art + design spaces and institutions not designed for them.

This research argues for art and design education that moves beyond symbolic inclusion toward structural accountability—centering mirrors, not just windows, for future generations.