Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Minding the warnings of Validvia (2005), this essay is a performative writing piece exploring the limits of hybridity as theory and as material reality. Hybridity, too often written in high theory without “teaching”exemplars, is ripe for writing moments that attempt to capture, not “reality,” but how identities are enacted in real moments and how those identities have material consequences in the real word. This essay braids together the author’s Latino hybrid identity with that of a Mexican singer trying to crossover into U.S. popular culture. In the end, both of their identities speak to the relations between body and discourse and the difficulties of enacting and legitimizing hybridity. Dr. Shane Moreman is an assistant professor at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Moreman has published his work in several anthologies and is part of a thriving corpus of Latino/a Performance Studies scholars in the Communication field. This coming spring he will be teaching a short course on performance ethnography and tourism in conjunction with Universidad Xochicalco in Ensenada, Mexico.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The United States is failing to develop the math and science interests of our youth. As a result, we face a crucial shortage of workers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas. Through vocational anticipatory socialization (VAS) adolescents develop interest in various vocations and, in general, learn about the world of work (Jablin 1987; 2001). In this research, we investigate academic and related career interests arguing that by the time students are in high school, a large number have already chosen not to pursue math or science, effectively eliminating their chances of entering STEM-based careers. Qualitative data from 38 adolescent focus groups (241 students) point to factors influencing their interest in math and science subjects and related careers. The resulting model depicts gender, cultural/socioeconomic, experiential, and personal factors (self-efficacy, exposure, resilience), and importantly, the sources and significance of VAS messages, toward the development of academic-career pursuits.