Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Mexican Americans become Chicana/o Activist Educators

Using Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain s (1998) theory of identity and their concept of figured worlds, this article provides an overview of how twenty-four Mexican Americans came to produce Chicana/o Activist Educator identities. The desire to raise consciousness (teach for social justice pero con ganas) and ‘‘give back to the [their] community’’ became a very important part of this identity. Using an ethnographic interview as well as a life history interview methodology, this article specifically focuses on the participants conceptual and procedural identity production in local Chicana/o activist figured worlds (usually in colleges and universities). In these local figured worlds, the participants produced a more complex process of identity production that was both conceptual and procedural. The article concludes with broad implications for urban teacher education.