Isaac Torres, PhD | Texas State University (original) (raw)
Papers by Isaac Torres, PhD
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education, 2018
This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant profe... more This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant professors of color as they navigated the tenure-track while working in various disciplines at four-year institutions nationwide. The notion of intersectionality provided a theoretical framework to unearth how participants’ experiences were shaped. The guiding questions for the study included: 1) How do male tenure-track assistant professors of color describe their experiences in navigating academia? (2) How does intersectionality theory assist with better understanding their experiences? Findings revealed overarching themes related to how they negotiated and struggled with their various work and personal roles and responsibilities, understandings of their unique experiences within academia, and how they recreated their perceptions of self and how others viewed them given their personal and professional roles and multiple social identities. Findings reiterate that the experiences of male faculty of color cannot be unraveled from their intersecting social identities, nor from the contexts in which they live and work. Supportive environments that allowed for fluid understandings of what male faculty of color can and should be doing were appreciated and seen in varying instances, although less common.
Conference Presentations by Isaac Torres, PhD
Research project with fellow doctoral students.
This phenomenological study investigated the experience of 12 incarcerated male students who part... more This phenomenological study investigated the experience of 12 incarcerated male students who participated in an original 9-week creative, academic intervention that focused on podcasting as an instructional technology. This public pedagogical approach is a derivative of an ongoing, direct service provided to the students incarcerated at one juvenile facility in Texas, and is intended to be a pilot study to help inform further adaptations in other alternative settings. Participants completed semi-structured interviews immediately following the final class of the intervention. An open-coding process was used to identify major themes from the transcribed interviews, and to identify a common essence for the experience of generating podcasts in a juvenile detention center. Three major themes were identified: students identify an unrealized potential self, survival is integrated with schooling, students critically reflect on life and society. Results suggest that creative-academic programs that use podcasting as part of an adapted, ongoing service are feasible interventions for incarcerated youth.
Professional Presentations by Isaac Torres, PhD
Drafts by Isaac Torres, PhD
This paper utilizes Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore a genealogy for the high school dro... more This paper utilizes Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore a genealogy for the high school dropout in U.S. popular culture and public schooling. This framework attempts to situate phenomena within popular discourse as being latent constructs from common negotiations of power between individuals. The latent phenomenon becomes a discursive item, then, that generates its own power negotiations as part of its very existence. The so-called high school dropout, in this case, is not a powerless category or person. The dropout has his own social definition, personal story and voice, and—most importantly—a body.
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education, 2018
This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant profe... more This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant professors of color as they navigated the tenure-track while working in various disciplines at four-year institutions nationwide. The notion of intersectionality provided a theoretical framework to unearth how participants’ experiences were shaped. The guiding questions for the study included: 1) How do male tenure-track assistant professors of color describe their experiences in navigating academia? (2) How does intersectionality theory assist with better understanding their experiences? Findings revealed overarching themes related to how they negotiated and struggled with their various work and personal roles and responsibilities, understandings of their unique experiences within academia, and how they recreated their perceptions of self and how others viewed them given their personal and professional roles and multiple social identities. Findings reiterate that the experiences of male faculty of color cannot be unraveled from their intersecting social identities, nor from the contexts in which they live and work. Supportive environments that allowed for fluid understandings of what male faculty of color can and should be doing were appreciated and seen in varying instances, although less common.
Research project with fellow doctoral students.
This phenomenological study investigated the experience of 12 incarcerated male students who part... more This phenomenological study investigated the experience of 12 incarcerated male students who participated in an original 9-week creative, academic intervention that focused on podcasting as an instructional technology. This public pedagogical approach is a derivative of an ongoing, direct service provided to the students incarcerated at one juvenile facility in Texas, and is intended to be a pilot study to help inform further adaptations in other alternative settings. Participants completed semi-structured interviews immediately following the final class of the intervention. An open-coding process was used to identify major themes from the transcribed interviews, and to identify a common essence for the experience of generating podcasts in a juvenile detention center. Three major themes were identified: students identify an unrealized potential self, survival is integrated with schooling, students critically reflect on life and society. Results suggest that creative-academic programs that use podcasting as part of an adapted, ongoing service are feasible interventions for incarcerated youth.
This paper utilizes Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore a genealogy for the high school dro... more This paper utilizes Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore a genealogy for the high school dropout in U.S. popular culture and public schooling. This framework attempts to situate phenomena within popular discourse as being latent constructs from common negotiations of power between individuals. The latent phenomenon becomes a discursive item, then, that generates its own power negotiations as part of its very existence. The so-called high school dropout, in this case, is not a powerless category or person. The dropout has his own social definition, personal story and voice, and—most importantly—a body.