Voces: Understanding Latino-Centric Culturally Responsive Methodological Approaches With Rural Latino Families and Communities

Abstract

This paper centers on the journey of Latino researchers and their efforts through culturally responsive qualitative methods to shed light and elevate the voces [voices] of rural Latinos and their daily struggles, as well as their resilience, and triumphs as individuals, in their families and communities. The paper also serves as an illustration of how Latino-Centric methodological approaches often encompass the role of the researcher as an active participant. It also includes the importance of the role of researchers as Latino-Indigenous scholars as they navigated being an active participant and elevating nuestra gente [our people] who were often marginalized and overlooked by society. Moreover, the paper provides a window to understanding the rural realities Latino communities have faced, including poverty, immigration inequity, familial dynamics, familial and educational relations, pandemic realities and other social, cultural, health and political obstacles in rural America.

Introduction

Latino communities in the United States have a long, complex, and rich cultural and linguistic history, rooted in Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and Latin American ancestries, and shaped by ongoing patterns of migration and immigration. The Midwest region has continued to experience Mexican and Latino migration and immigration trends for 100 years dating back to the early 20th century from cities and towns throughout the heartland (Congressional Research Service, 2012). However, the largest regional migration trends have been experienced in the last four decades. What Aponte & Siles (1994) called the “Browning of the Midwest” has become commonplace. Rural midwestern communities that were at one point predominately White have experienced increasing numbers of immigrant families. At the center of this rural migration trend are Latinos and in particular Latinos from Mexico. This recent migration process over the decades has not only impacted Latino families, but it also has a significant ecological impact. Entire human ecological systems including educational systems, community systems, and other systems have adapted to Mexican migration and immigration trends from the great plains to the great lakes. Further documented by Millard et al. (2004) in their book Apple Pie and Enchiladas, the Mexican settlers were not always welcomed in some communities and met with resistance in their daily lives. Social and political tensions at the national level became center stage in the rural Midwest causing more rifts and barreras (barriers) for Mexican and other Latinos in the heartland. While on the other hand positive change has begun to grow out of the corn maize fields where decades of cultural discontinuity in some cases have become cultural awareness and cultural responsiveness throughout these communities (Viramontez Anguiano, 2023). Other rural regions including the Southeast and Mountain West have also experienced continued Latino migration and immigration (Lichter, 2012; Vasquez et al., 2008). Those Latino communities and their families have also experienced similar challenges that the Midwestern rural Latino families have endured. However, regardless of the rural region Latino families and their collective communities have moved adelante [forward] and demonstrated an enduring resilience. In the modern era their resilience and ingenuity have transformed whole communities, in rural regions vibrant downtowns now you see panaderias, tiendas, [bakeries, general stores] other Latino based businesses and general businesses that are owned by Latino families (Viramontez Anguiano et al., 2025). With this history, the purpose of this research and methodologies is to raise the voces [voices] of nuestra gente [our people or Latino people and their communities] due to their marginalization in many aspects and contexts of daily life. It is not intended to be an exclusive term but instead represents a group of people and their collective struggle. Throughout the paper Spanish words are used and translated to highlight the cultural richness, linguistic realities of this community and better reflect their voices.

Qualitative methodological approaches have been utilized to document the plight of Latino communities for over 100 years in the United States from historical archiving to ethnography to modern focus groups and digital photo-based approaches. However, the reality of documenting the voces [voices] of Latino communities through a culturally responsive Latino-Centric lens has not been common in the last century especially related to Latino families in educational and community contexts. Latino-Centric in this study is defined as the contextual space of individuals of Latino origins recognizing their complex social-cultural heritages and histories in the United States. Thus, through this cultural and linguistic lens the Latino researchers were able to provide a Latino based culturally responsive methodological platform to illustrate the lives of Latino communities in rural regions. Despite decades of research with different types of methodological approaches it is important to consider who was conducting the research. In the current study the authors draw on their own research, spanning more than 30 years in the field, to illustrate the ways in which Latino-Centric methodologies document the lives of Latino rural communities in the U.S. Specifically, this research aims to center on the journey of Latino researchers and their efforts through different culturally responsive methods to shed light and elevate the voces of rural Latinos and their daily struggles, resilience, and triumphs as individuals, in their families and communities. The paper also aims to provide an illustration of how Latino-Centric methodological approaches often encompass the role of the researcher as an active participant (Mora & Diaz, 2004) which is defined as the researcher not only present to document the circumstances of the pueblo [the people] rather also to join la comunidad [the community] and advocate for their well-being.

Indigenous communities and their ways of being have historically been marginalized and misrepresented in research. Their ways of knowing and understanding reality have been questioned. As shared in the literature, in response to this marginalization, new research paradigms known as Indigenous Research Methodologies, Decolonizing Methodologies or Culturally Responsive Methodologies were born (Berryman et al., 2013; Chilisa, 2012; Kovach, 2009; Smith, 2012; Wilson, 2008). Specifically, Latino Indigenous scholars utilized their Indigenous voices and perspectives to engage in culturally responsive research methods to bring to light the decades of strengths and challenges for the Latino community. Some of those scholars have included the classic work of Delgado Gaitan (1992) to the modern research conducted by Delgado-Romero et al. (2018), Rodriguez et al. (2011), Vazquez-Montilla et al. (2000). These research paradigms encompass historically held views about what constitutes social reality and how people come to know it. Furthermore, the nature of knowledge and its sources, as well as values and ethics in research are being re-examined, critiqued and addressed from the perspective of Indigenous communities’ worldviews. At the heart of Indigenous research approaches is relational responsibility and understanding to las comunidades [communities] of Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing. Chilisa (2012) further observes that “[r]eflexivity is a strategy which helps to ensure that the over involvement of the researcher is not a threat to the credibility of the study” (p. 168). She adds,

Reflexivity in this context refers to the assessment of the influence of the researcher’s background and ways of perceiving reality, perceptions, experiences, ideological biases, and interests during the research [since] the researcher is the main data collection instrument [and the one who] analyses, interprets and reports the findings.

Another reality is that the Latino-Indigenous authors consider themselves to be “servant scholars.” These can be defined in a manner where scholars, although they may be part of a university system, highly identify as community scholars who are actively working with underserved communities. Therefore, a “servant scholar” combines intellectual pursuit with a commitment to serving with others. It describes individuals who use their knowledge and skills to benefit their communities, often in educational or leadership roles (Viramontez Anguiano et al., 2010, 2025). These identifications did not come lightly; rather, it includes a great responsibility and weight to not only document the stories and voces of la gente [voice of the people] but to serve with them side by side through community and educational outreach. What follows are the stories of the authors’ methodological approaches to document and elevate the voces of the rural Latino pueblo [communities].

El Trabajo [the work]and Positionality

This paper describes qualitative approaches that the authors have utilized over the last 30 years to elevate the voces of the rural Latino pueblo documenting the struggles, resiliencies and triumphs of la gente. Moreover, the paper provides a window to understanding the rural realities that Latino communities have faced, including poverty, immigration inequity, familial dynamics, familial and educational relations, pandemic realities and other social, cultural, health and political obstacles in rural America. This section also illustrates the complexity of the intersectional-positionality of the Latino authors as they navigated the rural context as Latino-Indigenous researchers and active participants. Through the use of different types of qualitative methods they bring to the forefront critical issues impacting rural Latino communities.

Oral Histories

Los cuentos de nuestros antepasados han sido parte de nuestra cultura Latina y futuro [The stories of our ancestors have been part of Latino culture and the future]. The cuento [story] approach is tied to oral history methodologies. Oral histories date back for centuries in the Latino culture, from the traditional open fire to the modern day rural home, church, school hall or community center. Oral histories have taught the younger generations the wisdom of the elders about family, culture and life and have provided pathways through troubled times. McDaniel et al. (2022) found that oral histories consistently captured the suffrage tied to social justice. They stated, “in qualitative research, oral histories have been utilized to capture complex and unique experiences among Latinos…thus, oral histories have become a suitable method for researchers to understand and appreciate the diverse experiences of Latinos that may have otherwise gone untold” (p. 52). In essence for Latinos the context includes their social and cultural context, and the oral histories serve as a tool to unpack their journeys. For example, one author can remember his tio (uncle) sharing his cuento and stating “tienes que saber como corre el agua. Y si no sabes, busca alguien quien te pueda ayudar.” [You have to know where the water flows. If you don’t know, find someone who will help you]. This passage was not only related to nature and survival rather it was a connection to social justice and how an immigrant Mexican man who migrated to the United States and was often discriminated against in the late 1940s discussed the turbulent era and despite his resilience that he would have to seek out help to navigate racially charged waters. The current authors have conducted different qualitative types of research including oral histories with Latino families, schools and communities for decades focusing on listening and learning about their experiences. Qualitative researchers have utilized oral histories as a methodological approach to document stories. For one author, an example of this approach was when he spent three years documenting the lives of immigrant Latino families in rural North Central Indiana in familial, educational and community contexts. This author spent his days well into the night visiting Latino families and their communities listening and learning throughout their oral histories about their lives while grilling nopales [cacti] and meats. He was coined the cowboy with a bike and not a horse; the families welcomed him into their homes, communities, churches and other spaces to bring to life the resilient voces of the people.

A woman shared about the importance of generational leadership in serving the Latino community:

I believe we should start training them when they are young so that they get used to it (being leaders). I believe we should all work together on this...the church, the schools, the parents; it is a multidisciplinary job.” Older Latina leaders were serving as mentors and examples for younger Latinas and were training them to become leaders within their community. For example, one of the younger women was following the Latina leaders' path by giving presentations in churches to promote educational and social programs (Viramontez Anguiano and Lopez, 2013, p. 26)

Another man stated:

I have been here for over 20 years, and we have encountered prejudice, discrimination, racism at every level; however, our community has endured. Whenever we need the Latino families, business[es], church[es], newspaper, and radio to rally around a need or a cause, Latinos support us by the hundreds. Although there are some Americanos organizations and individuals who may not want us to be here, I have found the majority of Americanos to be supportive of our community. The mayor and other prominent leaders in the city and the county have been open about how we make the community strong through our work and our culture (Viramontez Anguiano et al., 2013, p. 16).

These quotes are an illustration of the struggles that Latino families faced in rural Indiana. However, the voces acknowledge the strengths of the community and their efforts to work together and collaborate with local officials and White Americans to build an inclusive community. The quotes demonstrate the voces of the pueblo in stressing the importance of developing younger Latino leaders as not the leaders of the future rather leaders of today. Not only did this author document the cuentos, but he was also an active participant and a servant scholar, and helped in the development of community-based programing that aided immigrant Latino families as it relates to immigration issues, community factors and educational outreach with the Latino families and their youth to apply to colleges and secure scholarships.

Ethnography

Ethnographic methods are characteristically implemented in explorations that relate to culture in groups or communities. This approach is one of the oldest qualitative methodologies that has been used with el pueblo. Creswell (1998) defined ethnography as a qualitative design where researchers describe and interpret the shared and learned patterns of values, beliefs, and behaviors of a particular cultural group, often through participant observation, active participation and interviews in their natural setting. Another aspect of this classic approach is to produce a narrative account of the culture, capturing the richness and complexity of human experiences. This approach is one of the oldest qualitative methodologies that has been used with el pueblo. Also utilizing Spradley’s (1979) classic work on ethnographic methodologies and the importance of grounded theories the authors used this method to understand the social, cultural, and political phenomena of Latinos in rural context. The authors have continued to use this multilayered approach to better understand Latino families and communities and their overall well-being. Ethnography has served as a qualitative vehicle in illustrating beautiful stories and traumatic truths. The third author shows this in her narrative inquiries of emerging Latino adults in the West. One student shared:

Today I feel lost, I can’t hear my Abuela’s voice anymore because all I hear are White voices. And there is no way I am calling my Mom, I don’t want to worry her. She works so hard. And my Dad just moved in with his girlfriend. Who am I? Why am I here? Oh yea, I want to get an education to be better and do better. Ok, my Abuelo…he said I can do this. If my Mom can work two jobs, raise me and my sister… I can do this. If my Abuela could get up early to go to work, and then clean houses on the weekends I can do this (Martinez, 2021, p. 65).

Another student stated:

My mom didn’t get to go to school. But she learned how to read and write and owns her own business. It’s like we, Mexicans, know how to do all of this but nobody gives us credit for all that we do…we can read legal stuff, we can run businesses AND clean houses, and work in the fields. We have skills that aren’t valued here (Martinez, 2021, p. 68).

The power of the culturally responsive ethnography is further demonstrated in an effort to elevate Latino’s voces in the Midwest through the following passage:

I have mostly worked with immigrant Latino communities in southern Minnesota advocating for their rights. First it was people from Mexico. Now you see more and more Central Americans, especially young people. Sometimes I am helping them with basic things such as finding doctors and translating. Other times it is more serious related to their work rights at the meat packing plant and immigration rights. Over the years the town has become more open to Latinos however, the politics at the national level can have a major influence on how they see us (Viramontez Anguiano, 2024, p. 3).

The authors have served as the research instrument in carrying out the ethnographies in several rural Latino communities. Furthermore, coupled with theories including ecological theories (Bronfenbrenner, 1989), social capital theories (Portes, 1998), and other critical and intersectionality theories (Freire, 1970; Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005), the authors have been able to further explain the richness of the Latino experience in a rural context. Moreover, they have continued to serve as culturally responsive active participants through difficult social and political changes in the United States and transnationally.

Focus Groups

Culturally sensitive research approaches create methodological strategies and techniques that allow space for the construction of knowledge through the experiences, lives, and voces of Latinos (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Elenes et al., 2001). Focus groups are an approach that is compatible with engaging in conversaciones [conversations] that allow researchers to minimize the distance between themselves and the participants. This grants multivocality where multiple voices are heard during the research process (Madriz, 2000). Therefore, focus groups empower the participants to be the inspiration in the research setting (Jowett & O’Toole, 2006; Madriz, 2000).

As Indigenous insider authors, we believe the act of conducting research can be a transformational process in which we challenge assumptions and make meaning of new information. Our work with culturally responsive focus groups provided us with la bendición [the blessing] to honor the experiences of participants and to create research environments that were familiar and home to our participants. As we conducted our research, we conducted focus groups from a culturally responsive perspective that are also grounded in critical theories (Freire, 1970; Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005) and, specifically, critical race theory (CRT). A critical frame emphasizes researchers’ work “with people and not on them” (Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005, p. 889). This critical lens on focus groups was very much a reality in one of the earlier studies that the second author completed in rural eastern North Carolina. Down East was the tobacco region of the Tarheel state and immigrant Latino families worked in the tobacco and poultry industry for over two decades. What follows is an example of how the second author utilized culturally responsive focus groups to better understand the intersectionality of wellness and nutrition, immigrant Latino families and the backdrop of the pressure for those families to adapt to United States food habits and its mainstream customs. One Latino woman stated:

They {her children} asked me to prepare meals that they eat at school, and I prepare different meals for them. I have to give him the same meals that are prepared at school. I prepare Mexican style soup, and he does not like it. He wants to eat sausage and ham. He does not like the meals I prepare. Sometimes I cook meat soup, or what we call cocido, and I cook it just as I did in Mexico, with potatoes and carrots, but my children only eat the meat and not the juices (spicy stock), carrots, or the potatoes. (McArthur et al., 2001, p. 321).

Through the dynamic focus groups the author was not only able to learn about the families health and wellness but the discussion on food habits created a synergetic environment where the group shared about much more than food habits and wellness. The focus groups served as a safe space where the families could be open about their daily lives in the rural Southeast. This safe space in research was developed by the author spending time in communities bringing to light the voces of nuestra gente in an often racially challenging region of the United States. Focus groups create cultivated safe spaces to unveil silenced truths in communities of color. The rapport within a focus group enables interactive discussions and requires the creation of a mindful environment with underserved communities (Acocella & Cataldi, 2021; Kitzinger, 1994).

Semi-structured Interviews

The semi-structured interview methodology has often been said to be one of the most flexible qualitative techniques. It is characterized by using open-ended questions that provide the researcher with opportunities to adapt the question depending on the context. Moreover, the researcher can follow up with more specific questions to further delve into better understanding human experiences (Brinkmann, 2020). As a result of its flexibility this methodological approach is one of the most utilized approaches in qualitative research and is common with Latino research. The current authors have used culturally and linguistically responsive semi-structured interviews as a method to elevate the voces of la gente. For the second author, with the opportunity to pivot with fluidity in the field research setting the semi-structured interview has served as an excellent tool. For example, the second author has code switched linguistically from standard Spanish to what he called “Ranch Spanish” in order to better connect with the respondents to create trust. He defines “Ranch Spanish” as a dialect that he learned in childhood on the ranchos en Nuevo México [ranches in New Mexico]. With roots in rural Mexico in the modern era this dialect has become more common in Mexican cities and in Mexican neighborhoods in the United States. The linguistic significance of this dialect is that it creates a bridge to better communicate with la gente. Thus, creating an environment of trust with el pueblo [the community] that would have not been accomplished with standard Spanish. So much so, that in Indiana the rural communities would call him puercos y vacas [pigs and cows]. Similarly, in Iowa and Minnesota the communities would refer to him as a maestro vaquero [cowboy teacher]. This cultural and linguistic space as the Latino-Indigenous researchers over the decades has helped the current authors to better document and elevate the voces of the Latino pueblo. Moreover, through the semi-structured interviews the researchers have been able to adapt the data collection process to meet the need of the context of the families and their communities. For the second author flexibility to pivot was the most prevalent during the pandemic. He was one of the few family scientists conducting in person rural field work at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The daunting task of conducting a regional rural research study while ensuring the health and safety of the Latino community was a challenging experience as a qualitative researcher. The semi-structured approach provided an opportunity to conduct individual interviews in meat lockers, outside of windows during the Midwest winters, and other outdoor and indoor locations. However, more importantly documenting the voces of la gente and their daily struggles to keep their families safe was critical. Also, the pandemic’s daily economic, political, health, educational and social factors that these families faced while most of the country sheltered in place brought on a new meaning:

I was in a coma for a month, in a coma, one month, and one week entirely in a coma, sleeping. That was in May, in June I was really strong, and all of the people there when I was infected, they all died, I was the only one who saved myself. A lot of people died, it’s barely been a month, and they stopped the therapy, they would give it to me here in the hospital, but from there they sent me to the hospital. Only two weeks to give therapy for the basics, how to shave, put my shoes on, change my clothes, but only with one hand, this hand I could not move, it was completely numb. Also, with a gadget they would put my socks on, for shoes they gave me therapy, little by little it was here that I began to recuperate more in therapy. It was there that I lost all of my savings, apart from the insurance paying their part, I had to pay my part. I paid a lot of money. A lot there, my savings of 20 years, there it all went, ambulances everything. I have healed a lot because I couldn’t move, and when I was in the hospital where they gave me therapy, they would stand me up and I wouldn’t last even 5 seconds standing, I would fall, I couldn’t walk, not even 15 steps. (Viramontez Anguiano et al., 2022, p.16).

As the servant scholar documenting and elevating the voces of la gente during the pandemic would prove to be difficult as the intersectionality of not only the pandemic but also race, immigration factors, familial, economic struggles, educational and political aspects. The relationship the author had with the Latino community provided an avenue to learn about the intense experiences that occurred during the pandemic. Semi-structured interview approach distributes the power relationship between interviewer and interviewee as equalized as possible, and where the interviewee gets plenty of opportunity to tell their story in their own way. All of which is heavily reliant on the connection between author and la comunidad. This creates a platform for the interactional exchange of dialogue; a relatively informal style; a thematic, topic-centered, biographical, or narrative approach; and the belief that knowledge is situated and contextual, and that therefore the role of the interview is to ensure that relevant contexts are brought into focus so that situated knowledge can be produced (Mason, 2002).

Testimonios

Testimonios, rooted in the tradition of giving voice to underrepresented communities, differ from more general qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and oral histories due to their explicitly political and emancipatory nature. As such, testimonios not only have been shown to be culturally responsive with rural Latinos rather this methodological approach explicitly incorporates Latino Indigenous voces of the respondent and the Latino research. Delgado Bernal et al. (2012) explained that testimonios were different from traditional qualitative methodologies as “testimonio differs from oral history or autobiography in that it involves the participant in a critical reflection of their personal experience within sociopolitical realities…At the heart of testimonios is the collective suffrage if one listens and learns about one’s life” (p.364). Rendón (2009) further described this approach of testimonios about “writing what we know best, familia, barrio, life experiences. Through testimonio pedagogy we are able to hear and read each other’s stories” (p. 3). Villenas (2019) describes testimonios as a method to describe the counter narrative to the mainstream interpretation of Latino communities. Moreover, Menchu and Burgos-Debray (1983) credited for being some of the first scholars to use testimonio methods in the United States, bring to life the importance of honoring the experience of the respondents and their stories (Barrios et al., 2024) encourages the use of testimonios research with families and their communities. They stated, “as families in the United States continue to diversify and the experiences of socially marginalized families become more common, a methodology designed by and for marginalized community members may begin to offer a more intricate perspective” (p. 256).

The current authors have continued to document testimonio voces of the Latino comunidad. As illustrated in the following voces of an immigrant Latino father and his family as documented in the Great Plains region of the Midwest during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors have continued to advocate for immigrant Latinos in the Midwest and West.

Despite over the years of being bothered by police officers, immigration swipes at the plants and other forms of discrimination throughout the region, our town is now in different times. Our new police chief is open to the Latino community, they even hired a Latino police officer and the chief shows that he cares…During the pandemic the city including the police, the schools and other agencies have reached out to the Latino community and the other cultures to ensure everyone and their families are safe” (Viramontez Anguiano et al., 2024, p.12).

Through the testimonios the authors have elevated the voces of la gente. The testimonios methodological approach serves as a canvas for the respondents through a Latino-Indigenous lens. Unfortunately, not all rural communities have strived towards inclusiveness before the pandemic, during COVID and now the post pandemic era. Regardless of the rural community’s social, cultural, and political realities, research can be a conduit to give voice to la gente in the struggle for equity.

Multi-Qualitative Approaches

Recording the complexities of the human condition have always been the challenge for the qualitative researcher from the ancestral oral histories (Leavy, 2011) to modern photovoice (Nykiforuk et al., 2011) approaches to gathering data. For the authors from lessons of Spradley (1979); Delgado Gaitan (1992) and other ethnographers and qualitative researchers, the current authors have also carved out through decades of fieldwork that there is no one approach to document the voces of la gente. Rather the best way to hear the voces is to use multi-qualitative approaches (Viramontez Anguiano, 2023). These researchers have collected data in the diverse rural Latino landscape utilizing ethnography combined with testimonios, oral histories, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, observations to the modern focus group. In essence multiple qualitative approaches further layer the quality and richness of the data while at the same time unpacking the strengths and harsh realities of the rural Latino pueblo. As always, the authors have concentrated on staying true to their Latino-Indigenous tradiciones [traditions] in this process to ensure cultural and linguistic responsiveness.

A case in point, one of the authors has spent 4 years with 5 Latino fathers and leaders of their rural communities from the banks of the Big Sioux River a stone’s throw away from the Iowa and South Dakota state lines to northern Iowa where one can see Minnesota documenting their cuentos. Through countless hours of developing mutual trust this author refers to these five men as los cinco [the five] (Viramontez Anguiano, 2024). He has documented the voces of los cinco related to immigration, the pandemic, poverty, family life, familial and educational contexts, Latino Indigenous farming practices, educational and community outreach and other rural social, cultural, political, educational and economic realities for Latino families and communities. Similar to a carpenter who uses different tools depending on the work, the authors have utilized a toolbox of multiple-qualitative approaches to better understand the cinco’s daily realities and change in a rural context.

Discussion

For decades, qualitative methodological approaches have been used with Latino families and their communities throughout the United States. The importance of documenting las historias de nuestra gente [the histories of our people] is critical in the road to elevating their voces. The current paper draws on more than 30 years of culturally responsive research by the authors to critically discuss the benefits of several culturally responsive qualitative methodological approaches that have been used to help elevate the rural Latino pueblo. This was not only accomplished by the authors explaining why these methods were effective, rather the authors further provided examples of the voces of the rural Latino pueblo over the decades through their qualitative studies. We also emphasize the importance of the role of researchers as Latino-Indigenous scholars as they navigated being an active participant and elevating nuestra gente [our people] who were often marginalized and overlooked by society. The role of the Latino researcher and the use of culturally responsive research methods work in conjunction to build trust and develop relationships with la gente to engage in quality research and active participation. Furthermore, through this Indigenous lens and countless hours of field work and serving el pueblo the authors were able to use a qualitative methodological landscape to uplift rural Latino comunidades in the Midwest, West, and Southeast. Critical themes that have emerged over the decades have included a better understanding of rural poverty, immigration inequity, familial dynamics, familial and educational relations and social, cultural and political realities in rural America. This work has served as a conduit to better hear the voces of la gente. Further, this research within the context of the Latino experience through the use of Indigenous methodological approaches can help to bring to light what is distinctly Latino. Moreover, this research also provides a platform to uplift all marginalized voices by utilizing culturally responsive methodologies.

Strengths and Challenges

A strength of this paper was that it was one of the first studies in the United States to explore Latino-Centric perspectives in methodological practices that enhance rural Latino community experiences. Another strength of the study is that it provided a window to understanding the role of the active participant through the Latino-Centric Indigenous researchers voices. The authors utilized their role as culturally responsive active participants to serve side by side with the different rural Latino communities and their efforts to adapt to the social-cultural rural landscape. A third strength is that the authors utilized rich qualitative data that was collected over 30 years to help describe the essence of the voces of rural Latinos in the United States and to serve as a vehicle to chronicle the complex role of the Latino-Centric researcher and how they utilize different methodologies to bring those voces of la gente forward.

Another key strength was the use of a Latino-Centric lens across various qualitative methodologies, which highlighted the richness and resilience of Latino cultural and linguistic histories. This approach included oral histories that emphasized cultural continuity; semi-structured interviews that offered flexibility and contextual sensitivity within diverse Latino settings; and testimonios that powerfully captured the social, cultural, political, and economic realities of rural Latino communities. The focus groups reflected the collective nature of Latino life and created safe spaces for participants to share experiences beyond the immediate research topics. Finally, the integration of multiple qualitative methods provided both a broad understanding of Latino voces and, through this methodological meta-lens, a nuanced view into the everyday lives of rural Latino communities, shaped by time, place, and context.

A key challenge of the study is that, while the use of diverse qualitative methods offered a rich and in-depth understanding of rural Latino communities, the findings are illustrative rather than generalizable to all Latino populations. Additionally, although the researchers engaged with various rural regions across the United States, the study did not include urban or suburban Latino families as points of comparison within those same regions. This limits the ability to contextualize rural experiences within the broader spectrum of Latino family life across different geographic settings.

Recommendations and Future Research

The recommendations were based on the 30 years of the authors’ research and service to the community. The first recommendation to consider when elevating the voces of the Latino pueblo through different qualitative methodological approaches is to listen and learn from the Latino families and the community to better understand their daily realities. This will ensure more culturally responsive richer data. Another recommendation is that universities and professional social and behavioral sciences organizations should consider creating workshops and sessions that promote learning about Indigenous methodological approaches especially with new scholars. The hope would be that future generation scholars would utilize this Indigenous lens when conducting research with Latino communities and help uplift las voces del pueblo. This would help offset the challenges of past research conducted with Latino communities that utilized a mainstream lens. A recommendation for future research is to consider utilizing testimonio ethnographies with modern qualitative approaches, including photovoice (McKimmy et al., 2023) and others, to document la gentes daily lives. Future research should explore how to use indigenous methodologies combined with quantitative approaches to explore large populations of el pueblo.

Conclusion

The aims of the paper were to illustrate how Latino-Centric culturally responsive methodological approaches have helped elevate rural Latino families and communities. Moreover, this paper documented how the authors through an Indigenous focus were able to bring the triumphs and challenges of rural Latino communities through a respectful manner across different states over the last 30 years. Furthermore, in the tradition of active participation the current authors have continued to work with Latino communities as they have faced challenges and demonstrated tremendous strengths. Moreover, this paper contributes to the literature on how multiple qualitative approaches can serve as effective tools to help document the diversity of rural Latino America. In summary this paper illuminates the power of how rural Latino communities have been resilient despite often facing a baraja [deck of cards] of numerous social, political, cultural and economic obstacles in the United States. Rather the rural Latino families and communities have continued to move adelante [forward].