The Formation of a Code of Ethics for Latina/Chicana Scholars: The Experience of Melding Personal Lessons into Professional Ethics.

The article focuses on a code of ethics for Hispanic American women scholars. A discussion of how the lessons of upbringing of Hispanic American women shape professional ethics in them is absent in most academic discourse on Hispanic Americans. Yet, as the authors have reflected on the contributions of their female relatives, they have begun to appreciate the emotional and intellectual work of the women in their lives. The authors wish to vindicate and validate the knowledge and expertise of these women whose contributions have so often been ignored. This paper seeks to explore the ways in which ethical lessons of mothers of Hispanic American women, affect their professional lives and choices. The authors find that objectifying the Hispanic American communities for purposes of research agendas goes against the very ethics informing our practice. Historically, research on these communities has sought to document their downward slide, pointing to innumerable deficits or reporting the latest rates of incidence of teen pregnancy, educational failure, one-parent homes, teen mortality and domestic violence.