“Staying is Not Neutral”: Latinx Doctoral Persistence as Praxis and Leadership

This study introduces Persistence-as-Praxis, a conceptual framework that reimagines doctoral persistence for first-generation Latinx students at predominantly White institutions as a relational, institutional, and political process—rather than simply an individual trait. Using critical autoethnography and the Formative Influences Timeline (FIT) methodology, the researcher—a Mexican American, first-generation, veteran, and neurodivergent doctoral candidate—positions lived experience as a valid site for theory generation. The framework identifies five interconnected constructs: structural conditions as context, relational recognition and legitimacy, critical reflection as meaning-making, praxis enacted under constraint, and the co-emergence of persistence and leadership identity. Ultimately, the study asserts that institutions—not individual students—hold primary responsibility for doctoral attrition.