Initial Reflections on Fieldwork in a Mixed-Status Community

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

This poster presents reflections from an initial period of fieldwork conducted in a mixed-status immigrant community in New York City. Mixed-status families include members who are residing in the U.S. without legal resident status, members applying for U.S. citizenship, and U.S.-born citizens. The presentation draws from a multi-sited ethnographic study that examines how U.S-born and undocumented children in mixed status Mexican families understand the significance of their citizenship status across home and school settings. The goal of the study is to illuminate how and when citizenship status is discussed, contested, and redefined, and to explore how this evolving understanding shapes children’s participation within families and schools. The purpose of the poster presentation is to articulate the particular methodological opportunities and challenges that arise when conducting research in a mixed-status community. The presentation will shed light on a phenomenon that has remained largely invisible to educational researchers: how undocumented and U.S.-born children develop understandings about citizenship status during everyday conversations and the ethics involved in tracking the experiences of immigrant children in public and private settings.

Author

• Ariana Mangual Figueroa, Rutgers University