"This State Is Racist ...": Policy Problematization and Undocumented Youth Experiences in the New Latino South

• In Event: 52.066 - Foucault, Postfoundations, and the Complexities of Contemporary Educational Experiences

Abstract

Undocumented immigrant youth from Central America are arriving in the U.S. at alarming rates. The result of this influx of youth and their delayed integration into U.S. society raises new dilemmas in U.S. public schools. The current policy discourse analysis builds upon the emerging area of research on undocumented youth experiences in K-12 schools and how such youth make sense of the racialized policy discourse in a southern state. The study utilizes Webb’s (2013) theoretical perspective of policy problematization coupled with a Foucauldian-inspired critical discourse analysis (Vavrus & Seghers, 2010; Wodak & Meyer, 2009) to map the policy terrain in the south, and the ways in which policies create negative living conditions for undocumented youth.

Authors

• Sophia Rodriguez, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Timothy Monreal, University of South Carolina - Columbia