63.031 - Children Negotiating Everyday Borders: How the Anthropology of Education Contributes to Research on (Im)Migrant Children in Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Educational researchers often foreground the linguistic-cultural differences that immigrant students bring to school, overlooking the salience of legal and cultural citizenship for identity formation and classroom participation. Moreover, they usually frame (im)immigrant children as "students,” as "(English) language learners" or "emergent bilinguals". This narrow framing obscures aspects of students’ complex experiences with important implications for learning. This session leverages anthropological evidence to present more holistic ways of representing and discussing immigrant children’s experiences in a post-truth era. We ask: what is the value of an anthropological perspective on childhood to understand what it means to be an (im)migrant student in school? Collectively, the papers address how this methodological approach contribute to ongoing discussions about equity and belonging in educational scholarship.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 1: Education and Place, Space, Time

Chair

• Lesley Bartlett, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• (Re)Imagining Education: Brazilian (Im)Migrant Children's Experiences of Schooling in the United States - Gabrielle Oliveira, Boston College

• Understanding Mixed-Status Siblings' Educational Pathways Across Geopolitical Borders - Sarah Gallo, The Ohio State University

• Liminality, Peer Relations, and Ethno-Gendered Bullying Among Children in Schools - Inmaculada Maria Garcia Sanchez, Temple University

• Two Straight Lines: Immigrant Students' Talk During Schooling Transitions - Ariana Mangual Figueroa, Rutgers University

Discussant

• Marjorie E. Laine (Faulstich Orellana), University of California - Los Angeles