Negotiating Intersecting Identities: Examining the Experiences of Students Within Christian Student Groups

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Interfaith Campus Communities and Connections

Abstract

This ethnography focuses on two Christian student groups at a large university in California to understand how groups support intersectional identities and draw symbolic boundaries by using intersectionality and symbolic boundaries as frameworks to guide the research. This work can help highlight the role of intersectional identities within student groups and the environments that they foster. Findings suggest that entering these communities can be challenging, that identifying as “God’s children” above all else is important for group membership, and that some students provide each other the support that the organization does not provide. It is important to consider what kind of experiences students have within these groups and how students can continue developing and exploring their identities throughout college.

Author

• Mabel Eunice Sanchez, University of Southern California