Conceptualizing Immigrant Legacies: How Familial Histories of Immigration Shape Educational Sense-Making Among Latinx Students

• In Event: Who's Telling the Story? Interrogating Narratives of Latinidad Across Geopolitical Educational Contexts

Abstract

In this paper, I leverage data from a year-long ethnographic study that explores how familial histories of immigration shape the higher education aspirations and trajectories of Latinx students. Through interviews, participant-observation, and content analysis of college application essays, I find that the children of Latinx immigrants exhibit complex educational sense-making that is rooted in their lineage of immigration. I coin the term immigrant legacies to describe the process in which familial histories of immigration are passed down through cuentos (stories), dichos (sayings), and enseñanzas (teachings) and are then utilized by the descendants of immigration to make sense of themselves, their experiences, and their worlds. Utilizing Ann Swidler’s definition of cultural repertoires, or a set of knowledge, skills, and styles, I argue that immigrant legacies establish a unique toolkit that guide the children of Latinx immigrants as they confront decision-making (Swidler, 1986). Furthermore, the complexities of immigrant histories, from how parents arrived to the US to current circumstances surrounding citizenship status, help provide a nuanced perspective into the higher education choices that Latinx students make.
In addition, using Southeast Los Angeles as the focal environment, I interrogate how a seemingly homogenous population is actually further distinguished through differences in immigration histories. Despite Campana High School (pseudonym) having a 99% Latinx/Hispanic student body, pan-ethnic generalizations of Latinx students become contested through careful observation of immigrant legacies that have long-lasting impacts for students’ educational trajectories. I find that Latinidad is both hyper-visible and invisible in the space, which affects how students make sense of themselves, their experiences, and their worlds. Thus, this paper explores the intersection of immigrant legacies and geographic context as their symbiotic relationship shapes students’ sense-making processes in complex ways. Moreover, the college application process is only one site where immigrant legacies are present and the term has potential to speak to a variety of fields including sociology, education, ethnic studies, and more.

Author

• Leslie Patricia Luqueno, Stanford University
  Presenting Author