Spatial Experiences of Rural Latinos: Geography, Power, and College Choice in the Borderlands of Texas

• In Event: Supporting the Higher Education Access and Success of Rural Students With Additional Marginalized Identities

Abstract

In the media and literature, the backdrop to discussions about rural college access are predominantly focused on understanding the role that geography plays on students’ postsecondary outcomes and decisions. A growing body of contemporary work in this area suggests that rural students are prone to face unique college-going disadvantages when compared to their urban counterparts (Adelman, 2002; Byun et al., 2015; Koricich et al., 2018). Where educational attainment gaps for rural students appear most prevalent are in rural geographies that have high rates of historical poverty and large populations of Latinos (Hillman, 2016; Tickamyer et al., 2017). Considering the educational attainment gaps between rural and urban, as well as rural White and rural Latino, that may be exacerbated by geographic context, it is important to explore and interrogate what implications the rural place may have on shaping Latino youths’ college-going experiences and decisions.

This study aims to complicate the notion of “choice,” which is often examined from an individual level (Yamamura et al., 2010; Saenz, 2010). To do this, I considered place and the multiple ways that choice manifests within a rural area. I paid particular interest to the level of autonomy that the sample of rural Latino youth have in their college choice decisions. Guided by Núñez’s (2014) intersectional framework that focuses on how structural oppression operates on a person’s multiple identity memberships and shapes their opportunities in postsecondary education, I used a qualitative ethnographic approach to explore how history, politics, economics, and social factors in the Rural Borderlands of South Texas interact and influence college choice for Latino youth. I find that the college choice decisions of Latino youth in this rural region have to contend with and are shaped by issues related to immigration, policing (law enforcement), language, and poverty. Findings from this study deepen the field’s understanding about how multiple intersecting identities associated with being rural and Latino shape college choice, particularly in racialized rural areas where predominantly Latino populations reside. It also provides needed nuance and re-imagining of rural postsecondary educational attainment (in)equity as it continues to expand in national policy conversations.

Author

• Vanessa A. Sansone, University of Texas - San Antonio