Clarifying Community: College Students’ Meaning-Making Through Community Cultural Wealth

• In Event: Networks and Support Systems in Higher Education

Abstract

Grounded in Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, this study explores how college students make meaning of “community,” a less examined dimension of CCW. While CCW research has documented the assets racially minoritized students draw upon, prior studies often conceptualize communities as fixed and primarily racial or ethnic. Using narrative inquiry and its three dimensions—temporality, sociality, and place—we analyzed interviews with fourteen students representing diverse social identities and backgrounds. Findings reveal that students’ definitions of community shift across time and place and are especially linked to resistance capital when addressing stereotypes or social justice. By foregrounding community, we extend CCW scholarship and offer implications for research and practice in asset-based approaches to higher education.

Authors

• Hyun Kyoung Ro, Korea University

• Lisa Delacruz Combs, University of North Texas