The Multi-Scalar (De)Construction of Rural Latinidad and College (In)Opportunities in California’s San Joaquin Valley

• In Event: Race, Rurality, and Education: Envisioning Educational Equity in Racialized Rural Spaces

Abstract

Objectives
This paper focuses on the racialization of rural Latinx youth from migrant farm worker backgrounds in California’s San Joaquin Valley agricultural region, highlighting the salience of place in shaping racialization and opportunity. It specifically asks: (1) How do rural Latinx youth understand the construction of Latinidad in California’s San Joaquin Valley? (2) How does this construction affect their lives, worldviews, and college (in)opportunities?

Theoretical Framework
This study employs a geographies of race framework (Delaney, 2022), which posits that race and space are co-constructed; that is, racial meanings are shaped through spatial practices. A key feature of this framework is the role of scale, which helps explain how race operates differently at various spatial levels. This study considers how rural Latinx youth perceive their racialization considering multiple scales including their neighborhoods, local economies, and educational environments.

Methods & Data Sources
This study used pláticas methodology (Fierros & Deglad Bernal, 2017) (i.e., conversations) to center the voices and spatial experiences of 16 rural Latinx high school seniors from California’s San Joaquin Valley. Youth discussed how they understood their racialization and its impact on their lives and educational paths. Data were collected via Zoom, spanning 90 to 120 minutes, and then analyzed through open and axial coding. Guided by the geographies of race framework, the analysis revealed how race, place, and scale shaped students’ identities, lives, and opportunities.

Results
Neighborhood Divisions
Rural Latinx youth described stark racial and spatial divisions in their communities, where white families lived on the better-resourced West Side and rural Latinx farm worker families lived on the underfunded East Side. Youth detailed how the East Side lacked access to clean water, quality housing, and public services—conditions they viewed as intentionally constructed. Youth emphasized that without access to basic necessities, pursuing higher education was an unrealistic expectation.

Political Economies
Youth also spoke about how their families settled in these areas due to the availability of agricultural labor, a racialized labor market largely filled by undocumented Mexican migrants. Youth understood that jobs in the fields were not shared with whites, who were typically supervisors or owners of the land. The youth rejected harmful stereotypes and emphasized the necessity and importance of their parents’ labor, as well as the need to persevere in education and life.

College (In)Opportunities
The rural Latinx youth felt socio-spatially confined when considering post-high school options. Many were funneled into field work or military service, with college perceived as less accessible. Limited educational resources, military recruitment targeting, and geographic isolation led to feelings of doubt and “being stuck,” reinforcing the belief that success was only possible by leaving their rural communities.

Significance
Scholars have called for the deconstruction of race and Latinidad in educational research (Chávez-Moreno, 2024). By employing a geographies of race framework, this article demonstrates how rural Latinx youth make sense of their racialization by drawing on their relationships with white individuals in the San Joaquin Valley region and referencing multiple geographic scales to process and contest their racialization and limited educational and economic opportunities.

Author

• Mayra Puente, University of California - Santa Barbara