“They treat us like animals...”: Latinx immigrant youth perceptions of school and community racial climates

• In Event: Latina/o Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable 3: Violence, Immigration, and State Power

Abstract

Racial climate is an integral part of youths’ sense of social belonging. Newcomer immigrant youths’ perception of racial climate is an increasingly important topic to study. While most literature on racial climate focuses on school, we focus on newcomers’ youth perceptions both within and out-of-school contexts. Based on three years of fieldwork, we find differences in how newcomer Latin/x immigrant youth perceive the racial climate in their racially/ethnically diverse school(s) and a community-based organization. We find that youth perceive the racial climate in their school(s) and CBO through three different aspects of their racialized identities: their racial/ethnic identity, immigrant status, and language status. We end with our and students’ recommendations to create more racially/ethnically inclusive social institutions for immigrant youth.

Authors

• Sophia Rodriguez, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Humanities

• Melissa Ortiz, New York University