Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance

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Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 Resilience and Struggle: Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance Sergio Fernando Juarez University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Chicana/o Studies Commons, Communication Commons, and the Latina/o Studies Commons Recommended Citation Juarez, Sergio Fernando, "Resilience and Struggle: Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1350. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1350 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Resilience and Struggle: Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Sergio F. Juarez August 2017 Advisor: Bernadette M. Calafell ©Copyright by Sergio F. Juarez 2017 All Rights Reserved iii Author: Sergio F. Juarez Title: Resilience and Struggle: Exploring the Experiences of Undocumented College Students through Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance Advisor: Bernadette M. Calafell Degree Date: August 2017 ABSTRACT In an increasingly hostile political and social climate undocumented students in the United States continue to struggle to find space for themselves within universities. This research project undertakes a goal of illuminating how undocumented students make sense of their experiences on university campuses despite facing difficult climates at their respective universities. A goal of this project is to better understand how the experiences of undocumented students are shaped in contrast to institutional policies. Universities with inclusive excellence policies, a new iteration of multicultural diversity policies, intended to create practices that make college campuses more inclusive spaces. The perspectives of undocumented students are examined through interviews conducted from dialogical performance and Chicana feminist perspectives. Dialogical performance from the perspective of Dwight Conquergood as a method is bridged with Chicana feminist theories of Gloria Anzaldua, theories of Nepantla, New Tribalism, Spritual Activism , and the Coyolxauhqui Imperative , are bridged to. The bridging of these concepts heeds the calls by Chicana feminists to create a more inclusive research process and to develop anticolonial scholarship. Through these perspectives this project sheds light on the experiences of undocumented students on university campuses, specifically the challenges they face and their strategies for overcoming difficult situations. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my professors and peers in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Denver for their intellectual and moral support. I am grateful for my Dissertation Committee members Dr Kate Willink and Dr. Erin Willer for their patience, understanding, and guidance. I am grateful my Committee Chairperson Dr. Debora Ortega for her emotional support, pushing me intellectually, and for giving me an opportunity to be a Graduate Teaching Instructor for the University of Denver Latino Center for Community Engagements and Services (DULCCES). I would especially like to thank Dr. Bernadette Marie Calafell, my Dissertation Advisor, who has provided me extensive personal and professional guidance, and has taught me a great deal about Critical Communication Scholarship. As a teacher and mentor she has taught me more than I could ever give her credit for. I am thankful for Paula Martin, her spiritual support, unlimited love, and friendship. I am also thankful for Dr. Ramona Beltran for providing me with challenging learning opportunities, guidance, and knowledge working on her research projects. I would like to thank Dr. Michael Lechuga who welcomed me with open arms to Denver and our Communication program. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Latina/o Graduate Association, and also support of Adrienne Martinez for her support founding the association. Nobody has been more important in achieving this milestone in my career than my family, I am thankful to my parents Leticia and Antonio Adame, and my sisters Shannon, Jeannette, and Mayra for their unwavering support, without them, I would not be here today. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One 1 Insider Research in the Undocumented Context 4 Brief Context of Undocumented Students in U.S. 8 Barriers to the Academy 9 State Initiatives to Increase Access 15 Federal Level Initiative 19 A Chicana Feminist Methodology 20 Significance of Dialogical Performance 22 Research Question 25 Significance of Study 26 Chapter Two 29 Establishing Space: Resistance and Challenging Power 30 Chicana Views of the Research Process 38 Nepantla 41 New Tribalism 45 Spiritual Activism 46 Coyolxauhqui Imperative 49 Pedagogy of Home 52 Communication Studies and the Undocumented Context 55 Institutional Practices Impacting Undocumented Students 60 Social Networks Impact Access, College Choice 62 Financial Support 62 Inclusion and Exclusion 63 Chapter Three 66 Conceptual Framework 66 Chicana feminism and Methodology 66 Dialogical Performance 72 Reflexivity and Positionality 76 iv Creating Space 78 Bridging Chicana Feminist Theory and Dialogical Performance 81 Reflexive Methodology 82 Research Design 85 Research Setting 86 Sampling Selection and Recruitment ………87 Data Sources 91 Data Analysis 92 Chapter Four 93 Participant Introductions 93 Barriers to Education 107 Applying to College 107 Career Services 108 Financial Assistance 118 Lack of Mobility 121 Drivers Licenses 122 Study Abroad 131 Families Torn Apart 133 Pressure, Guilt, Mental Anguish, and Depression 136 Chapter Five 141 Nepantla : In Between Worlds 141 Living in the Shadows 145 Documentation 148 Micro-aggressions 154 Spiritual Activism 158 New Tribalism 162 Pedagogy of Home 167 Coyolxauhqui In Practice: Reflexive Methodology 176 Research Positionality 181 Chapter Six 185 v Summary of Findings and Analysis 188 Research and Policy Implications 194 Future Research and Directions 198 Bibliography 200 Appendices 220 Appendix A 220 Appendix B 224 Appendix C 226 Appendix D 227 vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION, CONTEXTUAL LANDSCAPE Immigration is a national concern, particularly around the issue of undocumented people. Its implications continue to shape the political and social dynamics of the United States. In this dissertation, I examine the experiences of eight undocumented students attending three universities in the Rocky Mountain region. These students’ families migrated to the U.S. for a variety of reasons but primarily on the premise of seeking better financial opportunities. Undocumented students are residents who are not citizens or do not hold a current permanent resident visa; still, through the executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), some undocumented residents are eligible for a temporary stay and authorization to work (Garcia and Tierney 2740; Perez Huber et al. Dacamented 1). But without the ability to retain permanent residency status, many residents are forced to live in the shadows. Unable to engage government officials out of fear of detainment and deportation, undocumented residents face daunting challenges in the U.S. after already having undergone adversity in their countries of origin. Undocumented students experience an uphill battle achieving a college degree. Dwight Conquergood states, “among most oppressed people in the United States today are the ‘undocumented’ immigrants the so called ‘illegal aliens,’ known in the vernacular as the people ‘sin papeles,’ the people without papers, indocumentado/as they are illegal because they are not legible” (“Performance Studies” 35). Conquergood points to 1 thechallenges undocumented residents face, for example, lacking documentation in the U.S.makes it extremely difficult for youth to continue past high school and receive a college education. The graduation statistics for Latinx students are alarming. Per Perez- Huber et al. in their article, “DACAmented in California the Impact of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program on Latina/os,” out of every one hundred Latinx students, an average of fifty-eight students will graduate high school with a diploma, ten students will graduate with a bachelor’s degree; three students will achieve a graduate degree, and 0.2% Latinx students will graduate with a doctorate (1). These statistics are alarming for Latinx students and are even bleaker for undocumented students, showing that out of every one hundred students without documentation, thirty-four will graduate high school, three will receive an undergraduate degree, less than one will receive a master's or professional degree, and nearly zero will earn a doctorate degree (Perez-Huber et al. 2). A lack of institutional support and legitimacy through institutional practices deeply impact undocumented students. Latinx students are attending colleges and universities at much
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