Speech or Silence: Undocumented Students’ Decisions to Disclose or Disguise Their Citizenship Status in School

Abstract

This article provides ethnographic evidence of the ways in which undocumented students make decisions about when to share or withhold their migratory status during conversations with peers and teachers in one elementary school. It argues that an analytic focus on how and when elementary-aged students talk about migratory status during everyday school activities can deepen our understanding of the educational experiences of a population that often remains invisible to teachers and educational researchers. The findings suggest ways in which public school and university educators can foster educational equity and inclusion for undocumented students.

Embodying the breach: (In)securitization and ethnographic engagement in the US

“…I have witnessed, for example, disconcerting moments when undocumented students have become anxious upon being asked to identify their country of origin during classroom activities (Mangual Figueroa, ). During one such activity—conducted with nine‐ and ten‐year‐old students—a teacher said the names of various countries in Latin America and asked students to stand if they were from those places.…”

How Can English Language Educators Support and Work With Undocumented and DACA Students in Higher Education?

“…This trust can be developed in the classroom when class sizes are small and the curriculum is based on a culturally relevant pedagogy. Initially, developing assignments in which immigrant students reflect, contextualize, and analyze their experiences in relation to state or national policies can be a better approach to get to know your students’ background than asking them to speak up about their countries of origin—especially if the instructor has not yet learned that information (Mangual Figueroa, ). Building trust also means to be conscientious about the language we use to refer to immigrants’ legal status.…”

A Time to Keep Silence and a Time to Speak

“…In Mangual Figueroa's study of elementary‐aged girls’ talk about citizenship at home and school, she found that children as young as ten and eleven years of age make strategic decisions about when to disclose or disguise their legal citizenship status (Mangual Figueroa ). In school, these choices were informed by students’ sense of the risks attending talk about legal status as well as pedagogy and curriculum.…”