Identity, Social Activism, and the Pursuit of Higher Education: The Journey Stories of Undocumented and Unafraid Community Activists New edition

Drawing on interviews with college students and graduates, this study examines the process undocumented students in American higher education institutions deal with in disclosure of their legal status, their path to college access, the impacts of social activism on their legal status, and how their identities are shaped by the current immigration policy climate. It details the journeys of these students; how they gained information about their college choice, the institutional support they received during the process, the experiences of graduate students, and how students dealt with microaggressions and depression due to their legal status; their coming-out process, how they make meaning from disclosure, and responses from others; the parallel of the Chicana/o Movement of the 1960s with the immigration youth movement and the ways social activism is used to empower communities; the limitations of the foundational college student identity theories and their applicability to undocumented students, the concept of legal violence, and how students resist it by being unafraid; their experiences with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy; and recommendations for higher education and K-12 institutions. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)