"In México, I was someone, but here I am a nobody:" an immigrant mother and daughter moving beyond love to facilitate new ways of being

• Published in: International journal of qualitative studies in education Vol. 35; no. 6; pp. 655 - 677
• Main Authors: Bauer, Eurydice, Sánchez, Lenny
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03-07-2022; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Altruism; Caring; Coping; diversity; Educational Environment; equity; Foreign Countries; Hispanic American Students; Immigrant; Immigrants; Interpersonal Relationship; love; Mexican Americans; Mothers; Public Policy; Resilience (Psychology); Resistance (Psychology); Social Attitudes; Social Bias; Teacher Role; United States; Mexico
• ISSN: 0951-8398; 1366-5898
• DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2022.2025478

In this article, we present parallel narratives of an immigrant youth and her mother who have had to maneuver continual and abrupt interruptions in family cohesiveness and other daily experiences due to anti-immigrant policies and the materialization of being cast beyond love. We highlight how they created spaces of self-transformational love and coalitional love to resist measures of exclusion and redraw how they participated in a divided world. We also argue how educators must encourage these spaces of love and work against practices that contribute to the alienation and suppression of immigrant students and their families. Rather, educators must put a human face to these human struggles and break free from any pretense that this work should solely occur outside the bounds of a school's borders.