Abstract
The problematic term “citizen science” continues to circulate in scholarly circles and points to challenges with how researchers may conceptualize who takes part in community-engaged inquiry. Emerging from experiences with a research team intentionally comprised of students who are undocumented, political asylees, and those belonging to mixed status families, we seek to center how immigration status can inform justice-oriented research processes. By focusing on students experiencing liminal status, we note both the structural barriers they face as well as their agency. Through a critical reflexive process, we outline four key tensions that address skills, authenticity, inclusivity, and possibilities relevant to mixed status teams conducting community-engaged research. By exploring how citizenship status impacts research at epistemological and applied levels, we arrive at more inclusive and just possibilities for community-engaged research.
Highlights
Students and Community-EngagedEven as scholars push for more critically and community-based alternatives to traditional research approaches, persistent assumptions can still limit what we conceive of as possible
We argue that our recommendations are relevant to research focused on liminal status groups, but can create a more inclusive approach to community-engaged research that explicitly addresses citizenship status
It is important to note here that the lessons shared in this article are very much a work in progress and situated in our unique context. They represent our current thinking in the midst of an ongoing research project
Summary
Even as scholars push for more critically and community-based alternatives to traditional research approaches, persistent assumptions can still limit what we conceive of as possible. “citizen science” can bring about the erasure of noncitizens engaged in such efforts, thereby relegating them to living “in the shadows” despite concerted efforts to center their voices (Enriquez and Saguy 2016). Further it implies a narrower conceptualization of citizenship and democratic participation that cannot account for more creative, transgressive, and flexible forms of engagement (Kim 2018). Drawn from our current project focused on the experiences of undocumented teachers, we note four tensions that community-engaged research teams may work through in their pursuit of justice. The article presents a critical and inclusive vision of community-engaged research that centers students with liminal status
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