Community-Engaged Learning for Immigration Justice: Building Solidarity through Praxis

Abstract

This article argues for the use of community-engaged learning to teach about migration in anthropology. Using community-engaged learning centers justice-based praxis and builds solidarity by working to dismantle the unjust structures creating migration crises and inhumane conditions for migrants. We analyze our partnership between an anthropologist, a leader of a non-profit organization providing affordable legal services to local migrants, and a collaborating student as a case study. The design of our partnership, the construction of the migration seminars Bennett teaches, and an emphasis on justice-oriented outcomes for both the students and the community center our anti-racist, anti-classist approach to building solidary. We argue that community-engaged learning address anthropology’s (re)current crises around our colonial legacies not only epistemologically and methodologically but also pedagogically.