“Hay poder en numeros”: Understanding the Development of a Collectivist Latinx Parent Identity and Conscientizacao Amid an Anti-Immigrant Climate

Abstract

Background/Context Given our current anti-immigrant context, it is pertinent that we understand how (un)documented parents who are members of a parent-organized and parent-initiated group come to develop a collectivist Latinx identity within oppressive and marginalizing structures and policies. Purpose/Objectives This study analyzes the processes and actions of a Latinx parent group that led to the establishment of a collectivist identity and the activation of a collective conscientizacao/critical consciousness amid an anti-immigrant climate. Research Design Based on a 2.5-year critical ethnography, we analyzed data that included in-depth interviews, participant observations, photographs, and documents. In doing so, we were able to center the experiences of a parent organizing group in an elementary school in the Midwest during a period of heightened immigrant surveillance and anti-immigrant legislation. Findings/Results Our research suggests that critical consciousness was activated among this group in three stages: (1) Stage 1 describes the actions/strategies FUV took to develop a collective critical consciousness; (2) Stage 2 details the ways in which FUV members activated (i.e., enacted) their collective critical consciousness; and (3) Stage 3 discusses FUV's ongoing efforts to nurture a collective critical consciousness. Conclusions/Recommendations This study combats oppressive, marginalizing, and prevailing academic and public parental involvement discourse, thus having direct implications for how school officials center and support (un)documented Latinx parents and families in schools.