Overview

In Learning to Lead, Jennifer R. Nájera explores the intersections of education and activism among undocumented students at the University of California, Riverside. Taking an expansive view of education, Nájera shows how students’ experiences in college—both in and out of the classroom—can affect their activism and advocacy work. Students learn from their families, communities, peers, and student and political organizations. In these different spaces, they learn how to navigate community and college life as undocumented people. Students are able to engage campus organizations where they can cultivate their leadership skills and—importantly—learn that they are not alone. These students embody and mobilize their education through both large and small political actions such as protests, workshops for financial aid applications, and Know Your Rights events. As students create community with each other, they come to understand that their individual experiences of illegality are part of a larger structure of legal violence. This type of education empowers students to make their way to and through college, change their communities, and ultimately assert their humanity.

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9781478026303

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Reviews

“Jennifer R. Nájera guides readers through deep storytelling and profound emotional connection to each of the undocumented college students featured in this beautiful book. The compelling stories of their full humanity demonstrate so powerfully that ‘education’ happens in families, life, community colleges, extracurricular spaces, organizing spaces, and in the classroom. It is a must-read for anyone interested in college students, education, or migration.” -- Leisy J. Abrego, coeditor of * We Are Not Dreamers: Undocumented Scholars Theorize Undocumented Life in the United States * “In this accessible, compelling, and analytically rich book Jennifer R. Nájera places families and communities at the center of undocumented youth activism. She shows that what happens inside the spaces and institutions of the university is inextricably connected to the broader familiar and society context these young people are inhabiting. I do not know of any other text that provides a campus-based qualitative study of undocumented student activism. This important and timely book is ideal for teaching in both undergraduate and graduate courses.” -- Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales, coauthor of * The Latinx Guide to Graduate School *

Author Information

Jennifer R. Nájera is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and author of The Borderlands of Race: Mexican Segregation in a South Texas Town.

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