“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.”
When addressing a cultural issue, it makes sense to utilize cultural tools. Colleges want to increase the rate of undocumented students enrolling in and graduating from college. Over the past years, colleges have taken the challenge to break down institutional barriers for this goal. The state of California itself has decided to invest in retention resources and incentives like free legal consultations and Dream Resource Liaisons. And still, undocumented families struggle to enroll and succeed in college. Why? Culture of Distrust.
Despite the work being done to ameliorate institutional barriers, little is being done to address cultural barriers. Those structural hurdles that are now being lowered by schools stood strong for decades. In that time, our community learned and passed on cultural strategies to navigate neglect and harm from those very institutions. At UndocuScholars LLC, we termed this reaction to institutional harm a necessary culture of distrust.
Relying on Experts
There is so much misinformation about a complex issue like immigration. It is no wonder then that even well-meaning allies can cause harm out of ignorance. Interactions in schools where family members, neighbors, or friends suffered indignity, loss of resources, and even threat of deportation create a mythos in the community. One common example: A counselor incorrectly tells an undocumented student that their status makes it illegal to enroll in college. That misinformation impedes that student from pursuing their goal and then it informs their family… who inform their neighbors… who inform their friends. A similar process can repeat when any community member has a negative encounter within a school.
Engendering Trust
As anthropologists, it was important for our founders at UndocuScholars LLC to tackle barriers on three cultural fronts. First, to help schools engender trust for the immigrant families they serve. This includes strategies to become safer campuses and also training for their administration, faculty, and staff to avoid common pitfalls like misinformation and (even well-meaning) microaggressions. Second, to show immigrant families that schools are working to become safer by training their staff and combatting misinformation. And finally (for now), to contextualize the real material value that a college education can bring to their entire community.
Taking the Next Step
California schools are making strides in community accessibility by tackling some institutional barriers. They are funding amazing resources and incentives like free immigration consultations, easier access to financial aid, and Dream Resource Centers. This is great, but undocumented students are not engaging with them as they can be. Schools are seeing that the “build-it-and-they-will-come” model does not work well in this community. Which is overtly apparent in the low enrollment, retention, and financial aid application rates of this population. Resources go unused when undocumented immigrants learn it’s safer to avoid them. This is why UndocuScholars LLC was created, and why we take an anthropological approach. It is time we take the next step in reconciling the relationship between our immigrant communities and the institutions tasked to serve them. It is time for a cultural shift.
