Muxerista agency in North Carolina: Intentional acts of resistance towards access to higher education
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Abstract
This study outlines how the mother/daughter duo’s (participant groups of a mother and daughter) leverage muxerista agency, or intentional acts of resistance to (re)shape inequitable and anti-immigrant educational policy structures, in alliance with immigrant-serving community-based organizations to navigate access to higher education. Engaging in muxerista agency, the mother/daughter duos disrupted anti-immigrant and racist policies while also drawing from their collective power as sources of strength. Alongside community partners, participants offered a liberatory and transformative practice for undocumented immigrant students and students in mixed-status families who are navigating the restrictive access to higher education in North Carolina that is rooted within anti-immigrant legislation. The significance of this study shows how organizations can be a powerful resource in a politically conservative state and hostile anti-immigrant climate. Implications from muxerista agency show that educational practitioners and community-based organizations must name the already limited resources for undocumented communities, acknowledge that they are being even more restricted in this environment, and engage in their own measures of resistance and advocacy to continue supporting undocumented students and families.
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