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Undocumented in the U.S. South: How Youth Navigate Racialization in Policy and School Contexts
Undocumented in the U.S. South: How Youth Navigate Racialization in Policy and School Contexts

by Sophia Rodriguez

Rutgers University Press, 2025

ISBNs

Cloth: 978-1-9788-2883-4

Paper: 978-1-9788-2882-7

eISBN: 978-1-9788-2884-1 (ePub)

eISBN: 978-1-9788-2885-8 (PDF)

About the Book
Undocumented in the U.S. South is a rare look into the everyday realities of undocumented youth in K-12 public schools. In an anti-immigrant policy context, youth and their families navigate historical and current legacies and realities of segregation, racial discrimination, and inequality. With a deep three-year ethnographic study, hundreds of hours of observational research, interviews, and policy analysis, Sophia Rodriguez traces the lives of undocumented youth across multiple public school settings. Her research underscores how these youth are racialized through state policies, school and organizational practices, and everyday interactions with educators and peers. As the first study of its kind to combine this unique framework for analysis, Undocumented in the U.S. South sheds light on the challenges youth face in their everyday struggle to belong. Rodriguez invites us to consider youth experiences as central knowledge for improving educators’ awareness and school practice, while promoting policies that are humanizing and rooted in youth experience.
About the Author
SOPHIA RODRIGUEZ is an associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in New York City. She is the coauthor of Race Frames in Education: Structuring Inequality and Opportunity in a Changing Educational Landscape.
Reviews
"Undocumented in the U.S. South fills a gap in what is known about the educational experiences of undocumented and recently arrived Central American immigrant youth in the South. The rich, meaningful stories within make the book come alive."— Emily R. Crawford, coeditor of Educational Leadership of Immigrants: Case Studies in Times of Change

"Rodriguez provides a timely and much-needed analysis of immigrant youths' experiences navigating education, racism, and inequality in the South."— Lauren Heidbrink, author of Migranthood: Youth in a New Era of Deportation

Tags
Critical Issues in American Education, Secondary, Racism in education, Affirmative action programs in education, U . S South, Noncitizen children, Undocumented, Children's Studies, Race & Ethnic Relations, Southern States, Discrimination (incl. Prejudice Racism Colorism etc.), Immigration & Emigration, Levels, Schools, Education, Social Science
Open Access Information

Label: University of Maryland

License: CC BY-NC-ND