Youth perceptions of national change in middle school: how critical reflection supports different models of nationalism

Abstract

While ample research has examined how youth in the United States define ‘Americanness’, little attention has been given to how youth imagine the nation of the future, particularly in light of ongoing immigration. This study investigates how middle school students envision necessary national reforms, and how these views reflect different models of nationalism. To explore how these perceptions are informed by experiences in school and the local community, I analyze ethnographic and student and staff interview data from two middle schools in California located in vastly different sociopolitical communities. I find that, (1) exposure to school curriculum that encourages critical reflection—including a critique of national inequality and hostility toward immigrants—influences whether students support individual or structural national reforms, and (2) students’ degree of critical reflection shapes their endorsement of expansive vs. restrictive nationalism. I conclude with implications for educators to support student sociopolitical development and critical reflection.

Keywords:

• Critical consciousness
• nationalism
• national identity
• middle school
• immigration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 I use ‘American’ throughout this manuscript to refer to the common way people in the United States refer to their national identity, while acknowledging that the term is problematic in disregarding other nations and nation-states in the Americas.

2 Post-colonial scholars have troubled the concept of the ‘nation’ as it applies to indigenous groups in the United States and other countries. ‘Indigenous nationalisms’ (and nations), they argue, pre-dated the existence of modern state nationalisms. Other scholars challenge the very notion of ‘nations’ in an increasingly globalized world and for its imprecise usage in theoretical and empirical studies (see Tishkov, 2000). This study acknowledges these critiques while maintaining the significance of studying nations and nationhood as a ‘category of practice,’ that is, how individuals and public entities use nations as a category to ‘structure perceptions, to inform thought and experience, to organize discourse and political actions’ (Brubaker, 1996, p. 7).

3 All names and locations in this study are pseudonyms.

4 No notable differences in national aspirations were found by race or immigrant status within or across schools.

5 Only one (White) student at Castro believed there should be greater immigration restrictions and supported a border fence between the United States and Mexico to discourage illegal immigration.

6 In November 2015 and March 2016, coordinated terrorist attacks killed 130 people in Paris and 34 people in Brussels. ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Stanford Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (Diversity Dissertation Research Opportunity Grant) and the Stanford Graduate School of Education (Dissertation Support Grant).

Notes on contributors

Cristina L. Lash

Cristina Lash is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research explores schooling mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, particularly how schools shape student ethnic, racial, and national identities. Her recent work focuses on civic education in an increasingly diverse society.