“You see the whole tree, not just the stump:” Religious fundamentalism, capital and public schooling

ABSTRACT

This article draws on data from a larger collective case study which focused on the transition to college for Latino/a students at a prestigious, public, predominantly White institution. Here, I focus on one student and analyze interview and field note data to examine this transition for Jasmine, a fundamentalist Christian who identifies as a Mexican–American. Specifically, I apply the notion of familial capital (Yosso, 2005, 2006), which is based on critical race theory, to Jasmine's case. Through an examination of the ways in which her fundamentalist background and her Liberal Arts College education interact, I discuss implications for the use of familial capital and call for further study of fundamentalism and public education as well as for a nuanced expansion of concept of “multiculturalism.”

Keywords:

• multicultural/diversity education
• critical theory
• educational practices
• religion
• capital

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Jasmine for trusting me with her story and for teaching me much. I would also like to thank the editorial team and the anonymous reviewers for their keen insights into earlier drafts. Thank you to Simone Schweber, Paula McAvoy and Amato Nocera for their helpful feedback. The shortcomings of this article are, however, my responsibility.

Notes

1. The use of the word “liberal” in this context is not a reference to political leanings; rather, it refers to the type of education described and promoted in the 2011 AAC&U report discussed here.

2. All names, including names of people, programs, institutions and geographic locations, are pseudonymous.

3. The term “Latino” is commonly used for all Latino subgroups, and Mexican-Americans are commonly the largest of these subgroups (Gándara & Contreras, 2009, p. 8). Importantly, the term “Latino” includes people from many different racial backgrounds, and thus does not refer to one “race.” As Gándara and Contreras (2009) explain, despite the great diversity within the group labeled “Latino,” most US Latinos “encounter surprisingly similar educational challenges” (p. 7).

4. Flores-Gonzalez's (2002) “school-kid” is an all-encompassing and cumulative identity that “represents an image of how these youths view themselves and how they want to be viewed by others – as good kids” (p. 11). This cumulative identity includes family, school, and community identities, “such as the obedient and dutiful daughter, the all-American school athlete, and the church-boys and -girls” (p. 11).

5. In academic circles, it is increasingly more common to include religion and fundamentalism in notions of multiculturalism. See, for example, Boudreau (2009), Stonebanks and Stonebanks (2009) and Sensoy (2009).

6. In Christianity, the term “testimony” can be used to refer to one's story of becoming a Christian, or to the ways in which God blesses him/her, or to the ways in which one lives in accordance with his/her beliefs. Here, Jasmine uses the term to refer to how she believes God has blessed her (i.e., acceptance into MU).

7. For a detailed account of this incident, see Minikel-Lacocque (2013) and Minikel-Lacocque, 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julie Minikel-Lacocque

Julie Minikel-Lacocque, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater. Her research interests include college access and the college experience for underrepresented students as well as race and racism in schools. Her other publications include a recent article in the American Educational Research Journal and a forthcoming book with Peter Lang Publishers.