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Abstract
This essay provides a space for understanding the experiences of the undocumented college student. Following Moraga and Anzaldúa's “theory of the flesh,” a student and a professor come together as allies to recognize and honor an enfleshed voice that is often unheard or ignored. In three separate parts, the writers provide a space for the readers to grow through deeply understanding the daily reality of students across the US who deal with the fears and frustrations of being undocumented and the ways that academia might exacerbate those fears and frustrations.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to both Leda M. Cooks and John T. Warren who have been both rigorous in their demands and generous in their understandings of this essay.
Notes
1. Our university is a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institute. Among other qualifications, this federal designation requires that a university must have at least twenty-five percent of its full-time student enrollment be Latina/o. Currently, the county surrounding this university is one of the nation's largest producers of agricultural produce. As such, one out of every five jobs in the surrounding San Joaquín Valley is based out of agriculture (CitationRodgers). Many Latinas/os at this university and from the local San Joaquín Valley area have some relationship to agriculture.
2. In California, we have a state assembly bill, AB 540, which makes it possible for undocumented students (students without proper citizenship documentation) to attend a college or university and pay in-state tuition and fees. As explained by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund organization (“AB540—Access to College for All”), the students must meet three requirements: (1) they must have attended a California high school for three or more years, (2) they must have graduated from a California high school or have received the equivalent to a high school diploma (e.g., a GED), and (3) they must provide an affidavit to the California public college or university where they are attending or planning to attend. The affidavit must state that they meet all AB 540 requirements and, if they are undocumented, that they have filed an application to adjust their immigration status or will do so as soon as they are eligible.
3. While there are a large number of news articles on the discrepancies between graduation rates between White students and students of color, for this research article I pulled the latest article with the latest statistics from The Chronicle of Higher Education (Gonzalez).
4. Moreman and Calafell explain “latinidad” to be a pan-Latina/o identity or an affect of cultural commonality experienced by Latinas/os due to overlapping histories and intersecting realities.
5. While the Latina/o students make a large numerical presence on our campus, the Latina/o faculty and staff do not have a large numerical presence. Our Latina/o students represent thirty-four percent of the student body, while our Latina/o tenure/tenure-track faculty only represent roughly two percent of the total tenure/tenure-track faculty and our Latina/o staff only represent roughly eleven percent of the total staff employees. These statistics are accessed from my university's Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning website (Leimer).
6. The use of “Persona” for the student will be explained later in the essay.
7. Although MLA Handbook recommends putting non-English words in italics, we refuse to do so. Our refusal nods toward the seamlessness of Spanish-English bilingualism in many people's lives in the Southwestern US. However, for the Text and Performance Quarterly audience, all Spanish words will be translated with a corresponding note.
8. At three years old.
9. We're going.
10. Dark-skinned single woman.
11. We are going to arrive on the other side.
12. Immigration! Immigration! “Immigration,” yelled the man! Mama always told us that when the men told us to run that we were to never, never run! Only if she was running with us.
13. And they made us run.
14. Ma gave us her hand.
15. In the dark listening.
16. Could it be danger or not?
17. It's been years since I've touched my mother. I've never given her a hug, and worse, not even a kiss.
18. And really why?
19. Respect (the italicization comes from the original text).
20. The barrio.
21. Give me my passport.
22. Taco shop Jalpa.
23. The virgin (literally, the Virgin Mary).
24. Protect this sinner. Protect this sinner. Protect this sinner. Here I make this petition and then I make this prayer to San Joaquín and I end with the following.
25. Esteemed ones.
26. The cactus spines are on my face. Telling someone they have a “cara de nopal“ usually means that a person looks very Mexican as opposed to looking like they are from the US.
27. Pray three times for salvation.
28. What's up? (slang).
29. How are you?
30. Rebirths of mother Earth.