Not theirs, but ours: South Texas superintendents take a stance on immigrant students

ABSTRACT

This article explores how five school superintendents in south Texas construct their professional identity and positionality around immigration and immigrant students during interviews with academics researching social justice advocacy of superintendents. Situated in south Texas on the frontline of migration flows and faced with a conservative state political climate, these savvy political actors carve out a professional identity that makes sense in the south Texas context. This ethnographic study uses sociocultural linguistics and critical discourse analysis to find that that superintendents position themselves by actively resisting political labels with discursive moves and stance-taking while advocating for students. This study also contributes to our understanding of the research interview as a contested site for the co-constructed formation of personal and professional identities.

KEYWORDS:

• educational leadership
• social justice
• immigration
• identity
• discourse analysis

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowment.

Notes on contributors

Kerry McKeon

Kerry McKeon received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Texas at San Antonio in December of 2021. Her dissertation focused on neoliberal rhetoric and its use in advancing the privatization of public schools. Her research interests include mapping social-justice focused school leadership practices in relation to refugee students and exploring how education political speech influences audiences.

Betty Merchant

Betty Merchant holds the Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Juan Niño

Juan Niño is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Christopher Flanagan-Gonzales

Christopher Flanagan-Gonzales is a doctoral candidate in the Deparment of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Saleha Sultan

Saleha Sultan is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.