Unauthorized Education: Challenging Borders between Good and Bad Immigrants

Abstract

This article presents a case study that examines how undocumented youth reject notions that, as students, they are more deserving of state-granted rights (e.g., citizenship, but also temporary rights through DACA). It highlights the use of what I call undocumented pedagogy as a form of everyday activism for greater immigrant rights. This unauthorized pedagogy largely takes place outside of the classroom and disrupts traditional hierarchies within education. Through offering informational workshops and providing personal testimonies among other educational activities, undocumented students in this study aim to 1) broaden access to rights for the larger undocumented immigrant community and 2) challenge negative preconceived notions about undocumented immigrants among citizens. These are key elements to moving forward the struggle for immigrant rights.