Publication Date

Summer 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

Advisor

Eduardo Munoz: Luis Poza; Jaclynne Medina

Keywords

community cultural wealth; cross-cultural; educación; encuentros; Latinos; pláticas

Abstract

Latinx cross-cultural kids, or children of immigrants, are often faced with a feeling of not belonging to mainstream American culture nor their parents’ home culture(s) of origin. As such, they are viewed through a deficit lens and forced to negotiate their sense of identity and belonging through language and culture to fit in. By embracing the concept of educación, using culturally responsive methods of encuentros and pláticas with cross-cultural kids and their families, this study intends to find ways to foster a sense of belonging for this population in schools through participants’ testimonies. It aims to find ways to bridge the educación at home with the formal academic education in schools to find a place where both languages and cultures unite to strengthen the bond between the two environments. Through critical race theory and community cultural wealth, this study intends to shift the narrative from a deficit lens where Latinx cross-cultural students are seen as not belonging to either culture to an asset-based narrative where they are seen as belonging to both. My hope is that Latinx cross-cultural kids and their families are recognized and appreciated for what they bring to any educational setting instead of what they lack and find a sense of belonging in all spaces where it once failed to exist.

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