Dra.Muñoz's Research
Dra. Muñoz focuses her research on issues of equity, identity, and campus climate for undocumented Latinx students while employing perspectives such as legal violence, racist nativism, and Chicana feminist epistemology to identify and dismantle power, oppression, and inequities as experienced by these populations.
Identity, Social Activism, and the Pursuit of Higher Education
The Journey Stories of Undocumented and Unafraid Community Activists
Susana M. Muñoz
The topic of immigration has become increasingly volatile in U.S. society, and undocumented college students play a central role in mobilizing and politicizing a critical mass of activists to push forth a pro-immigration agenda, in particular the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The DREAM Act is the only federal legislation that would grant conditional citizenship and some financial aid assistance to undocumented students who have completed two years of college or enlist in military service. Since the DREAM Act failed to pass, undocumented students have moved from peaceful marches to acts of civil disobedience, seeking to disrupt the public discourse that positions undocumented students as living in the shadows of our system. Undocumented college students have created public forums in which they «come out» from these invisible images and pronounce themselves as «undocumented and unafraid».
Why They Hate Us
How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education
Lindsay Pérez Huber, Susana M. Muñoz
This book examines how racist political rhetoric has created damaging and dangerous conditions for Students of Color in schools and higher education institutions throughout the United States. The authors show how the election of the 45th president has resulted in a defining moment in U.S. history where racist discourses, reinforced by ideologies of white supremacy, have affected the educational experiences of our most vulnerable students. This volume situates the rhetoric of the Trump presidency within a broader historical narrative and provides recommendations for those who seek to advocate for anti-racism and social justice. As we enter the uncharted waters of a global pandemic and national racial reckoning, this will be invaluable reading for scholars, educators, and administrators who want to be part of the solution.
Access this PDF Article
Institutional agents' perspectives of institutional support for undocumented and DACA community college students
Susana M. Muñoz, Joél Orozco Almeida, Brian Jimenez Fraile
Abstract
Given that community colleges enroll most of the undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students across the nation, there is an economic and moral imperative to understand how the sociopolitical environment has shifted educational opportunities for undocumented and DACA students. This paper unveils how institutional agents use their agency to shape the college community college experiences of undocumented and DACA students. Findings include institutional agents’ perspectives on navigating challenges, resistance, and virtues in the current sociopolitical climate. Recommendations are discussed to enhance humanizing and holistic institutional support for DACA and undocumented college students, as well as a proposed undocuservingness framework.