PSTC Faculty Associate Kevin Escudero (American Studies/Ethnic Studies) has worked with members of the undocumented immigrant community over the span of the past ten years, and has just published a book, Organizing While Undocumented (NYU Press, 2020), that draws on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with undocumented immigrant activists in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City. He argues that activists strategically leverage the use of an intersectional movement identity in order to overcome legal and political barriers to activism, namely the threat of deportation.
He has observed the persistence, determination, and resilience of young undocumented student-activists as they complete their undergraduate degrees, enter graduate and professional degree programs, and now practice in their respective fields. These observations, and his work as the Special Advisor to the Provost on Undocumented and DACA Students here at Brown, inspired Escudero to begin a project focusing on students' educational trajectories and career pathways, particularly at the graduate and professional degree level.
This work has in turn formed the basis of his NSF CAREER Award Project, "Educational Trajectories and Career Plans under Uncertainty," which consists of a research and an education component. The research component entails launching a national level survey of immigrant graduate and professional degree students across different legal statuses. The education component will include the launching of the Immigrant Student Research Project (ISRP) Lab to train undergraduate and graduate students from across the state in survey and interviewing methodologies. He also plans to develop a ten-day workshop bringing together academics and staff members from community-based organizations across the country to collaborate on public-facing research projects.
Escudero joined the PSTC community as a faculty affiliate in 2018. With Zhenchao Qian (Sociology), Andrea Flores (Education), and Nicole Kreisberg (Sociology Ph.D. student), he co-organizes the Center's Interdisciplinary Migration Working Group, which provides a forum for students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty to receive feedback on their work and to build community with one another. He presented a preliminary version of his CAREER Award project at a session of the Working Group.
Congratulations, Kevin!