Sanctuary as Praxis: Engaging Families at the Crossroads of Disability, Education, and Migration

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study is focused on the political and social connections among disability, race, language, and migration that affect how emergent bilingual students are labeled as disabled and marginalized in schools despite—or, perhaps, through—educational and migration policies. Specifically, this study is concerned with the connections between educational policies at the school-level and the sanctuary policies at the community-level which purport inclusion, belonging, and care without authentically and critically engaging and responding to the diverse needs and perspectives of the stakeholders these policies are intended to serve. Based on the findings of a qualitative study in a mid-sized sanctuary city in Upstate New York, the author offers a reconceptualization of sanctuary as a critical reflexive process, rather than stand-alone policy or political boundary, and what this means for the education and engagement of emergent bilingual students labeled as disabled (EB/LAD) and these students’ families and communities.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The term “migrant” is used internationally to generally refer to displaced people but is used differently in different regions and communities of the U.S. In this study, which takes place in the U.S., I use the word “migrant” to signify the floating significance of labels for individuals who move between and across different political and social borders for different reasons.

2. All names of participants and places in this study are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chelsea Stinson

Chelsea Stinson, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Inclusive Education in the Foundations and Social Advocacy Department at SUNY Cortland. Her research focuses on the experiences of emergent bilingual youth labeled as disabled and their families across migration and education contexts, as well as the knowledge, emotions, and policy contexts of teachers who support multiply marginalized students.