First-Generation Student Experiences in Higher Education Counterstories

188 Pages·2022·7.345 MB·English

by  Carl E. James, Leanne E. Taylor

FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT
EXPERIENCES IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
In First-Generation Student Experiences in Higher Education: Counterstories, we
meet eight students who attended university through an access program, and
hear their stories of deciding to enter university, navigating and negotiating
the institution, and bringing their university experiences with them into adult
life. These students’ “counterstories” challenge the stereotypes commonly
applied to marginalized students in higher education.
The students—Kofi, Tristana, Laura, Sam, Jasmine, Amy, Ewart, and
Jafari—represent a range of identities, prior experiences, and aspirations.
Piecing together their stories from application statements, weekly group meet-
ings, diary entries, group conversations, interviews, and media reports, we see
them balancing their educational aspirations with financial constraints and
obligations to their immigrant families and communities. Following them
into their life after university, we see some of them go on to career success
while others struggle, and come to understand how their university experi-
ence can be a “legacy” they pass on to their children.
The students’ counterstories offer insights into a range of salient themes
and highlight their strategies, challenges, successes, and trajectories, as well as
their nuanced relationships with their networks, communities, families, and
significant others. This book offers a valuable resource for educators, admin-
istrators, scholars, students, and community agencies interested in extending
understandings of first-generation university students.
Carl E. James is a Professor of Education, Youth & Equity Studies, and holds
the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora at York Uni-
versity, Toronto, Canada.
Leanne E. Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at
Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of
the International Society for Teacher Education.
“This is a must-read for educators, administrators, social scientists, pol-
icymakers, students, community members, or anyone interested in the
aspirations and challenges first-generation students face in navigating
both higher education and society in general. James and Taylor offer
the reader a sensitive and respectful analysis through a deep dive into
the complex lives and ‘counterstories’ provided by a group of nontradi-
tional students attending one Canadian university through an access or
‘bridging’ program. What this volume clearly illustrates is not only the
importance of these programs but also the various strengths required
of students from marginalized backgrounds as they endeavor to make
better lives for themselves and their families through higher education.”
Martin D. Ruck, Professor of Urban Education and Director, CUNY
Pipeline Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York,
New York, NY, USA
“Centering the experiences of first-generation students who confront
multiple barriers to postsecondary education, this rich, evocative book
challenges widely held views about the ‘ideal’ college or university stu-
dent. James and Taylor brilliantly locate the lives of first-generation stu-
dents in the complex dynamics of family, community, citizenship, and
the demands of the everyday. Through the realities of eight protagonists,
they make the compelling case that first-generation students and their
families hold deep aspirations for education and its promise of a better
life. Above all, this book is about the power of counterstories and what
they reveal about agency and determination.”
Erica S. Lawson, Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality
and Women’s Studies, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
“Here we meet Kofi, Tristana, Laura, Sam, Jasmine, Amy, Ewart, and
Jafari—first-generation Canadians in a program enabling them to attend
university. In chapters about each student, the authors make sense of
their lives and education in this counter tour de force. Across each page
is a yearning to be human against normalized poverty, racism, crimi-
nalization, queerphobia, domestic violence, and sexual abuse that back-
drops shifting lives and hopes. Passions and dreams are found, lost, and
reconfigured. Raising profound questions about structure, belonging,
citizenship, and selective immigration policy, this book also tells a mov-
ing story about the power of caring adults.”
Julia Hall, Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy, D’Youville
University, Buffalo, NY, USA
FIRST-GENERATION
STUDENT EXPERIENCES
IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Counterstories
Carl E. James and Leanne E. Taylor
Cover image: SDI Productions / Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Carl E. James and Leanne E. Taylor
The right of Carl E. James and Leanne E. Taylor to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: James, Carl E., author. | Taylor, Leanne E., 1974- author.
Title: First-generation student experiences in higher education :
counterstories / Carl E. James and Leanne E. Taylor.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022017558 (print) | LCCN 2022017559 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367547165 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367547158
(paperback) | ISBN 9781003090281 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: First-generation college students--United States. |
First-generation college students--United States--Interviews. |
First-generation college students--United States--Biography. |
People with social disabilities--Education (Higher)--United States. |
Education, Higher--Social aspects--United States. | Student
aspirations--United States.
Classification: LCC LC4069.6 .J36 2023 (print) | LCC LC4069.6
(ebook) | DDC 378.1/9820973--dc23/eng/20220707
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017558
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017559
ISBN: 978-0-367-54716-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-54715-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09028-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003090281
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
For Bryxton Bakari.

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xx
1 Marginalized Youth in Postsecondary Institutional
Contexts 1
2 Kofi: “Education Will Get You to the Station”:
The Possibilities of Merit in University Education 16
3 Tristana: “Education Is a Way to Fight Oppression”:
Giving Back to the Community 31
4 Laura: “I Am Determined to Make Other Choices for
My Life”: Education as a Path to Upward Social Mobility 47
5 Sam: “If I’m Portuguese, I Can’t Be Gay”: Negotiating
Identity in a University Space 63
6 Jasmine: “I Am Determined to Break Away from My
Antiquated Tradition”: Education as Survival 79
7 Amy: “I Don’t Need to Be Held Down by the Shackles
of My Misery”: Balancing Stigma, Pride, and Expectations 94
viii Contents
8 Ewart: “I Really Wasn’t Ready”: Expectations and
Dilemmas in Navigating University 109
9 Jafari: “I Felt Alone and Out of Place”: The Experiences
and Ambition of a “Non-Canadian” 126
Conclusion: Reimagining Postsecondary Education 142
References 148
Index 161
PREFACE
Understanding the Lives, Experiences, and Ambitions of
First-Generation University Students
After she [Ewart’s mother] came here; she struggled with me by herself … .
She really didn’t do anything with her life, so a lot of her youth was invested
in me, so it’s like an investment that she made in myself, so I kind of want to
make something of my life and make her feel as if she didn’t waste her time
… . I have to go to university to do this.
—Ewart, second-generation Canadian of Jamaican parents
University is a source of pride for me and creates a positive impact to my
neighborhood, family, friends … . Being in university gives my family status
and pride within our community. Going to university also fights issues of
racism, sexism etc. that suppresses my family and people like me. Thus, uni-
versity empowers me.
—Tristana, second-generation Canadian of Latin American parents
In 2001, we formed a project team that worked with community agency
staff to recruit young people from marginalized communities and offer them
the opportunity to attend York University, where we worked, and Seneca
College, the community college with which York is affiliated. The pro-
ject—called Bridging the Solitudes—was developed in response to research
showing that marginalized youth—specifically, low-income, first-genera-
tion Canadians (individuals born elsewhere), recent immigrants, refugees,
and Indigenous and racialized (especially Black) youth—were consist-
ently less likely than mainstream youth to pursue university and college;