What Institutions Can Learn From the Navigational Capital of Minoritized Students

Minoritized students - low-income, first-generation students of color - leverage skills when navigating higher education. Yet, institutions often misrecognize this navigational capital, rendering it invaluable and missing an opportunity to learn from students. We explored how 16 first-year minoritiz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of first-generation student success 2022-01, Vol.2 (1), p.36-53
Main Authors: Covarrubias, Rebecca, Laiduc, Giselle, Valle, Ibette
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
college transition
counterspace
minoritized students
misrecognition
Navigational and resistant capital
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Summary:Minoritized students - low-income, first-generation students of color - leverage skills when navigating higher education. Yet, institutions often misrecognize this navigational capital, rendering it invaluable and missing an opportunity to learn from students. We explored how 16 first-year minoritized students - who participated in a counterspace aimed to affirm their experiences - translated their navigational capital into feedback for institutional change. Through surveys, students reported that institutional practices perpetuated misrecognition by privileging Whiteness; endorsing deficit assumptions about students' abilities; and making campus resources inaccessible. Activating their navigational capital, students offered concrete advice for how institutions can better recognize and support their lived experiences.
ISSN:2690-6015
2690-6023
DOI:10.1080/26906015.2022.2065109