Families Living (Un)Documented Impact Outcomes
Students in the Families Living (Un)Documented Lab partnered with co-faculty Rafael Martinez, assistant professor of Southwest Borderlands in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts as well as Jose Causadias, associate professor at the School of Social and Family Dynamics. The instructional team additionally included Rachel Fernandez, research data reproducibility librarian within the Open Science and Scholarly Communication Division of ASU Library. Together the student-faculty-librarian team worked to investigate the "stressors" that impact families who have mixed immigration status, the effect they can have on youth development, and how the families navigate rites of passages and cultural rituals. Through storytelling, oral history, digital archives, and surveys, students additionally examined how immigrant youth navigate these challenges and contribute to immigration activism. Scroll below to learn more about the student outcomes from the Lab.
Student Outcomes
In Families Living (Un)Documented, students collaborated with community members and organizations such as Consultas y Más to investigate the lived experiences of immigrant youth and mixed-status families in Arizona. Using oral history, storytelling, archival research, and psychological inquiry, students explored how youth and families navigate structural adversity and cultural resilience.
Their course outcomes culminated in the creation of a collection of podcasts—Humanities Lab Podcast: Families Living (Un)Documented—designed to amplify community voices and share research in an accessible and creative format. Each episode reflects a student-led investigation into themes like the psychological impact of immigration policy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the historical legacy of the 1997 Chandler Roundup and the everyday realities of growing up in a mixed-status family.
These student-produced episodes highlight interdisciplinary research and storytelling skills, while offering public-facing resources that bring a human perspective to immigration conversations and highlight the voices of young people.
Collaborative Partners
- Dr. Laura Belmonte, Director of Graduate Studies Online, The University of New Mexico – Presented on her new book, Borderland Brutalities: Violence in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands in Literature, Culture, and Art.
- Dr. Melissa Garcia, Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco – Podcast script writing workshop.
- Elena Calderón, PhD Candidate – Podcast hosting and planning workshop.