Knowing Silence
How Children Talk about Immigration Status in School
University of Minnesota Press
April 2, 2024
260 pages, Paper
ISBN 978-1-5179-1045-7
$27.00
About Knowing Silence
There is a persistent assumption in the field of education that children are largely unaware of their immigration status and its implications. In Knowing Silence, Ariana Mangual Figueroa challenges this “myth of ignorance.” By listening carefully to both the speech and significant silences of six Latina students from mixed-immigration-status families, from elementary school into middle school and beyond, she reveals the complex ways young people understand and negotiate immigration status and its impact on their lives.
Combining significant empirical findings with reflections on the ethical questions surrounding research and responsibility, Mangual Figueroa models new ways scholars might collaborate with educators, children, and families. With rigorous and innovative ethnographic methodologies, Knowing Silence makes audible the experiences of immigrant-origin students in their own terms, ultimately offering teachers and researchers a crucial framework for understanding citizenship in the contemporary classroom.
Praise for Knowing Silence
“Narrated innovatively and with the utmost of care, with rich analyses of language data and thought-provoking insights drawn from a longitudinal and intimate ethnographic research relationship, Knowing Silence will surely make you think, wonder, laugh, cry—and see and hear young people who are growing up in contexts of immigration in new ways.”
“Using child-centered methodologies, Ariana Mangual Figueroa unveils the critical yet often invisible aspects of students’ lives and highlights unintended chilling effects of school practices. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this is an important and compelling contribution to the field.”
Book Awards for Knowing Silence
Critics’ Choice Book Award | American Educational Studies Association | 2024
Outstanding Book Award | Council on Anthropology and Education | 2024
International Educators Book Award Honorable Mention | Delta Kappa Gamma Society | 2025
To read the book online,
visit the book’s webpage
To purchase a hardcopy,
visit the link below
Zines from Knowing Silence Interludes
These two zines--based upon Interludes One and Two--can support educators, community organizers, service providers, young people, students, and advocates that are having conversations about immigration and education, policing and surveillance. The goal of these zines is to foster ongoing efforts to reimagine communities where immigrant-origin children and their family members can live and learn peacefully in New York City and throughout the United States. The zines are available in multiple languages and are available for free.
Please fill out the brief form below and you will be redirected to a folder containing the zine materials. I hope to stay connected with people using them so please share your name and email, and tell me a little about which communities you imagine sharing the zines with.