The Succeeders by Flores Andrea;

Author:Flores, Andrea;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press

STRIVING TOGETHER: BUILDING BELONGING AND FAMILY THROUGH CARE

As the distinctions regarding la rampa made clear, striving was the raw material of “sameness” that drew the Succeeders into each other’s lives and first bound them together.18 It was, however, Succeeders’ care for their academic striving, and eventually care beyond the academic aspect of their lives, that deepened these ties. A particularly potent form of that care came in the form of sharing and listening to each other about the struggles of striving particular to Latino and/or undocumented youth. These acts of emotional support served as a kind of communicative release valve. Through these communicative practices students started to see they weren’t the only ones facing these circumstances.19 Succeeders listened and disclosed to each other the unseen but deeply felt anxiety, fear, and other emotions that come with striving. Together the Succeeders also contended with the stereotypes they faced and internalized. These ongoing, recurring conversations became a mode of “communicative care” that, in turn, forged strong bonds between the Succeeders.20 In the mutual recognition of shared struggle, youth gained a sense of collectivity in their striving. They began to care not only in support of striving, but also in support of the family and community they were becoming.

It bears mentioning that striving was extremely stressful.21 As we talked about her collegiate plans one early evening before her night shift at the outlet mall, Pamela listed who she felt “good pressure” from to strive in school. She mentioned her mother; her father; her brother; her younger cousins; the underclassmen in Succeeders; her friends; her teachers; and the congregation at her Evangelical church, including, but not limited to, her youth group. I wondered just how Pamela managed all this “good pressure.” When I asked her, she replied:

It’s an honor. [Laughs.] It’s—how can I explain this? Life changing. It’s a good feeling. [Laughs.] It feels awesome. [Laughs, then cries.] I feel like people are going to look up to me. They’re going to be like, “Oh. I want to be that girl one day.” People are going to—people do look up to you.

Pamela’s sense of honor, her laughter, and her tears bursting through her words suggest the emotional contradictions and affective tumult of striving.22 Her striving, she also told me, would disprove stereotypes of Latinas as “getting pregnant” rather than getting “A’s.” I have previously discussed how the desire to not be read as a stereotype motivated striving. Here we see more of stereotypes’ weight: it wasn’t just her brother, parents, or youth group that Pamela felt beholden to, but her ethnicity. The pressure to be “that girl” was daunting.

There were few outlets within Pamela’s school, church, or family for her to share her stress and ease the burden of striving to be a role model of Latino achievement.23 There was, however, Succeeders. Pamela relied on Alicia, her best friend and fellow Succeeder, in precisely this way. These two young women were together whenever possible. Pamela stated that what she actually liked about the Succeeders

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