It’s about Hearing and Understanding Their Stories Teacher Empathy and Socio-Political Awareness Toward Newcomer Undocumented Students in the New Latino South

Jul 15, 2026

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The article draws on three ethnographic studies in the U.S. South to examine how teachers understand and enact multiculturalism when working with newcomer undocumented immigrant youth. It identifies an implementation gap between critical multicultural education scholarship and everyday educator practice, especially within constrained policy contexts. Cross-study analyses show that teachers’ strategic empathy and sociopolitical awareness function as generative dispositions and practices. The article concludes with implications for practice and directions for future research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

Abstract

Key findings and implications

Journal of Latinos and Education ISSN: 1534-8431 (Print) 1532-771X (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hjle20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hjle20) “It’s about hearing and understanding their stories”: Teacher empathy and socio-political awareness toward newcomer undocumented students in the New Latino South Sophia Rodriguez, Timothy Monreal & Joy Howard To cite this article: Sophia Rodriguez, Timothy Monreal & Joy Howard (2018): “It’s about hearing and understanding their stories”: Teacher empathy and socio-political awareness toward newcomer undocumented students in the New Latino South, Journal of Latinos and Education, DOI: 10. 1080/15348431 .2018.1489812 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2018.1489812](https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2018.1489812) Published online: 30 Jul 2018. | Submit your article to this journal | | | --- | --- | | Article views: 201 | | | | View related articles | | | View Crossmark data | | Citing articles: 1 View citing articles | | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=hjle20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=hjle20) JOURNAL OF LATINOS AND EDUCATION [https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2018.1489812](https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2018.1489812) “It’s about hearing and understanding their stories”: Teacher empathy and socio-political awareness toward newcomer undocumented students in the New Latino South Sophia Rodrigueza, Timothy Monrealb, and Joy Howardc aEducational Leadership and Cultural Foundations, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; bSocial Foundations of Education, University of South Carolina; cTeacher Education, University of Southern Indiana ABSTRACT In this article the co-authors draw from three separate ethnographic studies in the U.S. South to expand the literature about how teachers understand and apply multiculturalism specifically when working with newcomer undocumented immigrant youth. The co-authors identify an implementation gap between what is known about critical multicultural education and how it is put into practice by educators, specifically in regions that can be characterized as constrained policy contexts. Findings from collective analyses of data across all three studies add to multicultural education literature by directly addressing the ways in which policies govern the everyday lives of newcomers and inform the practices of their teachers. Key findings that represent generative dispositions and practices among teachers of newcomer students were strategic teacher empathy and sociopolitical awareness. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for practice and future research. KEYWORDS Newcomer immigrant students; New Latino South; qualitative; multiculturalism; undocumented In this article, we aim to expand the literature about how teachers become socially and politically literate and empathetic about the specific needs of newcomer1 youth in the South. Data from three studies demonstrate the need for critical approaches as a means to disrupt racism, xenophobia, and White supremacy, which take on particular forms in the South. Through teachers’ experiences in our ethnographic vignettes, we highlight the challenges of multicultural education and its implementation in the New Latino South.2 In doing so, we hope to revive conversations about the knowledge and dispositions teachers must develop, such as those related to empathetic relations and policy knowledge, in order to support newcomer youth. Previous literature is scant on the direct work of multiculturalism with newcomer and/or undocumented youth as well as on teachers in the New Latino South. In our current “racist nativist climate” toward immigrants broadly (Ngo, 2017), Latinx and other immigrant groups enter non-traditional state contexts, such as those in the New Latino South,

FAQs

What is the central focus of the article?

The article focuses on how teachers understand and apply multiculturalism when working with newcomer undocumented immigrant youth in the U.S. South.

What gap does the article identify?

It identifies an implementation gap between what critical multicultural education research proposes and how educators actually practice it under constrained policy contexts.

Which teacher dispositions does the article highlight as generative?

Strategic teacher empathy and sociopolitical awareness are presented as key generative dispositions and practices among teachers.

Jul 15, 2026

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