UC Santa Cruz

A college education after incarceration is an important means of social and economic mobility, but when formerly incarcerated individuals attempt to enroll in college courses or earn a college degree, they often face institutional roadblocks (e.g. required disclosure on applications), academic obstacles (e.g. readjusting to formal education or using academic technology), and interpersonal challenges (e.g. microaggressions or stigmatization). Utilizing a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework whereby all meaning is socially constructed through language with others, I bring together master narrative, counter narrative, and counterspace frameworks to explore how four formerly incarcerated college students narrate their navigation into and through college spaces. I conducted iterative interviews with four focal participants and interviews with other students and campus leaders on the two campuses in which the focal participants were enrolled, and I conducted a narrative analysis of each focal student to build three key themes. Findings reveal that first, students grappled with master narratives related to the “socially coveted” college experience (the master narrative a university, a college student, a college degree, and self-sufficiency), and the denigrated master narrative of incarceration. Critical to this theme is that formerly incarcerated students are simultaneously navigating exclusionary narratives of college students and deficit narratives of formerly incarcerated people. Second, students resisted these master narratives by accessing the counter narratives of students who better represented them, building their own counter narratives, utilizing support from a significant advocate in their academic journey, and by borrowing language from others to build a new narrative of self. Third, students built new imaginaries of what could be on college campuses by constructing spaces for other formerly incarcerated students, leveraging student staff positions, and critiquing problematic academic spaces. The switch to remote instruction due to COVID-19 challenged students to build academic spaces in unconventional spaces (e.g. bedrooms, living rooms, and backyards) and led to a deeper appreciation for previously taken-for-granted campus spaces like the library. This project amplifies the voices of a population that is stigmatized on college campuses and in communities more generally and rejects one-dimensional and deficit views of formerly incarcerated people. This project also complicates the cultural narratives that college acceptance and graduation lead to greater economic or societal benefits, because, as these students indicate, formerly incarcerated students have to do more to be “accepted back into the community.” Formerly incarcerated people face significant barriers and collateral consequences post-incarceration, and my work highlights the ways formerly incarcerated students contend with deficit narratives to build affirming narratives and spaces to benefit future students like them. I conclude with recommendations for research and higher education stakeholders, and for community members to continue building towards much needed social change.