Joy Narratives

#StudentParentJoy

#StudentParentJoy is a derivative of #BlackJoy and #UndocuJoy, rewriting the narratives of pregnant and parenting students so that their experiences are underpinned by joy—at the same time, operationalized as a form of resistance to narratives that stigmatize pregnancy and parenthood in college. In other words, our work aims to provide a multifaceted representation of who pregnant and parenting students are, what they represent, and how they can control the narrative so that their voices are at the center of how they get to represent themselves. It is not enough to have ad hoc news clips that feature student parents; diversity becomes tokenism when representation only serves as an exception to the dominant norm. What we strive for in this media campaign leverages the expression of joy as a radical act that centers authentic narratives of pregnant and parenting students so that their rich and dynamic lived experiences are fully included and normalized in post-secondary spaces.

Over the course of 2023-2024, our team will share joy and thriving narratives of pregnant and parenting students in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest four-year public university system in the United States.

Pregnant and parenting students in the CSU system can reach out by email to the project director to learn more.