About

Saskias Casanova, Ph.D., is a faculty member involved in research focused on social psychology, with particular interest in issues related to marginalized communities, intersectionality, and social identity development. Her work employs multidisciplinary approaches, integrating developmental psychology, Latina feminist psychology, intersectionality theory, Latina/o/x critical theory, and Borderland theory to understand and deconstruct social structures responsible for inequalities experienced by Latinx, LGBTQ+, and Latinx LGBTQ+ populations. Her research aims to challenge stereotypical and dehumanizing narratives, promote social justice, and support the social and psychological well-being of marginalized groups.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Pedagogy
• Social Science
• Gender studies
• Computer Science
• Ecology
• Anthropology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Economic growth
• Geography
• Public administration
• Economics
• Mathematics
• Law
• Management
• Arithmetic

Selected publications

• Cultivating the transfer landscape: Using a CRT framework to examine transfer receptivity at a Hispanic Serving Research Institution

  Journal of Social Issues · 2024-05-19 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract When students of color transfer to Hispanic Serving Research Institutions (HSRI), they experience institutional barriers and stigmatization. Through 268 HSRI transfer students of color (TSOC) surveys and 12 interviews from four focus groups, we examined the role of stigmatization, campus relationships, and cultural strengths on TSOC's sense of belonging. Quantitative results showed greater stigmatization was associated with a lower sense of belonging, while stronger faculty and peer relationships and greater navigational and aspirational capital positively predicted a greater sense of belonging. Faculty and peer relationships mitigated the negative effects of stigmatization on sense of belonging. Qualitative results capture the intersectional marginalities experienced by our participants and how transfer receptivity was shaped by the prejudiced assumptions others have of TSOC, isolating white spaces, and a lack of transfer‐specific resources. We highlight the importance of campus relationships and students’ cultural strengths in navigating the transfer landscape and make institutional recommendations to cultivate transfer receptivity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social Identities and Intersectionality: A Conversation About the What and the How of Development

  Annual Review of Developmental Psychology · 2023-12-11 · 24 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Research on the development of social identities in early and middle childhood has largely focused on gender; increasingly, however, theory and research have addressed the development of ethnic/racial, social class, sexual, and immigrant identities. Moreover, it is assumed that individuals’ thinking about and articulating of the intersectionality between their social identities emerge in adolescence and young adulthood, but a growing body of work has shown that minoritized children conceptualize their intersectional identities by middle childhood. This article reviews that work and addresses how interdisciplinary scholarship and quantitative and qualitative methodologies can deepen our understanding of the development of social identities and intersectionality. We take a contextual approach to investigate how relational and cultural contexts contour the socialization of social and intersectional identities. Most of our review focuses on theory and research in the United States; however, because we aim to consider immigrant identity, we also include theory and research on how immigrant families and communities help minoritized children and youth navigate their identities in schools and communities and cope with discrimination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “Those are the Spaces Where I Feel Seen and Fully Understood”: Digital Counterspaces Fostering Community, Resistance, and Intersectional Identities Among Latinx LGBTQ+ Emerging Adults

  Journal of Adolescent Research · 2023 · 15 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Gender studies
  • Sociology

  For Latinx LGBTQ+ emerging adults, forming a positive social identity involves intersectionally navigating ethnoracial prejudice and heterosexism. Social media contexts are essential for minoritized emerging adults to access information and social support and explore their identities. Our research examines how these contexts serve as counterspaces that promote positive identity development, where minoritized people resist marginalizing narratives and collectively reimagine their intersectional selves. Our qualitative case study spotlights how a self-identified gender fluid, assigned female at birth, bisexual Latinx emerging adult at a public university, used digital counterspaces to resist intersectional marginality and construct positive social identities. After conducting inductive and deductive thematic analyses of two semi-structured interviews, we identified three themes (1) Intersectional Discrimination, experiences related to gendered colorism and gendered heterosexism; (2) Identity Work Through Narratives, resistance through the use of online spaces to develop critical consciousness, and counternarratives; and (3) Intersectional Counterspaces, the development of a coherent sense of self through digital spaces that validate and affirm intersectional identities. Our study expands how researchers imagine counterspaces and provides recommendations for practitioners to increase their understanding of Latinx LGBTQ+ emerging adults’ social media use.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The value of communal and intergenerational settings for studying social and emotional learning

  Child Development Perspectives · 2023-08-25 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Indigenous Latinx youth living in the United States are culturally diverse individuals whose experiences are often unrecognized. These diasporic youth identify, learn, and develop cultural strengths amid their upbringing outside their Native communities by engaging in integrated communal endeavors informed by Indigenous values. In this article, we present research on how interconnected aspects of diasporic Indigenous practices contribute to the social and emotional development of youth in middle childhood and adolescence. We focus on Indigenous familial and communal experiences that contribute to developmental processes. We provide nuanced perspectives to studying social and emotional learning (SEL) outside the traditional school setting by expanding to communal contexts. We examine comunalidad (communality) and intergenerational practices to consider how transformative SEL can be more inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing and living. Our focus is the cultural strengths these communities bring to the SEL competencies of relationships and social awareness, which are applicable to the development of all children.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “Transfers tend to be an afterthought”: The role of institutional support for staff in creating a receptive culture for transfer students of color.

  Journal of Diversity in Higher Education · 2023-11-03 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Fostering the Resilience and Cultural Wealth of Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education

  Educational linguistics · 2022-01-01 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The “Other” Mexicans: Indigenous Yucatec-Maya Students’ Experiences with Perceived Discrimination

  Journal of Latinos and Education · 2022-07-27 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Using a socio-ecological and an intersectionality framework, this cross-national study examined the perceived discrimination experiences of U.S.-based diasporic Yucatec-Maya Mexican students (n = 66), U.S.-based non-Yucatec-Maya (non-indigenous) Latinx students (n = 65), and Mexico-based Yucatec-Maya students (n = 70). U.S.-based Yucatec-Maya students self-reported experiencing the greatest number of instances of perceived discrimination and higher levels of perceived discrimination distress as compared to their non-indigenous counterparts. Maya language was positively related to peer-perceived discrimination distress. U.S.-based Yucatec-Maya boys self-reported experiencing the most acts of peer-perceived discrimination and first-generation Yucatec-Maya students had the highest levels of peer-perceived discrimination distress. This study examines indigeneity to contribute to an intersectional understanding of Mexican-origin students.

  PublisherDOI

• Creating positive learning communities for diasporic indigenous students

  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · 2022 · 52 citations

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  Diasporic Indigenous students include the lived realities of diverse Indigenous students living in the United States with familial, relational, and transnational ties to Indigenous communities and pueblos of origin in Abya Yala, also known as Latin America. In this article, we advocate for the creation of positive learning communities to best support diasporic Indigenous students in schools and beyond. Recommendations for educators include understanding the effects of anti-Indigenous discrimination within Latinx communities and reflecting on the ways schooling may unintentionally reproduce colonial or damage-centred perspectives about Indigenous Peoples. The successful cultivation of positive learning communities also requires schools to learn from and cultivate partnerships with diasporic Indigenous families and surrounding communities to uplift social-emotional learning that honours Indigenous comunalidad. We hope the information presented in this article contributes to promoting equitable learning outcomes for all students by disrupting colonial stereotypes and misinformation about Indigeneity and uplifting contemporary Indigenous saberes.

  PublisherDOI

• Cultural knowledge as opportunities for empowerment: Learning and development for Mexican Indigenous youth

  Diaspora Indigenous and Minority Education · 2021 · 14 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Sociology

  Educators are often unaware of assets Mexican Indigenous children possess that originate from their cultural practices. Using Critical Latinx Indigeneities and Indigenous Heritage Saberes, our studies focus on three unique Indigenous learning communities that provide opportunities of empowerment for these students. We examine the experiences of Triqui middle school students in a Youth Participatory Action Research club and how it facilitated their use of research as a decolonizing tool to hold knowledge inside the school. We explore how Oaxacan students maintain their cultural traditions via a learning community created byan Oaxacan philharmonic band. Lastly, we investigate the experiences of Yucatec-Maya youth with cultural community organization programs that instill knowledge of and pride in their Indigenous identity. Our studies contribute to the critical conversations about equity in education for Mexican Indigenous youth. Recommendations are made for educators and community organizations working with Mexican Indigenous students.

  PublisherDOI

• Protecting and Defending our People: Nakni tushka anowa (The Warrior's Path) Final Report

  2021 · 8 citations

  • Political Science
  • Computer Security
  • Computer Science

  Contact Dr. Gayle Morse.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Melissa Mesinas

  Scripps College

  4 shared

• Margary Martin

  University of Hawaii System

  4 shared

• Carola Suárez‐Orozco

  3 shared

• Valeria Alonso Blanco

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  2 shared

• María G. Hernández

  2 shared

• Rose K. Vukovic

  2 shared

• Naila A. Smith

  University of Virginia

  2 shared

• Margarita Azmitia

  2 shared

Labs

• Saskias Y Casanova LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Graduate School of Education

  Stanford University

  2011

Awards & honors

• Gary Licker Memorial Chairship, Cowell College, UC Santa Cru…
• Recipient, Excellence in Teaching Award, Committee on Teachi…
• Recipient, Golden Apple Outstanding Teaching Award, Division…
• Spencer Small Research Grant, Spencer Foundation, Chicago, I…