New Books in Sociology Gabrielle Oliveira, "Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children’s Education, and Dreams for a Better Life" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Mar 20, 2026
Gabrielle Oliveira, a Harvard Graduate School of Education scholar who studies family migration and schooling. She discusses immigrant families’ search for dignity through education. Short scenes cover parental sacrifice, classroom silence around migration, COVID’s disruption, and the push for child-centered education and policy changes.
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Families Recount Border Separation Unprompted
- During bilingual program research parents repeatedly volunteered border separation experiences unprompted.
- Oliveira recounts families from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil telling similar stories of separation under zero tolerance.
Now We Are Here As A Present Building Frame
- Migrant families foreground a present sense of safety captured by Now We Are Here.
- Gabrielle Oliveira describes adults reassuring children they're safe and shifting energy toward building a hopeful future.
Migration Framed As Parental Care
- Migration decisions are acts of deep care rather than neglect, summarized as To Migrate Is To Care.
- Oliveira explains parents risk children’s safety because conditions at home felt more dangerous than the journey.
