Navigating Borders: Language, Identity, and Schooling Among Return Migrant University Students

Grounded in transnationalism and poststructuralist theories of identity, this study examines how educational trajectories shape language maintenance and identity development among return migrant students in Mexican universities who were educated across the United States (U.S.) and Mexico. Using a multi-sited qualitative case study design, we draw on in-depth interviews and reconstructed educational histories, analyzed comparatively across generational cohorts, age of return, and complete educational trajectories. The analysis identifies four distinct educational profiles, illustrating how different configurations of transnational schooling create differentiated conditions for language use, bilingual development, and identity negotiation. Findings show that while institutional contexts often reflect monoglossic ideologies, students strategically mobilize their transnational linguistic and cultural resources to navigate these settings. The study underscores the need for policy and pedagogical frameworks that recognize heterogeneous educational pathways and treat transnational repertoires as assets rather than deficits.