(Re)orienting White Spaces Through Compañerismo : Latino Graduate Students Creating Homeplaces at a PWI

Abstract: This study employed homeplace and compañerismo as conceptual frameworks to examine the role of space among Latino men in graduate school. While research has highlighted the importance of space for marginalized students on college campuses, this literature has primarily focused on the undergraduate level. Such is valuable work, yet it is critical to examine spatial dynamics among graduate students. Here, we highlight spaces important to this group of students while centralizing close-knit relationships as an added layer. Analysis of the data revealed the continuous importance of the participants’ compañerismo across university spaces, making both compañerismo and space central components across themes, which included reciprocity of space and compañerismo, bending space through compañerismo, and compañerismo as empowerment. We conclude with implications for practice and research.