For Cassaundra Rodriguez, representation in the classroom matters. In fact, it was life-changing and career-inspiring. The Mexican American knew she wanted to be a feminist sociologist and university professor after taking sociology classes taught by Chicana professors at California State University, Northridge. They were the only professional examples she’d seen as a first-generation college student, and they looked like her and the people in her family.

Now, the associate professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts studies how members of mixed-status families find a sense of belonging while navigating the perils and promise of American citizenship. The years-long research project she began as a University of Massachusetts Amherst doctoral student culminated in her first book, Contested Americans: Mixed-Status Families in Anti-Immigrant Times, published last spring.

The California native says she’s glad she took a leap of faith – represented by a yellow lampshade in her office – to pursue her educational goals, and then in 2017, to accept a position at UNLV. Today, that lampshade, and its accompanying lamp, are helping to light the way for UNLV students taking their own leaps of faith.  

You spent many years collecting data for your book. What did the people you were interviewing think about your research?

They were generous with me. They were supportive. I was grateful for that. They would ask why would anybody study this? This is a very heavy, emotionally hard topic.

I’m mostly interested in what members of families have to say, people we don’t see on the news or in the streets or in bureaucratic buildings. That’s how I would explain what I was doing. I would tell them I plan to pursue this as a book project. Yes, I was doing this for a dissertation project, but I hoped it would become an accessible book that people could hold, share, and see. It was about an eight- or nine-year project.

What are some takeaways from your book?

With immigration issues we’re not just talking about immigrant communities. They live among families that include U.S. citizens. Immigration issues are much broader than we previously thought. Those who are privileged with U.S. citizenship still have to navigate immigration and restrictions within their worlds and families. A lot of our students here at UNLV may be part of mixed-status families. We know they are helping their families financially because perhaps one or both of their parents are undocumented. We know they also have concerns about the safety of their families. They think about what helping a parent or family member get legalized papers looks like.

In the popular media, we think adult children of undocumented parents can legalize them easily. That is not the case. It’s not impossible, but it’s extremely difficult. We don’t have these pathways that are accessible for parents who arrive undocumented. A lot of parents arrive undocumented and remain undocumented. There’s not a straight pathway for them to change their status. That means we have undocumented folks who have been here for decades who are now grandparents of U.S. citizens, and they’re stuck in that position. 

Tell us about a lesson you learned from a student.

The undergraduate students remind me of energy and enthusiasm. I haven’t forgotten, but they refresh it for me.

They want to talk about sociology. They have these perspectives that are current. They can pull from popular culture that maybe I’m not fully in touch with. They have really cool ideas about how to reach other students and how to engage with the local community. They think about different ways to share sociological ideas. Their enthusiasm and creativity are great. 

Tell us about a special moment with a colleague. 

Some of my friends from grad school are now colleagues. We’re in the same places in terms of our careers, not geographically, but in terms of tenure-track or tenured professors. It’s really cool to see them succeed and also to sometimes share in those moments of acknowledgment. Sometimes we get the same awards. That’s the best feeling. 

What problem in the world would you most like to fix? 

I’ve been thinking more recently about the planet. I think within the last 10 years there has been a lot more public conversation about global warming and climate change in a way that we didn’t have in my youth. That and environmental racism and pollution. I mean, if we can solve that, we can be around long enough to solve the other problems, I guess.

Maybe because now that I live in the desert, the heat and the question of water access feel a bit more obvious or harder to ignore.

Outside of your research, what are you passionate about?

During the past few years, I’ve become very passionate about dogs. I have a golden retriever. That’s just a new part of my life that I didn’t have growing up. My relationship with my dog has helped me see animals in a new light. It’s a great part of my life that brings me joy and brings my family joy, and that’s something we share.

I’m also really passionate about ancestral food, cooking, and recipes. That also brings me a lot of joy. It’s not always the cooking part – I maybe don’t do that as often as I should – but the collecting of recipes that are from my culture, Mexican food. I have a really cool cookbook collection.

During the pandemic is when I started to empower myself to learn how to make these foods from my culture that I didn’t know how to make before. I didn’t have that confidence before. Now, not only do I know these things, but this is really helpful to just feed and nourish yourself and your family.

I don’t think I like learning by watching someone else cook. I want the recipe. I want the exact measurements and details. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Try not to stress or worry so much. That’s probably No. 1. I come from a long line of worriers. I know it comes from a place of protection and survival, but sometimes we worry so much, it makes it a lot harder on us when we don’t need to. Sometimes things work out, or work out better than we hope. 

What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I don’t drive, for a lot of reasons. A lot of people will ask me, "When are you going to do it?" I don’t really want to. I suspect that’s not going to change – I’m OK with that. I mostly rideshare and carpool, and that’s fine with me for the most part.

Tell us more about your yellow lampshade. Why do you keep it in your office? 

I found it in a secondhand store when I moved to Los Angeles in 2015. I was staying with a family friend because I didn’t have housing; I was actively looking. I went with her to the secondhand store, and I saw it. It caught my attention, and I said, "I’m going to get this. I don’t have a home right now, but I know I’ll eventually have one, and this will be the first thing I put up. I’ll get the bottom lamp part later." And I did, and then that came with me to my office. I selected it because it represents this feeling of "Everything is going to be OK. Things will work out."

It was high stakes. I was trying to find housing to collect data to do the dissertation — to make this big step in my professional career — and it was a leap of faith. When I moved to Vegas with my husband, it was also a leap of faith.

I like that it’s in my office now. Students are here to get their degrees. It’s kind of a leap of faith, too, like "Let me try to do this, and hopefully it reaps rewards." They’re hoping for a better future. That lamp reminds me of that. Everything, or most things, will work out OK. 

What was the last book you couldn’t put down?

It’s not the last book that I couldn’t put down, but the best book I read this year was How to Say Babylon, a memoir by Safiya Sinclair. She’s a poet who wrote this memoir about her life growing up in her religious family, her relationship with her father, and her trying to navigate her education and career as a poet. The words are just clearly poetic, and you want to eat them almost. 

She’s writing a lot about being a young daughter in her family where her father is a patriarch, and I think I could relate to that, too. It was just a powerful book. I didn’t want to finish it; the writing was fantastic. I really like memoirs.

What’s next? 

I’m excited about what I’m doing now in terms of research, which is looking at why young people get involved with mariachi at schools, and what they do after they’re done with school. That’s going to be my next book project hopefully. It’s based in Las Vegas and looks at similar topics that I explored in my first book, but I’m using mariachi as a way to understand people’s educational pathways, their identities, families, and relationships. For me, it’s been a lot of fun to explore that.