Dissertation Proposal Announcement Ph.D. in Higher Education Program: Costin Thampikutty “Sense of Belonging as a Negotiation: A Critical Narrative Inquiry of Indian American Students’ Involvement in South Asian Christian Student Organizations”

Shifting demographics within Christian student organizations (CSOs) such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) and CRU (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ) have led to the growth of ethnic specific CSOs on college campuses (Schmalzbauer & Mahoney, 2018). While this shift has been accredited to a prolific increase of Asian American students’ participation at large (Lum, 2007; Schmalzbauer & Mahoney, 2018), the role of South Asian specific CSOs including IVCF’s South Asian InterVarsity and CRU’s Design Movement has not yet been explored in-depth.

Motivated by the findings from my pilot study on the interplay between Indian American Christian college students’ ethnic and religious identities (Thampikutty, 2024), the proposed study aims to explore belonging as a motivation for Indian American students’ involvement in South Asian CSOs. As the Indian American college student population faces various threats to their sense of belonging including familial pressures, stigmas associated with mental health treatment, and the racialization of religion, student organizations such as South Asian CSOs may play a supportive role (Arora et. al, 2016; Samuel, 2019; Soin, 2015). However, findings from my pilot study contend that Indian American students’ pursuit of belonging via South Asian CSOs may also involve negotiations in terms of theological views (Thampikutty, 2024).

Through individual, in-depth interviews, the proposed qualitative study employs a critical narrative inquiry approach (Pino Gavidia & Adu, 2022) to further investigate influences that encourage Indian American students’ involvement in South Asian CSOs and how involvement may strengthen and/or weaken their sense of belonging on campus. In line with the critically oriented third wave of student development scholarship (Jones, 2019), this study incorporates Noble’s Model of Critical Campus Ecology (2023) to situate the role of power and systems of oppression including racism and white Christian supremacy across Indian American Christian students’ developmental ecosystems. Findings from this study can expand understanding of sense of belonging, provide empirical evidence to support campus administrators and parachurch ministry staff, provide insight into South Asian American theology, advocate for DEI education, and add nuance to public discourse regarding CSOs.