Belonging is personal and political. As a fundamental human need, belonging is about self-acceptance and about feeling “accepted” by others. And yet, this process of acceptance is inextricably tied to structures of power that work to include and exclude. Structures of whiteness within higher education systems, for example, relegate low-income, first-generation-to-college students of color to the margins and undermine their capacity and desire to belong. This makes the task of developing institutional practices that foster belonging complex. Such a task prompts important questions about what “acceptance” looks like. For example, in what ways can practices of acceptance attend to existing power structures? Under what conditions can acceptance occur so as not to solely expect students to assimilate or to silence important parts of themselves? How can practices of acceptance recognize the diverse belonging needs of marginalized students and the politics surrounding those needs? To answer these questions, I utilize frameworks that reveal the paradoxes of belonging—the push and pull of being accepted in spaces that marginalize the self. Specifically, drawing from a place-belongingness and politics of belonging framework, I first provide a foundation for understanding the personal and political components of belonging for marginalized students. I then review harmful institutional practices of “acceptance” and discuss more transformative practices that sustain students’ cultural identities. Illuminating the personal and political facets of what it means to be accepted provides a pathway for reimaging who can, wants, and gets to belong.

归属感是个人的和政治的。作为人类的基本需求，归属感是关于自我接纳和感觉被他人“接受”的感觉。然而，这种接受过程与权力结构密不可分，这些权力结构既包容又排斥。例如，高等教育系统中的白人结构将低收入、第一代上大学的有色人种学生置于边缘，并削弱了他们的归属感和愿望。这使得发展培养归属感的制度实践的任务变得复杂。这样的任务引发了关于“接受”是什么样子的重要问题。例如，接受的实践可以通过哪些方式关注现有的权力结构？在什么条件下可以接受，从而不仅仅期望学生同化或压制自己的重要部分？接纳实践如何认识到边缘化学生的不同归属需求以及围绕这些需求的政治？为了回答这些问题，我利用了一些框架来揭示归属感的悖论——在边缘化自我的空间中被接受的推拉。具体来说，从地方归属感和归属政治框架中汲取灵感，我首先为理解边缘化学生归属感的个人和政治组成部分提供了基础。然后，我回顾了有害的 “接受 ”机构做法，并讨论了更多维持学生文化身份的变革性做法。阐明被接受意味着什么的个人和政治方面，为重新构想谁可以、想要和获得归属感提供了一条途径。