Challenging Notions of “Legitimate” Research and Teaching: Council of Youth Researchers Embodying a Critical Pedagogy

• In Event: Blending Youth Participatory Action Research and Youth Organizing: Analyzing the Council of Youth Research

Abstract

In this paper, the students, teachers, and university researchers of the Council of Youth Research challenge the discourse of traditional education research and reform and shift attention to the ways that young people develop critical consciousness and build expertise as critical pedagogues through action research and organizing efforts. To best understand the ways in which youth researchers take up the positions of critical pedagogues, we utilize a critical qualitative approach which analyzes video footage of student presentations, examines artifacts from our participatory action research projects (e.g. documentaries, student videos, PowerPoint presentations, written pieces, and reflections) and reviews extensive field notes.

Navigating a world that negates the lives of Black and Brown communities can be a daunting task for youth of color. Some students are aware of the ways in which the experience of schooling pushes them from a positive sense of cultural and linguistic identity towards an active denial of self in order to navigate a system of domination under which white, middle class values set the standards for success (Valenzuela, 1999). Because of this, there is a need for more engaging pedagogies that draw from the experiences of youth to create new forms of knowledge. This pedagogical approach is essential because it values the voices of youth from marginalized communities which offer further understanding the structural and cultural failure of urban education (Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008).

We seldom think about the ways in which youth enact critical pedagogy in their resistance against oppressive conditions. Often times, the literature surrounding critical pedagogy highlights the roles adults play in facilitating the learning process of young people. In this paper, we look at the critical pedagogy that urban youth develop as they engage in youth participatory action research in and around their schools and communities.

Specifically, we analyze the powerful, nuanced ways that the Council students present research findings to community members and other educational researchers. While some may term their presentations as testimonios (Huber, 2010), counter-stories (Solorzano and Yosso, 2002), and auto-ethnographies (Camangian, 2010), we also infer that the students’ presentations of their research findings are exemplars of critical pedagogy. In this paper, we document the ways in which CYR students create innovative ways to capture the attentions of their audience and engage them in a learning process about their research.

We analyze students’ presentations and their pedagogical approaches to challenge traditional notions of educational research by questioning the relevancy and applicability of purely adult-driven educational research. The students’ pedagogy and voices are driven by their existential experiences in under-resourced, inequitable schooling systems. Therefore, in evaluating learning conditions in urban public schools and reforming educational structures, this paper concludes that the legitimization and consideration of youth research contributes significantly to educational research, organizing and reform.

Authors

• Mark Bautista, The University of Texas - Arlington

• Antonio Nieves Martinez, University of California - Los Angeles