The YouthMADE Project: Media by Youth, for Youth, and About Youth

• In Event: Young Participants as Partners in Research

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives. The YouthMADE project, which was a partnership between the Access to Media Education Society, the Vancouver School Board, and the University of British Columbia, involved providing marginalized youth with the opportunity and mentorship to write and create films that represented their experiences of discrimination.

It has been argued that two important goals of youth media programs involve using various media forms as tools for youth development and learning, while providing a platform for youth voices in the hopes of facilitating impact in their communities (Chavez & Soep, 2005). Moreover, youth media programs provide a way to give youth a voice in research (e.g., Smith, 2000). Indeed, recent research has found that participatory research methods (e.g., digital story-telling) provide more powerful and nuanced understandings of marginalized youth’s experiences (Sawhney, 2009) than can be obtained through individual surveys or interviews (Conrad, 2004, p. 15).

The current study used Critical Discourse Analysis to examine three short films made by a diverse group of marginalized youth to understand their perspective about social justice. Their films covered topics related to colonialism, identity and sexuality, and bullying and discrimination.

Methods and Results. The YouthMADE project involved 20 high-risk youth in British Columbia, Canada. These adolescents, aged 15 to 18, self-organized into small groups (based on topic interest, as well as film genre) to create films about their experiences of marginalization. To do this, they attended a weeklong intensive film school, where they were provided with mentorship and training about the technical aspects of filmmaking, such as script writing, story boarding, camera and lighting, and editing. Participants were also given opportunities to engage in discourse about social justice issues, including both formal (e.g., anti-oppression workshops) and informal (daily talking circles) opportunities. Finally, we interviewed participants about being part of the project and how it impacted to their experience and understanding of discrimination and marginalization.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which involves analysis of discourse in particular contexts to understand underlying social phenomena or practices (van Dijk, 1993; Fairclough, 2003), was used to analyze the films (both visually, as well as linguistically). Data from the semi-structured interviews was used to supplement the CDA. The CDA revealed several discourses within each film including some that supported a social justice perspective (e.g., anti-hegemonic discourses) and some that did not (a strong allegiance to an ‘us versus them’ discourse), each of which will be elaborated on in the AERA presentation.

Significance. This project and its artifacts contribute to participatory research practices and emerging ethnographic inquiry into youths’ media and cultural practices, and particularly the growing body of work on youth-developed media (Kral, 2001). Moreover, youth’s films from this study subsequently became the cornerstone of youth-facilitated workshops that were offered to elementary and secondary students and teachers about different aspects of discrimination. To date, these workshops have been given in over 200 classrooms across British Columbia and have shown promise as powerful social-emotional/social responsibility educational tools.

Authors

• Jenna D. Shapka, The University of British Columbia

• Rebecca J. Collie, University of New South Wales

• Hezron Onditi

• Joanna Tan, The University of British Columbia

• Rachel Baitz

• Michaela Wooldridge