When Words Fail, Art Speaks: Learning to Listen to Youth Stories

• In Event: 60.085 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 60.085-4 - Critical Education in the Classroom and Beyond

Abstract

This presentation addresses the roles that educators and community actors can play in creating spaces to foster youth’s sense of agency as citizens in a democracy, particularly as youth learn to take on responsibilities as leaders in their communities. Using youth’s art, writing, and photography, we explain the extent to which democratic engagements can foster youth voices through (a) power sharing between youth and adults, (b) meaningful participation and engagement, and (c) critical reflection on personal and sociopolitical processes. Youth’s stories prompt us to re-imagine after-school programs as places that can serve as bridges between the struggles students experience in their neighborhoods and the vision for community youth offer with their stories.

Authors

• Stuart Greene, University of Notre Dame

• Kevin Burke, University of Georgia - Athens

• Maria K. McKenna, University of Notre Dame

• Diana Hess, Neighborhood Resources Connection of South Bend