Unmasking the Dark Continent: African Youth Evoking Spatial Justice

• In Event: 26.022 - Identity and Spatial Restructuring: Transnational Hopes/Local Realities

Abstract

African youth bring new experiences to the literature on immigrant education. Their embodiment of the place of Africa complicates the spatial flexibility in the US. This YPAR study in an afterschool program with newcomer African youth explores how they assert their African-ness while moving in NYC. In websites, photo displays, and interviews, African youth narrate how they are read as African in a manner that perpetuates global distinctions. But their projects are forms of emancipation for themselves and their home. The re-educate their peers and teachers about the values of Africa and they establish themselves as capable and thoughtful people of the world.

Author

• Sandra Schmidt, Teachers College, Columbia University