"Everybody Stumbles ... but I've Got a Firm Grip": Alternative Spaces Reframing

• In Event: 25.067 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 25.067-17 - Issues in Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research

Abstract

Recent graduation rates of black males in our city ranged from 21-46%, representing systemic inequalities while also sustaining perceptions of youth as disengaged. Through a study of a community-based alternative education program, we explore the complex interactions between youth, leaders, and community and the generative potential of space and relations for creating hybrid identities and innovative pathways. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the words of youth, community activists, and university co-researchers spoken during team meetings. Youth described the ways they are being positioned as deviant, as disengaged, as not belonging. We present evidence of how they are “pushing back” through reconceptualizing engagement, reframing themselves as community members, and co-constructing agentive selves who can make a difference in their world.

Authors

• Joyce Mahler Duckles, University of Rochester

• Jeremy S Smith, Northeast Area Development, Inc

• Robert Moses, Northeast Area Development