Un-Damaging Student Narratives and Histories: A Story of a Latinx Summit

• In Event: The Necessity and Possibilities of Latinx Youth-Focused Participatory Action Research

Abstract

Purpose/Objective

In April 2017 a local high school and a university based Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) collaborative partnered to host a Latinx summit where 266 students were in attendance. Participants had the opportunity to engage in dialogue/topics such as youth movements of the past and present, immigration reform, the American Dream, intersecting identities in the Latinx community, components of the Latinx culture, and storytelling through poetry. What made this summit different from other summits held at the HS in the past was that it was student lead. This paper presentation will highlight the work leading up to the summit, the outcomes and how the partnership was established/nurtured/sustained.

Theoretical Framework

Work was grounded in PAR and YPAR epistemologies (Ayala, 2009; Cahill, 2016; Cammarota & Fine, 2008; McIntyre, 2008; Torre & Fine, 2006) which challenge traditional notions of expertise and ownership of authentic knowledge. PAR assumes everyday people carry deep knowledge and analysis about conditions of their lives and should lead in determining meaningful research questions, designs, methods, analyses, and products (Torre & Fine 2006, P .388) which ultimately lead to empowerment and sustainability. Centering our epistemological approach utilizing theses theoretical frameworks helped students challenge damaged centered narratives (Tuck, 2009) which they were situated/located/lived within and constructed desired based approaches which helped to create imaginaries to spark a critical consciousness. Students engaged in praxis (Freire, 1970) as they sought clarity in understanding their education process and the omission of information they found relevant to their experience. In addition co-researchers wanted to be transformational and not conform to expectations constructed for them (Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001) through social justice projects.


Methods and Data

A thematic analysis approach Boyatzis (1998) was utilized to analyze and “make sense of the data”. A thematic analysis was chosen because of its versatility and flexibility as a form of analysis, regardless of the researcher’s ontology or epistemology. Utilizing Boyatzis (1998) four stages outlined in conducting thematic analysis, themes were developed, checked, processed/coded, and interpreted to construct a theoretical or conceptual framework. Data was supplied in the form of summit and program evaluations provided by co-researchers and participants in attendance. Member checks (Keolsch, 2013) were utilized to ensure validity. Feedback from students centered on four themes: further action, self-reflection, connections with others, and embracing their identity.

Scholarly Significance

This collaborative allowed co-researchers to create critical spaces in which they had the ability to engage in topics significant to them and whose context was not being provided within their HS curriculum. Students researched and presented these topics through a desired based critical lens, not highlighting the “damage” present in their communities, but where they envisioned the collective to go. This allowed them to revise/resist/reimagine personal experiences along with historical events which spoke to impactful moments in student’s family history and in their community. Counter stories and narratives allowed for connections to be made between large social issues faced within their immediate life experiences and historical events (Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994).

Author

• Alejandro E. Carrión, Northwestern University