Critical Participatory Action Research as Resistance in Revolting Times: Towards Critical Hope and Critical Imagination

Session Type: Off-Site Visit

Abstract

The Journey
This off-site presidential session invites participants on a youth-centered theory-rich justice bus journey to the Red Hook Initiative www.rhicenter.org (RHI), a vital community space in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
The bus journey, which will course along the West Side Highway, past Chelsea Piers, through the Hugh Carey Tunnel, and along the artery that Robert Moses built before arriving in Red Hook, will be participatory and educational and will provide participants with the opportunity to see and hear New York City and Red Hook from the perspectives of young people.

The Session
Upon arriving at RHI AERA participants will join Red Hook Community members for a session that will use art and participatory encounter to illuminate and engage the audience around critical participatory action research (PAR) projects from the U.S. and New Zealand. As a body, these Critical PAR projects frame youth-centered research as resistance and consider the relationship of social science to social movements. Projects will feature "survey justice" with LGBTQGE youth, Maori youth navigating futures in Aotearoa, youth of color re-theorizing community experiences of violence, and re-examining lived experiences of the policies of city-run agencies. Panelists will engage the audience in a discussion of various forms critical resistance through a participatory “public science” including creating new forms of research, relationships, critical hope, community sovereignty and solidarity, to explore the realities and possibilities of our everyday lives.

Red Hook
Red Hook is a vibrant waterfront community in northwestern Brooklyn separated from the rest of New York City by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. On the one hand, Red Hook places in sharp relief the educational and social inequalities that mark New York City and other large city centers (e.g., gentrification coupled with racially and socio-economically segregated public schools; economic revitalization coupled with gross neglect of public housing; bifurcated educational and income inequality). On the other, it is home to a resilient community with strong and long-standing social networks and the second largest public housing community in New York City, home to nearly 10,000 residents. Red Hook is also home to vital social justice projects and community organizations such as the RHI which seeks to cultivate civic youth action in response to these inequalities.

Red Hook Initiative
Founded in 2002 in response to severe health and social issues, RHI began as community health project that provided health education and promoted reproductive health. Over time RHI expanded its vision and mission and currently works to “nurture young people to be inspired, resilient and healthy and to envision themselves as co-creators of their lives, community and society.” RHI operates from the premise that “social change to overcome systemic inequities begins with empowered youth.” Youth development, community building and a model of community hiring are at the core of RHI’s approach to strengthening Red Hook’s future. The youth empowerment pipeline, which runs from middle school through young adulthood, endeavors to collaboratively interrupt cycles of injustice and to build hope.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Visit Leaders

• Maddy Fox, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Michelle Fine, City University of New York