Praxis of Resilience and Resistance: "We Can STOP Donald Trump" and Other Messages From Immigrant Children

• In Event: 34.096 - MTCC Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: 34.096-4 - Special Populations: Critical Issues of Forgotten Middle, Refugee, and Migrant Youth

Abstract

Roughly 4.5 million children of immigrants are at risk of family separation due to an enforcement-focused political system (Suárez-Orozco, 2015). This paper provides insight into the lives of one of the most vulnerable and fastest growing populations in the U.S.—immigrant children. As a researcher/educator, I developed an art-centered methodological and pedagogical tool that can serve those working with immigrant children and vulnerable populations. Over a two-year period, I used artistic tools to work with children of immigrants in a sixth-grade class of English Language Learners (ELL). Ultimately, through educational, artistic, and anecdotal components of their work, these children in the city of South Central LA created a world where they could resist and fight Trump through the transformative imaginary of art.

Author

• Silvia Rodriguez Vega, University of California - Los Angeles