Resilience in Action: Reflections From Latinx Students Belonging to a Youth Participatory Action Research Club

• In Event: 15.061 - MTCC Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: 15.061-8 - Empowering Latinx Youth

Abstract

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) involves training youth to conduct research on issues related to their lived experiences and to use the research to create evidence-based change. This study examined how a YPAR school club at a primarily Latinx, southwestern elementary school related to students’ resilience and resistance to racism. Sixteen individual interviews and 23 club meeting observations, involving nine Latinx 7-8th graders (6 females), were analyzed using NVivo. Students described family socialization in understanding their Latinx identities. YPAR sessions developed assets such as student agency through the discussion of community issues and learning of research and academic skills. YPAR promoted empowerment through knowledge of racial inequalities, fostering ethno-racial identities, and increased sense of school belonging for the students.

Authors

• Saskias Casanova, UC Santa Cruz

• Roberto Rentería