Resisting Niceness and Civility: Youth of Color Activism in Suburban Des Moines

• In Event: Reimagining Suburbia: Youth of Color, Family, and Community Activism for Educational Justice

Abstract

Purpose

As youth of color transform the demographic landscape of predominantly white suburban schools, they navigate schools that bring academic and social tradeoffs (Chapman, 2014; Drake, 2022; Lewis & Diamond, 2015; Lung-Amam, 2013; Ochoa, 2013). These marginalizing experiences serve as “civic lessons” that shape youth of color’s sociopolitical identities and activism (Clay & Rubin, 2020). This youth-centered critical ethnography centers on the activism of 10 students of color at Meadowland High School (MHS, pseudonym), a predominantly white suburban school outside Des Moines, Iowa. This study is guided by the following questions: 1. How do suburban youth of color develop their sociopolitical identities and commitments to activism? 2. How do youth of color mobilize and fight for social justice issues in and out of school?

Framework

To analyze how students’ sociopolitical identities take shape and participate in activism, I employ scholarship on fugitivity (Coles et al., 2021; Player et al., 2020; Sojoyner, 2017). Player et al. (2020) define fugitivity as “an orientation towards liberatory consciousness […]” (p. 141-142). Fugitivity facilitates a nuanced understanding of youth of color’s agency, simultaneously honoring their activism while wrestling with youth-based dynamics that speak to the tensions in activism movements. I take this approach to examine how educators use their age-based power in tandem with notions of civility to undermine student grievances and activism (Castagno, 2014; Gordon, 2009).

Methods & Data Analysis

This critical ethnographic project is ongoing. Fieldwork began in Spring 2021 and will conclude in Spring 2023. Analysis for this paper entails data collected during the 2021-2022 school year of 10 students of color who were purposefully recruited. More specifically, I analyze participant observation data of classroom and afterschool settings, informal interviews with students, and artifacts such as student assignments or flyers. Situated in the interpretive approach (Dyson & Genishi, 2005). I coded three rounds of thematic coding, with the first round entailing open coding and the subsequent rounds being focused (Emerson et al., 2011).

Results & Significance

Despite the long history of youth activism, little is known about what that looks like in suburban contexts. My analysis examines youth of color’s search for greater solidarity and accountability. Findings showcase the efforts and tensions participants grappled with (e.g., book clubs, information campaigns, walkouts) amid a schooling environment that ghosts and gaslights them. By ghosting, I refer to how educators renege on their supposed commitments to support students' academic and social well-being. By gaslighting, I refer to how adults critique, deny and place blame upon young people when they voice their grievances and seek action.

This study takes place amid a climate of heightened political polarization. While research has highlighted the need and positive impact of incorporating student voice in creating justice-oriented schools (Welton et al., 2022), educators struggle to engage and empower youth on issues they care about (Hess & McAvoy; 2014; Kahne et al., 2021). As suburban schools continue to change demographically, youth of color’s activism is instructive in cultivating and sustaining liberatory experiences and outcomes.

Author

• Gabriel Rodriguez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author