On the Fascination With Flowers: An Eco-Social Examination of Chronic Stress and Youth Well-Being

• In Event: Reexamining Race-Related Stress, Trauma, and Violence: Ecological, Holistic, and Pedagogical Responses

Abstract

This paper utilizes a three-dimensional approach to engage the symbolism of succulents—a particularly resilient plant—as a metaphor about the impacts of exposure to one’s environment, embodiment of one’s environment, and the ways in which educational settings can serve as positive environments that promote students’ overall well-being. This study has taught the author that while trauma can seriously compromise students’ health, the emotions of love, hope, and purpose can also be embodied to counter this trauma. This research paper engages the dynamics of embodiment and functions as an intervention into the lived experiences of Black students at a public charter school in San Francisco. In partnership with the HER lab of San Francisco State University, this author is conducting a four-year longitudinal study that measures and examines allostatic load (commonly known as wear and tear on the body), oxytocin and telomere length (short telomere length is an indicator of accelerated aging, and has been linked to chronic stress and childhood adversity) as a way to better understand the dynamics and measure the efficacy of culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies. In the paper, the author urges researchers and teachers to see themselves outside of a strict academic-centered pedagogical structure and move toward a more holistic model of education that is also concerned with students’ well-being. To move educators toward critical questions in education, the paper asks: What is the value of a pedagogy that promotes upward mobility if those it influences might not live (or live well enough) to experience the results of their labor? And, how can a pedagogy of well-being achieve both sustained academic achievement and positive health outcomes for students?

Within the paper, I use the analogy of succulents to illuminate the immense care and attention required to cultivate healthy young people and examine the role that schooling environments can play in cultivating healthier people. The paper contributes two important findings: 1) Intersections of social epidemiology are essential within the field of education because educators may not easily recognize the weight of racial and socioeconomic disadvantages that may cause students’ bodies to deteriorate, even while they celebrate them for their academic achievements and/or resiliency; 2) Despite the commonly held belief of the overwhelming nature of traumatic stress and targeted groups’ inability to withstand its negative impacts or respond in healthy ways, schooling environments can paradoxically either influence the deterioration of young people’s bodies or function as sources of strength.

Author

• Tiffani Marie, San Jose State University
  Presenting Author