Supporting the Development of Students’ Scholar Activist Identities: A Teaching Team’s Collaborative Autoethnography

• In Event: From Motivation to Mobilization: College Student Experiences With Social Change and Justice

Abstract

Many traditional undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are disconnected from the social causes that are important to first-generation Black, Indigenous, People of Color (FG BIPOC) students. This study explores scholar activism as an avenue to support FG BIPOC students’ connections to the social causes they care about. Through a collaborative autoethnography of former students and course assistants with their professor, we identify pedagogical practices that support FG BIPOC students’ scholar activist identity development (SAID). Findings identified that (1) mentoring from the professor and course assistants, (2) bridging theory to practice, (3) centering on the student, (4) creating a community of scholar activists, and (5) engagement of the future scholar activist were essential practices for SAID.

Authors

• Shelby Leigh Smith, University of Southern California

• Maria Isabel Ramos Martinez, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley

• Nhat Truong Vu Xe, Adler & Colvin

• Jeanett Castellanos, University of California - Irvine