"Twisted Garden": Cultivating Change in the New Orleans Education Landscape (Poster 25)

• In Event: Friday Poster Session 3:05 pm
  In Workshop: AERA Youth Teams in Education Research Poster Session

Abstract

In the “Twisted Garden” project, African American students from New Orleans public schools used comics-based research methods to explore their experiences in the city’s privatized school system. The project aimed to counter the test score-focused narrative of educational success by creating culturally relevant knowledge that centered on youth perspectives. Their experiences were compiled into a graphic novel, “Twisted Garden.”
The study was informed by critical race theory and youth participatory action research methodology, supplemented by arts-based and decolonizing methodologies. Comics-based research, specifically collaborative graphic autoethnography, was employed. Data was gathered through participant-created comic narratives. The narratives highlighted the influence of gender, race, and class on their school experiences, the punitive environment under “zero tolerance” policies, and a sense of overlooked grief. Despite these challenges, a theme of the need for change emerged.
The project demonstrated the power of fiction in counter-storytelling and the transformative potential of comics-based research. The study calls for a shift towards asset-based, healing-centered approaches in education to address anti-Blackness and grief, advocating for changes in educational policies and practices.

Authors

• Rae Stevenson, Clark University

• Jonta Gumms, Youth Teams in Education Research

• Shine Holmes, Youth Teams in Education Research

• Tia Augustin, Youth Teams in Education Research