Youth Taking Action: Social Imagining, Immigration, and Settlement Through a Hybrid YPAR (Youth Participatory Action Research) Documentary Project

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 2:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Repairing With(in) CHAT: Inclusion, Social Imagination, and Decolonial Perspectives (Table 5)

Abstract

Cultural-historical approaches call for utopian methodologies that build upon collective practices to imagine worlds that do not yet exist. With Youth Taking Action, a youth participatory action research (YPAR) program with 11 newcomer youths in Canada, we gathered stories of immigrating and settling through dialogue as the youth learned documentary filmmaking techniques and crafted a documentary with the data they collected. Along with the barriers they faced, opportunities were identified, as well as possible actions to address, remedy, and repair the sources of inequity they found. This research revealed that linguistic racism and inadequate institutional support were the primary challenges they faced, leading the participants to speculate on ways to create a collective voice to advocate for future newcomer youth.

Authors

• Natacha Monestel-Mora, University of British Columbia

• Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, University of British Columbia