Hope as Survival and Resistance: Social-Emotional Strategies of Girls Navigating Adversity in a Kenyan Slum

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Knowing and Learning in Context

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with adolescent girls in a Kenyan urban slum, this qualitative case study explores how social conditions impact their mental health and educational opportunities, and how they use social-emotional strategies to sustain hope as both survival and resistance. This hope, rooted in action, reflects their determination to overcome adversity and pursue education. Despite ongoing insecurity, the girls adopted protective and relational strategies to preserve their aspirations. By centering their voices, the study offers a nuanced view of resilience in low-resource settings and informs gender-responsive, contextually grounded educational policies that recognize the agency and needs of girls facing systemic disadvantage. The study also highlights its insider-outsider collaborative approach, which integrates local authentic insight with broader conceptual framing.

Authors

• Hyunju Lee, University of Oklahoma

• Zainabu M. Momanyi, University of Oklahoma