Unsettling Possibilities: Navigating the Methodological, Political, and Ethical Tensions of Youth Participatory Action Research with Asian American and Migrant Youth

• In Event: Youth Participatory Action Research with Asian American Communities: Methodological Innovations and Transformative Possibilities

Abstract

Objectives or Purposes
This paper draws on a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project that explores the experiences of high school–aged Asian and Asian American youth who participated in a summer camp centered on Asian American histories. The camp functioned as a transformative Third Space—an informal learning environment beyond school—where youth reclaimed histories, communities, and belonging often missing from their predominantly white educational contexts. Yet, conducting YPAR within today’s sociopolitical landscape created methodological and ethical tensions, especially in a climate that increasingly criminalizes migrants and targets DEI initiatives. This paper examines the question: What are the methodological, political, and ethical tensions of conducting YPAR with Asian American and migrant youth in this hostile context?

Theoretical Framework
This study is grounded in AsianCrit and Third Space Theory. Drawing on Museus and Iftikar’s (2013) AsianCrit framework, the study engages the tenets of Asianization, (Re)constructive History, and Commitment to Social Justice to examine the experiences of Asian and Asian American youth. Third Space Theory is also used to conceptualize the camp as a hybrid space of disruption and possibility, outside formal schooling. Especially, emerging scholarship linking YPAR and Third Space theory (e.g. Green et al., 2020) positions this camp as a site where young people’s lived experiences catalyze collective learning and transformative action. Together, these frameworks shed light on both the tensions and the possibilities of conducting YPAR with youth navigating the pressures of a hostile political climate.

Methods
YPAR served as both a methodological approach and pedagogical framework. The camp invited high school students to critically engage with Asian American histories and their own lived experiences. While the instructor provided structure, students actively shaped the learning process through inquiry, storytelling, and collaborative projects, positioning themselves as co-creators of knowledge rather than passive recipients. Youth were involved as co-researchers throughout, helping to generate questions, analyze data, and co-author findings. Six youth researchers participated, and data included interviews, group transcripts, written reflections, and artifacts produced during the camp.

Results and Discussion
This presentation highlights the methodological, political, and ethical tensions that surfaced when conducting YPAR in today’s climate. Amid anti-immigrant and xenophobicrhetoric and policies and the banning of DEI initiatives, youth and their families expressed concerns about visibility and safety, particularly regarding authorship and public presentation. Some families requested changes to language deemed politically risky, such as terms associated with “woke” discourse. These moments raised difficult questions: How can we honor youth labor and voice without exposing them to harm? What does ethical research look like when youth participation itself may carry political risk? While YPAR is more necessary than ever for uplifting marginalized narratives, it is also more fraught. This tension between recognition and protection, between resistance and risk is one the research team continues to navigate. This presentation invites the audience to reflect on the responsibilities and tensions of doing justice-oriented, youth-centered research under increasing scrutiny, and to collectively imagine more ethical and responsive research practices moving forward.

Author

• Yeji Kim, University of Missouri