Possibilities for Civic Education: The Civic Life of One Latina Girl in Los Angeles

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Latinx Communities and the Navigation of Contested Educational Space

Abstract

This paper presents the civic life of Emily, a Latina high school students in Los Angeles, in three curricular spaces. There’s been a more recent call from civic education scholars for a lived civics approach to civic education that accounts for the identities and lived experiences of young people of color, positioning them as experts in localized issues that impact their lives. Drawing from observation and interview data, findings reveal that a place-based civics education—one attuned to the particularities of where young people live, learn, and act—is transformative for the civic lives of youth color in urban communities disproportionally impacted by discriminatory, xenophobic, racist decision-making that we see more of in the current socio-political context.

Author

• Claudia Diera, California State University - Los Angeles