Re-Membering Pedagogical Activism: Africana Research Methodologies in a Multi-State Youth-Led Lab

• In Event: Stepping into the (Cess)Pool While the Water Is Stirring: Deconstructing/Reconstructing Black Pedagogical Activism Narratives

Abstract

This paper examines the research processes and methodological decisions made in The Young People’s Black Pedagogical Activism Lab (“The Lab”)--a multi-state, multi-university youth participatory action research (YPAR) program rooted in Africana/Black Studies. Developed in partnership with the Southern Education Foundation and the Black Teacher Archive, “The Lab” engages Black youth researchers, cultural historians, and educators in a learning community reclaiming the activist pedagogical tradition of Jeanes Teacher Supervisors—Black women educators whose work during Jim Crow combined classroom teaching with civic organizing in often fatally oppressive conditions.

As both instructor and researcher in “The Lab,” I analyze how we leveraged Africana research methods, including intergenerational dialogue, place-based inquiry, family history, and archival research as cultural tools for re-membering fragmented histories (King & Swartz, 2014). Youth conducted archival research, interviewed elders, created contextualized timelines, and documented stories through digital portfolios and presentations. These were not just outputs, they were acts of returning what they learned, acts of community answerability, and acts of civic leadership in reclaiming systematically erased history (Author(a), 2017; Boudreau et al., 2024; Duncan 2025; King, L., 2014; Patel, 2014). This work moved through and across memory and place to explore Southern geographies where political, economic, and intellectual activism lived and still lives (Menefee, 2018).

Theoretical Framework/Methods

Anchored in Black radical and intellectual traditions, this project enacts research as social and political processes (Eizadirad, Kilinc & Straub, 2024). Drawing from culturally informed thematic analysis and autoethnographic methods, I reflect on my instructor and research roles. My approach to data analysis was grounded in culturally informed thematic analysis and autoethnographic methods consistent with participatory action research (Ibhakewanlan & McGrath, 2015). I examined field notes, lab transcripts, youth portfolios, and curriculum adaptations to surface the tensions, ethical considerations, and transformative moments that shaped the Lab. Reflexivity was not an afterthought—it was required at every step, particularly as we navigated institutional partnerships, regional dynamics, and the urgency of protecting vulnerable narratives in politically repressive times.

Results/Scholarly Significance

This work aligns with the 2026 AERA theme, Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures, by showing how youth-led historical research rooted in Africana/Black Studies traditions becomes a tool for shaping educational futures rooted in truth, justice, and cultural integrity. The Lab demonstrates what’s possible when Africana methodologies are not just cited but practiced in relationship with community, with history, and with place. It also responds to the Inquiry in the Social Context of Education section’s call to examine research as a process situated in local and global struggle, rooted in justice, and guided by epistemologies that emerge from the people themselves. At a time when Black histories are under attack, this project asserts that research can serve as a site of protection, reclamation, and political possibility.

Author

• Melissa Speight Vaughn, Georgia State University