Co-Writing the “Long Path” With Youth: Intergenerational Inquiry as Futuring and Civic Repair

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Participatory Action Research for Educational Justice

Abstract

As struggles for democracy and justice unfold across schools and communities, one way forward is co-writing the “long path” through intergenerational civic inquiry. In an out-of-school civic engagement research initiative, 20 high school and undergraduate youth collaborate with five adult co-researchers to co-construct knowledge by surfacing local issues, excavating memory, and imagining futures. Over a decade of biweekly meetings, participants have cultivated a civic praxis grounded in listening, storytelling, and justice-driven research. Rooted in participatory action research, this poster explores how youth-led inquiry becomes civic co-authorship—preserving histories and designing public futures. Through co-written texts and reflections, presenters show how their collaborative inquiry challenges injustice, addresses harm, and enacts future-making, framing civic learning as an ongoing process of reckoning and collective repair.

Authors

• Jennifer Freed, University of Pennsylvania

• Vivian L. Gadsden, University of Pennsylvania

• Sharnita Midgett, University of Pennsylvania

• Zili Zhang, Pennsylvania State University