Black and Latinx Youth Ingenuity: Toward Solidarities in Classroom Everyday Interactions

• In Event: Toward Decolonial Classrooms and Learning: Disrupting Dominant and Normative Practices of Language, Literacies, and Culture

Abstract

Objectives:
Narratives in educational research too often position Black and Latinx youth pejoratively, treating their cultural and linguistic practices as evidence of their intellectual inferiority (Menchaca, 1997). In schools, Black and Latinx youth experience heightened surveillance (Author, 2016; Fine, et al, 2003), disproportionately face suspension and expulsion (Musser 2021), and are more likely to leave or be pushed out of schools (Sojourner, 2016). Larger master narratives too often pit Black and Latinx youth against one another (Kun & Pulido 2014), too often amplifying narratives of conflict and tension as these youth and their families vie for social, political and economic resources (Pratt, 1991). This paper will present findings that shift these narratives towards one that aligns with well supported experiences of Black and Latinx collaboration and solidarity against white supremacist projects. In fact, this work points to the varying ways youth themselves engage in culturally sustaining pedagogies and practices (Paris & Alim, 2016) by leveraging a range of communicative practices to express alignment, support and solidarity with one another.

Theoretical Framework:
Drawing on notions of ingenuity (McDermott & Raley, 2007; Gutierrez, et al, 2017), and conceptual understandings of solidarity (Mayorga & Picower, 2018; Liu & Shange, 2018), this work looks closely at classroom interactions between Black and Latinx youth to make visible how hearing these youth closely and differently allows for expressions ingenuity to emerge during communication and interaction. Calling on scholars to view ingenuity as a collective endeavor rather than an individual trait (McDermott & Raley, 2007), and to search for ways to “look anew” (Gutierrez, et al, 2017), this work uses discourse analysis, as a theoretical window to analyze communicative moves to show alignment and discord across speakers (Goodwin & Kyratzis, 2010). That is, through their collective and complex relationships, these youth position themselves, through discursive practices, in alignment with each other, and against narratives of opposition and “presumed” alliances (Vaca, 2004).

Methods:
This work draws on two multi-year ethnographic studies of the communicative repertoires of Black and Latinx youth in urban literacy classrooms. In revisiting these data, micro-interactions were closely examined for moments where Black and Latinx youth aligned themselves with one another and away from teachers whose utterances aligned with ideologies of language and race upholding whiteness. Discourse analytic methods were used to further analyze youth utterances during these moments for highlighting youth agency and ingenuity.

Findings and Scholarly Significance:
Findings across ethnographic studies point to the need to “look anew” (Gutierrez et al, 2017) and hear in ways that allow for youth ingenuity to be observed, and for moments of solidarity to be considered between Black and Latinx youth. These moments highlight the potential for youth to reframe narrative of discord toward narratives of collaboration, alliance and solidarity. This work is significant as it provides stakeholders with a lens to 1) view moments of solidarity emerging discursively between youth, 2) position Black and Latinx youth as agential and collectively ingenious, and 3) leverage these relationships for learning interactions that deepen collaboration between Black and Latinx communities.

Author

• Danny C. Martinez, University of California - Davis