Pedagogies that amplify youth voice and compel social action

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Carrying out youth programs that enable young people to develop the capacity to act toward a more just and inclusive society requires pedagogies that hold spaces for young people to critically reflect on their lives and communities, reimagine how their world can, and should be changed, and amplify their voices to make to create positive social change (Nathan et al., 2023). A major barrier to youth taking meaningful action is unequal power dynamics among youth and adults – particularly among young people who are marginalized – that inhibit young people to freely share experiences that represent their reality (CohenMiller, 2023).

Youth empowerment thus occurs not by educators aiming to transfer knowledge to youth. But instead, empowerment occurs when youth pedagogies create the conditions for empowerment to happen (Jennings et al., 2006). The papers presented in this panel showcase ways various critical pedagogies create the conditions of youth empowerment.

- Arts-based pedagogies are being increasingly used as an effective way for foregrounding youth voice in a way that is uninhibited to verbal communication and free of unequal power dynamics that keep them from expressing their authentic lived experiences (CohenMiller, et al., 2022). This helps young people engage in sensory and emotional aspects of their worlds, laying the foundation for activism.
-Pedagogies developed through research-based partnership with community and university bring together two streams of knowledge that, if designed and implemented to be mutually beneficial, can have immediate positive impact on the community, which generates new knowledge that can be shared in academic and practical circles alike to address critical issues beyond the immediate context (London et al., 2020). Effectively creating conditions for empowerment demands that the team work through conflicting ways of carrying out work (Barajas & Martin, 2016). It also requires flexibility to carry out the project differently depending on the context (London et al., 2020), with particular considerations of power-dynamics and knowledge creation among partners and youth co-researchers.
- Opportunities for civic engagement can prepare youth to be leaders and change agents as adults provided that their experiences are meaningful and connected to their everyday lives (Checkoway & Aldana, 2013).

This panel focuses on creating conditions for empowerment through diverse, youth-centered pedagogies and strategies.

Sub Unit

• Youth Development and Education SIG

Chair

• Joan Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• Arts-based methods as a pedagogical practice fostering affective connection among diverse youth - Erma Mujic, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Joan Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota; Joanna A Tzenis, University of Minnesota; Heidi Ione Fahning, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Zhuldyz Amankulova, University of Minnesota; Ashley Purry, University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN (06940); Michael Winikoff, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Prioritizing program design and pedagogical impact in community-engaged research with youth - Joanna A Tzenis, University of Minnesota; Joan Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota; Erma Mujic, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Heidi Ione Fahning, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; Zhuldyz Amankulova, University of Minnesota; Ashley Purry, University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN (06940); Michael Winikoff, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Youth Engagement for Child Rights Friendly Communities - Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, University of Minnesota