Trans-Ecology of Activist Educators: How Life Experiences Shape Sociopolitical Youth Development Work

• In Event: 29.082 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.082-22 - Decentering School: Exploring Community Spaces as Rich Sites for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The work of developing and nurturing students’ sociopolitical consciousness has been understudied in both inside (Ladson-Billings, 2014) and outside of school contexts (Author, 2015). While existing research has delineated various pedagogical practices of outside of school time practitioners, less is known about practitioners themselves and their decisions to build sociopolitical consciousness among youth. Who are outside of school providers and what shepherds them into practices that build sociopolitical consciousness among youth in their programs and/or organizations?

Through life history interviews (Seidman, 2005) with six racially and culturally diverse practitioners, this study examines the interrelated nature of these practitioners’ lived experiences and their decisions to focus on sociopolitical youth development. Drawing from Watts et al.’s (2003) theory of trans-ecological aspects of sociopolitical development, the author analyzes what outside of school practitioners say about how they came to engage in the work of sociopolitical youth development and how practitioners’ life experiences emerge in their work.

Evidence from this research suggests 1. practitioners’ life experiences of marginalization and “othering” were salient in shaping their desire to nurture youth sociopolitical development; and 2. experiences with marginalization emerged in practitioners work through practitioners intentionally creating liberating spaces for youth as well as practitioners’ attentiveness to healing as central to their work. Implications of this study are twofold: 1. This study points to the need for further investigations of adults and their roles in building youth experiences in sociopolitical consciousness; and 2. This research points to the need to build critical reflective practices for practitioners in their preparation to support and cultivate sociopolitical consciousness among youth.

Author

• Ira Murray, University of Pittsburgh