Creating a Student-Led Human Rights Conference: A Community of Practice Participatory Ethnography

• In Event: Youth-Led Participatory Action Research: A Research Approach to Bring About Productive Change

Abstract

In the spring of 2017, we, along with over 250 other students, and teachers, created and took part in a student-led human rights conference (SLHRC). Our group of five students and one teacher reconvened on Zoom four-years later. We offer Community of Practice Participatory Ethnography (CoPPE) as a method for collaborative surfacing of the perceived value of a pedagogical event from the distant past, broadening the field’s understanding of what makes an event meaningful. Using Retrospective Participatory Analysis (RPA), a framework we developed with aspects of individual and collective meaning-making, we highlight areas of “Convergence” connected to validation and hard work, where participant’s perceived values aligned; and “Tension,” connected to notions of overall success, where participant’s perceived values diverged.

Authors

• Andrew del Calvo, University of Pennsylvania

• Alessandra Flores, Brandeis University

• Jalyn Lopez, Lawrence University

• Dalwin Corcino, Wheaton College

• Kai Velazquez, Middlebury College

• Roxy Ruedas, Smith College