Abandoning Shame and Guilt for Radical Love: Youth Participatory Action Research as “Pueblo” Work

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium gathers the youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects of four doctoral students to highlight their work in the service of strengthening collective solidarity. These studies are informed by the ongoing silencing of young people’s direct input in education knowledge production that has historically served to reproduce violent schooling structures. Guided by critical theories, each paper illuminates data moments for how YPAR participates in knowledge production that nourishes solidarity work across and within social differences, and invokes what conference organizers have called “community, history, ancestors, place, and investment” in each other. The projects take research into the ontological realms of gender nonconforming youth in homophobic, transphobic and heteronormative schooling spaces; the pervasive structures of food insecurity among Latina high school youth; the under-representation of unserved students in community college completion rates; and Black and Latinx high school students’ lived experiences with the exclusive learning spaces of Advanced Placement courses.

Sub Track

• American Educational Studies Association

Chair

• Patricia Krueger-Henney, University of Massachusetts Boston

Discussant

• Patricia Krueger-Henney, University of Massachusetts Boston

Individual Presentations

• “Do Not Ignore My Voice!” A Call for Action From Gender Expansive Youth - Samantha Hoyo, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Her Seat at the Table: A Youth Participatory Examination of Food Insecurity Among Latina Youth - Jessica Arrendol-Kiely, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Community College Non-Completion: Inserting the Voices of Marginalized Students in Education Policy and Practices - Tara Gully-Hightower, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Ms. That Class is for White People.” Black and Latinx students’ Experiences with Advanced Placement - Cynthia Massillon, University of Massachusetts Boston