Conceptualizations of Youth Belonging in a rapidly changing US community

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Developing Youths’ Engagement in Democratic Practices in the U.S. through Arts-based Youth Participatory Programs

Proposal

Situated in a Minnesota county representing the rapidly diversifying urban-rural continuum, this study seeks to understand how a diverse group of high school age youth experience belonging, or not, in these changing environments and develop civic engagement through an arts-based program.

An interdisciplinary body of critical research posits that youth belonging and civic engagement are important elements for fostering social justice in communities (Shaw et al, 2014; Checkoway & Aldana, 2013). Underlying problems that affect diverse youths belonging and civic engagement include: divisiveness and exclusion of diverse perspectives; lack of trust in others and institutions; and marginalization from public discourse (Baylina & Rodó-Zárate, 2020; Metzger, et al., 2020). We utilize a critical youth empowerment framework (Jennings et al., 2006), to understand youth as assets to their diverse communities, to explore how their belonging to multiple communities can be fostered through a participatory, arts-based program, and to inform the program and our research analysis.

The study takes a community-engaged, ethnographic approach to study youth experiences of belonging and civic engagement. The pilot 5-week program took place in a rapidly changing community in Minnesota in April-May 2022. The program sessions explored historical themes that have shaped the community, introduced participants to alternative perspectives, and encouraged them to explore and share their own experiences through a series of reflective arts-based activities. Participants co-constructed the research with the research team by producing audio recordings, photographs, maps, and handwritten notes. In the final session, they shared their findings with members of the community. The research team used ethnographic methods, relying primarily on participant observation and open-ended interviews of youth experiencing the program, to understand youths' perspectives and attitudes about their communities.

Preliminary findings indicate that arts-based methods foster an environment where youth grapple with conceptualizations of belonging, both in relation to their own lives and to others’ experiences. Shared conversations around the history of place, youths’ unique lived experiences within the community, and exposure to unfamiliar spaces and perspectives highlight tensions surrounding youths’ understandings and experiences of belonging. For example, during a map exploration activity, youth participants grappled with questions such as “what is this place and how do I fit in.” Similarly, through a sound narrative exercise in unfamiliar places, youth questioned how belonging shifts across different spaces, places, and over time. These experiences led to conversations about how belonging is continually being negotiated as it is experienced within their families, school, and community circles (Fahning, 2021). As this study progresses, the relationship between these spaces of belonging and civic engagement will likely become clearer. These emergent findings contribute to the scholarship on belonging and civic engagement through timely and relevant research on youth in changing, diversifying, and divided communities.

Authors

• Heidi Ione Fahning, Purdue University

• Zhuldyz Amankulova, University of Minnesota

• Erma Mujic, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

• Joan Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota

• Joanna A Tzenis, U of MN