Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 18 No. 2 (2008) ISSN: 1546-2250 Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion Cammarota, Julio and Fine, Michelle (2008). New York: Routledge; 248 pages. $34.95. ISBN 0415956161. This book discusses how the methods of Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) can be applied in different settings to put tools for education that promotes social justice in young people’s hands. In their introduction, the editors note that when youth develop a critical awareness of injustice, they can respond in three ways: by self-defeating resistance, such as dropping out of schools or job markets that fail to meet their needs; by conforming with the existing system for personal gain, even if they do not agree with many of its premises; or by transformational resistance that seeks to analyze systemic causes of injustice and take action for social change. The chapters that follow describe projects that embody the practice of transformational resistance, using YPAR as a means to democratize knowledge, foster critical inquiry about daily life, and develop liberatory practices. Most chapters focus on engaging youth in investigating and envisioning school reform, but in a chapter that is likely to be of particular interest to CYEreaders who practice participatory planning with youth, Caitlin Cahill, Indra Rios-Moore and Tiffany Threatts describe how YPAR was applied to examine links between the gentrification of the Lower East Side in New York and the stereotyping of young women of color who grew up there. As the project progressed, the young women learned to see their community and themselves in new ways. As one youth researcher said, “I just see with different eyes now. Open eyes . . . I just think that just recently I’ve been opening my eyes.” 292 Reviewer Information Chawla, Louise Louise Chawla is a professor in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado. ...