Critical Thinking on Youth Participatory Action Research

This book illuminates critical thinking on the past, present, and future of youth participatory action research (YPAR). In this critical moment, it shows how to better understand those who have been central to the visioning and enacting of YPAR projects, and it examines the fundamental tenets and boundaries of their work. More than a how-to guide, this work showcases new interviews with leaders in the field, allowing them to discuss many of the nuances, roots, and tensions of this research. Throughout these conversations, three questions are posed: What is the purpose of YPAR, and how does it get defined? What makes for authentic participation, both on the research team itself and in the process of the research? And how, if at all, will the work investigate and seek to dismantle existing power structures within schools and communities? In taking an intentionally dialectical approach, this volume builds on the centrality of dialogue in PAR/YPAR processes, both in terms of pedagogy/mode and in terms of content/matter. By sharing direct excerpts of conversations, readers can participate in the co-construction of knowledge, and gain more nuanced understandings of how purpose, participation, and power have shaped the foundations of YPAR, and how they might shape future collaborations. Elucidating the knowledge and perspective of leading YPAR practitioners, this timely book will be crucial reading on Research Methods and Education courses for Participatory Action Research programs and related courses.