Youth at the Root: Political Study and Participation

Student Engagement in Minneapolis Public Schools and UMN-TC are partnering to embolden student leaders to create positive change in student experiences. Our goal is to support youth across the city in making connections between critical theories, political education, organizing strategies, and each other. In “Youth at the Root” 8th graders, high school and college-aged mentors, educators, and University faculty will meet to study and strategize together, learning about Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as one tool for school change.

We will engage in what Stefano Harney and Fred Moten (2013: 11) describe as “black study” - “a mode of thinking with others separate from the thinking that the institution requires of you.” An indispensable aspect of black study is something done "with and for" (communities). Through this form of study, we will engage with deep reading and analysis that affirms students' lived experiences. Thus, this form of study becomes not just a site of learning, but political education, for both youth and adults. Connecting study to transformative and participatory action, we will use Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) practices to connect youth to communities and towards change; having young people decide how to use their power is “the most powerful impact of YPAR is that it spreads seeds of change that inspire more action-based research” (Caraballo et al, 2017: 323). Political education has no endpoint because the struggle for liberation continues. Still, the sooner youth sharpen their analysis and practice collective participation, their political commitments and contributions grow deeper.