Supporting Critical Social Analysis: Empowering Processes in a Youth Organizing Group
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Supporting Critical Social Analysis: Empowering Processes in a Youth Organizing Group Celeste Nicholas1,2 · Heather Eastman‑Mueller3
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Critical social analysis is a foundational sociopolitical learning experience which supports youth development and social action. While practical guidance for facilitating critical social analysis exists, there is a need for empirical work exploring educator and participant experiences. To understand how urban educators implement critical social analysis and how participants experience it, reflective interviews were conducted with adult leaders and former youth organizers in Teen Advocates for Sexual Health. In a highly-segregated midwestern city, leaders engaged diverse youth in critical social analysis and social action around access to comprehensive school-based sexual health education. Three empowering interpersonal processes supported critical conversations on power, privilege, and sexual health. First, adult leaders established norms for power sharing and group communication. Second, leaders helped youth distinguish between feeling uncomfortable, integral to social justice learning, and feeling emotionally unsafe. Third, leaders supported emotional safety, allowing youth to determine their level of participation. Youth were empowered to remain engaged when uncomfortable, take action if they felt unsafe, and share responsibility for community safety. Combined with other organizing experiences, critical social analysis empowered participants as teens and contributed to adult social justice commitments. Findings contribute to literature on how urban educators can support sociopolitical development across settings. Keywords Youth organizing · Reproductive justice · Social justice education · Empowerment · Critical social analysis · Sexual education
* Celeste Nicholas [email protected] 1
Bloomington, USA
2
School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
3
School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
The Urban Review
Critical Social Analysis: Engaging Students in Social Change Critical social analysis is a foundational sociopolitical learning experience used in formal and informal urban education settings, involving student interrogation of systemic oppression around a target social justice issue (Jennings et al. 2006; Watts and HipolitoDelgado 2015). Educators often associate critical social analysis with social action and the reflection-action cycles of praxis (Freire 1970; Watts and Flanagan 2007). Leaders of youth organizing groups have utilized critical social analysis within social action campaigns aimed at educational reform, immigrant rights, youth employment, and gender issues (Braxton et al. 2013). Beyond campaign successes, participation in critical social analysis also promotes youth development with both self (e.g., identity development) and socially-oriented outcomes (e.g., social responsibility). These outcomes have been combined within a framework for sociopo
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