In this introduction to the special issue, "Youth Participatory Action Research on Puerto Rican Students' Experiences with Hurricane Maria: Shifting from Resilience to Resistance," we outline the theoretical foundations of youth participatory action research (YPAR) and explicate the guiding principles that are seminal in the corpus of…

This article explains how some youth gain insights into educational processes of social reproduction by participating in a pedagogy of transformational resistance. These insights lead to resistances that have the potential to transform young people's subjectivities while allowing them to envision ways of learning to counteract oppressive and…

This on-going ethnographic study examines how a counter-space, La Libertad, introduces Latin@ students to a liberating pedagogy of praxis which counters dehumanization they experience in their high school. This study used Paulo Freire's dehumanization concept as a guide to reveal how Latin@ youth encounter oppression, injustice, and exploitation…

This ongoing ethnographic study examines how a counter-space, La Libertad, introduces Latin@ students to a liberating pedagogy of praxis which counters dehumanization they experience in their high school. The researcher spent 180+ hours over 14 months in the field collecting data through participant observation, field notes, and personal…

This article reports on racism expressed by school personnel (administrators and teachers) and experienced by Latina/o students at a high school located in Tucson, Arizona. Students in a specialized social science research program, called the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP), documented personal encounters with racist articulations at their…

This essay reviews Latina/o students' counter-narratives challenging colorblindness. The author highlights the experiences of students from Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program. By examining student counter-narratives, the author also identifies race-related terms that are more suitable for dialogue among and with…

In this article, the authors explore the importance of interpersonal relationships for facilitating Latino/a students' academic success, focusing on the way that dynamic notions of culture enhance their understanding of these crucial relationships. The authors discuss two types of relationships that support student success: (1) relationships with…

The work of addressing the challenge of the education of Latinos/as has begun through, among other efforts, the National Latino/a Education Research and Policy Project, or NLERAP. Beginning in 2000 as a national initiative of the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos at Hunter College, NLERAP's goal has been to add multiple Latino/a perspectives to…

The protest against Arizona House Bill 2281 designed to ban Ethnic Studies from K-12 public schools on 12 May 2010 in Tucson resulted in 15 arrests. Students walked out of their classrooms in large numbers to defend their Mexican American Studies curriculum and program. Based primarily on participant observation of the protest, the authors examine…

This article reports on research projects conducted primarily by first and second generation Mexican American high school students who document how school relationships are shaped by Arizona's racist political discourses. They conducted observations of their school experiences and then wrote up what they were observing in field notes. Field note…

In this paper we forward our experiences and understanding of how we have used critical race theory (CRT) in our classrooms; more importantly, we bring forth the voices of students as a method of conveying the impact of our CRT classroom exercises. These exercises are parts of three structures that we created to counter the reality of racism and…

The article reports on Latina/o high school students who conducted participatory action research (PAR) on problems that circumscribe their possibilities for self-determination. The intention is to legitimize student knowledge to develop effective educational policies and practices for young Latinas/os. PAR is engaged through the Social Justice…

This article illustrates how elements of praxis within George Spindler's cultural therapy and Paul Willis's cultural production are useful precedents for a praxis-based pedagogy. I argue that combining the praxis elements within cultural therapy and cultural production engenders a third mode of ethnographic praxis that I call "cultural…

Latina/o students often experience coursework that is remedial and unchallenging--benign at best, a dumbing-down at worst. This potential limiting curriculum is not only failing to provide Latinas/os with the credentials necessary to advance economically, but their education denies them the opportunity to develop the critical voices and…

This article discusses how an experimental social science curriculum has influenced Latina/o students' perspectives of their potential to graduate high school and attend college. The curriculum, which is called the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP), requires students to adopt a serious academic subjectivity to analyze and address social…