Reconsidering Citizenship Models and the Case for Cultural Citizenship: Implications for a Social Psychology of Social Justice

This chapter reviews citizenship constructions in the United States and examines how historic, legal, economic, schooling, and multicultural “melting pot” ideology landscapes shape citizenship and its performance. It introduces cultural citizenship as an alternative starting point for citizenship and its performance, providing a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for cultural citizenship, and argues in support of incorporating this framework into social psychology when working toward collective social justice. It also discusses the implications of adopting a cultural citizenship perspective for social psychology and how this perspective can extend our understanding of citizenship practices to enact social justice. We conclude with recommendations for research and action

Photovoice and House Meetings Within Participatory Action Research

Participatory action research (PAR) is an epistemology where community members and researchers collaborate to (a) determine the problem to be researched, (b) collect data, (c) analyze data, (d) come to a conclusion, (e) determine an intervention, (f) implement the intervention, and (g) evaluate the intervention (Fals Borda, 1987). We refer to PAR as an epistemology rather than as a method because most PAR theorists view it as a way for those typically situated outside of science to insert their lived experiences and perspectives into the process of knowledge construction (Fals Borda, 1987). Specifically, PAR allows for the democratization of knowledge production by engaging multiple constituents. Through this PAR process, problem definitions shift, thus posing meaningful implications for community-based interventions and social action that focuses on addressing community members’ needs. Indeed, some argue that PAR is an epistemology that is intimately connected to empowerment and social change (Fals Borda, 1987). We begin our chapter by discussing the two methods within the PAR process, specifically, how photovoice and house meetings work as tools toward social action and empowerment. We highlight some of the relevant literature where these tools have been used. For each method we discuss the steps involved in the process, as well as the benefits and challenges of each. Next, we provide reflections from two of our participant-researchers, who are also coauthors. We end the chapter with implications for community-based PAR and consider how photovoice and house meetings work as tools toward critical consciousness, empowerment, and social action

“It’s a puzzle!” Elementary School-AgedYouth Concept-Mapping the Intersections ofCommunity Narratives

We present a concept-mapping activity, developed within a youth Participatory Action Research (yPAR) after-school program, to demonstrate how the activity contributed to young people’s conceptualization of social structures as interconnected. We analyze fieldnotes from the Change 4 Good yPAR program, which includes primarily Latina/o 4th and 5th grade students attending a California public elementary school. We discuss the concept-mapping activity in terms of its processes and outcomes, and how youth constructed interconnected meanings from thematic community narratives

Thinking Through our Processes: How the UCSC Community Psychology Research & Action Team Strives to Embody Ethical, Critically Reflexive Anti-racist Feminist Praxis

Co-written by eight people, this paper describes how the UCSC Community Psychology Research and Action Team (CPRAT) organizes itself in weekly group meetings and how this structure is an attempt to embody an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. First, we outline the community psychology core competency of an ethical, reflective practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). We offer a friendly amendment to consider an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. Second, we discuss how we organize CPRAT meetings to uphold these ideas. We describe our current structure, which includes personal and project check-ins, rotating facilitation, and attention to broader professional development issues. Third, we provide two examples to illustrate our process: (a) why talking about poop matters in addressing imposter syndrome and (b) getting our team on the same page regarding a research site. We end the paper with a description of a “rough edge,” or an area for growth in our praxis

“Yes, they were suffering, but we brought the music”: Social toxicity and possibility during the COVID-19 pandemic onset for undocumented and unhoused people

Under a neoliberal regime and a pandemic crisis, social toxicity is expected (Klien, 2008). Yet, social possibility and opportunities for cohesion and collectivism can occur. We discuss how social toxicity and possibility sit side by side during the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on the glimmerings of mutual aid for those who are undocumented and unhoused in Santa Cruz county. Given the stay-at-home orders we, a graduate community psychology class, enacted photovoice online to analyze our context. We discerned a spectrum of possibilities as they coincided with toxicity, We present two examples of how social possibility and toxicity are mixed and two examples of social possibility that include some aspects of mutual aid. These discernments can expand understanding of mutual aid and help the community psychologist know where to apply pressure and how to move forward to work toward social justic

Elucidating the Power in Empowerment and the Participation in Participatory Action Research: A Story About Research Team and Elementary School Change

Community psychologists are increasingly using Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a way to promote social justice by creating conditions that foster empowerment. Yet, little attention has been paid to the differences between the power structure that PAR advocates and the local community power structures. This paper seeks to evaluate the level of participation in a PAR project for multiple stakeholder groups, determine how PAR was adjusted to better fit community norms, and whether our research team was able to facilitate the emergence of PAR by adopting an approach that was relevant to the existing power relations. We conclude that power differences should not be seen as roadblocks to participation, but rather as moments of opportunity for the researchers to refine their methods and for the community and the community psychologist to challenge existing power structures

A Recess Evaluation with the Players: Taking Steps Toward Participatory Action Research

This playground study conceptualizes recess as a time and space that belongs to students; their inclusion in this evaluation is a notable difference from other recess/playground research. The goal was to help elementary school students make the changes they felt were needed on their playground. After conducting structured observations and student and recess aide focus groups, a report was presented to all stakeholders, and recess changes were made. We seek to show how the process of being inclusive during the evaluation was not only valuable for determining problem definition and potential interventions, but was also necessary to determine the best methods for solutions, move toward second-order change, and to create a space to facilitate children’s participation and empowerment

Rootedness in School Microsettings: Children's Experiences of Places in School

261 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001.Eight elementary school children in a low income and predominately African American school were interviewed and observed over a one year period to examine their experiences of places associated with school. Two focal constructs, microsettings (settings within settings) and rootedness (feelings, relationships, and behaviors related to microsettings) are introduced as extensions of place experience constructs. Children named microsettings such as the gym, playground, and classroom as liked places, and the classroom, another school classroom, and the discipline room as disliked places. Themes associated with liked places include the physical environment facilitating the place's function, family involvement, and opportunities for leadership, independence, and autonomy. Themes associated with disliked places included the physical environment inhibiting the place's function, a lack of opportunities for independence and autonomy, perceptions of differential treatment, and child attempts to change the physical environment. Multidimensional scaling results indicate that children cognitively organize places based on academics, autonomy, feelings, and crowding. Social network analyses reveal that all children prefer their in-class peers, especially those of the same gender and race. For boys, more egalitarian networks were associated with liked places and more centralized networks were associated with disliked places. Boys felt more supported in their liked places, evidenced by more ties to those in the network. These patterns did not hold for girls. Results indicate that all children are engaged in schooling. The challenge is to determine how they are engaged. The construct of rootedness is retained because of its use in examining context (at the microsetting level). Rootedness is achieved when a child is engaged in ways deemed appropriate by those in power in the setting and when the metacommunicative practices convey that those in the microsetting are competent, capable, effective individuals.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD