This is exactly what this study is all about and it is happening right in front of me! Using Participatory action research to awaken a sense of injustice within a privileged institution

Rockport is an elite, all boys, day school in the northeast United States. It educates mostly white, wealthy, young men. Student researchers, faculty researchers and I collaborated to study bullying at Rockport using an approach to research known as participatory action research (PAR). In the process we also gained a better understanding of how privilege, especially gendered privilege, was socialized and (re)produced. The participatory research spaces that emerged in our project - grounded in the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators - facilitated critical awareness of self and context that Deutsch (2006) referred to as awaking the sense of injustice. Over the course of a year, our research at Rockport collected data of local consequence and in doing so, built institutional momentum that has since become a school-wide and ongoing initiative to address bullying. As a result, this work was a form of counter-hegemonic action

Growing Up Policed in the Age of Aggressive Policing Policies

Spray-painted atop an old tenement building in the East Village of Manhattan is a large fossilized graffiti image of a tyrannosaurus rex that reads: “NYC EATS ITS YOUNG.” With its ribs exposed and mouth open, this image represents symbolically what many young people in the neighborhood already know intimately and have experienced: New York City (NYC) is not an easy place to grow up. Their social safety nets are being dismantled and the public institutions they rely on every day often fail them. In NYC, public school budgets are being slashed each year even though the high school dropout/push-out rates are far too high. Neighborhoods are fast becoming gentrified as the ever-rising cost of rent makes it increasingly difficult for the working class and poor to raise families anywhere in the city. A truly comprehensive health system in the United States is still only a future hope, while countless NYC young people are without adequate healthcare; the logic of the welfare state is forever being attacked. And then there is the mounting police presence. It is this public institution--The New York City Police Department (NYPD), its aggressive policing policies, and how these policies are related to youth experience--that we will take up here. In this article, we will explore what it is like to grow up policed in NYC

Collaborative Research for Justice and Multi-Issue Movement Building: Challenging Discriminatory Policing, School Closures, and Youth Unemployment

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation with a set of related articles published in the spring 2018 special issue of Urban Education (Warren et al, 2018) that also addressed ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional tensions in collaborative research for justice. This EPAA special issue aims to advance the discussion through deep reflection within the context of focal ‘cases’ and within efforts to open space within universities for modes of engaged scholarship that can respond to the challenges of the current moment, as described in the articles that bookend the cases. Taken all together, this special issue demonstrates how scholars, educators, teachers, activists, community leaders, and policy makers can use the production and mobilization of knowledge as a force for building, supporting, sustaining, and advancing multi-issue movements for justice not just in schools and the academy but also in communities of color and others aggrieved by current inequities

The Uneven Distribution of Social Suffering: Documenting the Social Health Consequences of Neo-liberal Social Policy on Marginalized Youth

In 2009, British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett published The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Strong , in which they argue that severely unequal societies produce high rates of ‘social pain”: adverse outcomes including school drop out, teen pregnancy, mental health problems, lack of social trust, high mortality rates, violence and crime, low social participation. Their volume challenges the belief that the extent of poverty in a community predicts negative outcomes. They assert instead that the size of the inequality gap defines the material and psychological contours of the chasm between the wealthiest and the most impoverished, enabling various forms of social suffering to saturate a community, appearing natural. In societies with large gaps, one finds rampant State and socially reproduced disregard, dehumanization, policy neglect and abuse. As you might guess, the income inequality gap of the US ranks the highest in their international comparisons. Furthermore, New York State ranks the highest among other states and a recent report published by the United Nations (UN-HABITAT, 2008) has found New York City to rank as one of the highest among other major cities in the country. Moving these notions into social psychology, we have been studying what we call circuits of dispossession and privilege (Fine & Ruglis, 2009) as they affect the uneven distribution of social health among privileged and marginalized youth in New York City

Pesquisa nas fronteiras da comunidade-universidade: Uso da ciência pública para estudar vigilância policial no South Bronx

This article is a case study of the Morris Justice Project (MJP), a participatory action research (PAR) study in a South Bronx neighborhood of New York City (NYC) designed to understand residents’ experiences with and attitudes towards the New York Police Department (NYPD). An illustration of public science, the research was conducted in solidarity with an emerging police reform movement and in response to an ongoing and particularly aggressive set of policing policies that most heavily impacts poor communities and communities of color.  The case study describes a set of ongoing participatory, research-action, “sidewalk science” strategies, developed in 42 square blocks of the South Bronx, designed to better understand and challenge the ongoing structural violence of the carceral state. Collaboratively written with members of the Morris Justice collective, we tell our story across three sections that outline the genesis of the project, describe our major commitments, and offers PAR and public science as a possible “intervention” in traditional university practice.Este artículo es un estudio de caso del Proyecto de Morris Justice (MJP), un estudio de investigación de acción participativa (PAR) en un vecindario del South Bronx de la Ciudad de Nueva York (NYC) diseñado para comprender las experiencias y las actitudes de los residentes hacia Departamento de Policía de Nueva York (NYPD). Una ilustración de la ciencia pública, la investigación se llevó a cabo en solidaridad con un movimiento de reforma policial emergente y en respuesta a un conjunto de políticas policiales en curso y particularmente agresivo que afecta más a las comunidades pobres y las comunidades de color. El estudio de caso describe un conjunto de estrategias participativas en curso, de investigación-acción, “ciencia de acera”, desarrolladas en 42 bloques cuadrados del South Bronx, diseñadas para comprender mejor y desafiar la violencia estructural en curso del estado carceral. Escrito en colaboración con miembros del colectivo Morris Justice, contamos nuestra historia en tres secciones que resumen la génesis del proyecto, describimos nuestros principales compromisos y ofrecemos PAR y ciencia pública como una posible “intervención” en la práctica universitaria tradicional.Este artigo é um estudo de caso do Morris Justice Project (MJP), um estudo de pesquisa de ação participativa (PAR) em um bairro no South Bronx, em Nova York, projetado para entender as experiências e atitudes dos moradores em relação ao Departamento de Polícia de Nova York (NYPD). Uma ilustração da ciência pública, a pesquisa foi conduzida em solidariedade com um movimento emergente de reforma da polícia e em resposta a um conjunto de políticas policiais em andamento e particularmente agressivas que mais afetam comunidades pobres e comunidades de cor. O estudo de caso descreve um conjunto de estratégias participativas de pesquisa-ação, “ciência da calçada”, desenvolvidas em 42 quarteirões do South Bronx, destinadas a melhor compreender e desafiar a violência estrutural em curso no Estado carcerário. Escrito em colaboração com membros do coletivo Morris Justice, contamos nossa história em três seções que resumem a gênese do projeto, descrevem nossos principais compromissos e oferecem a PAR e a ciência pública como uma possível “intervenção” na prática universitária tradicional.

Researching at the Community-University Borderlands: Using Public Science to Study Policing in the South Bronx

This article is a case study of the Morris Justice Project (MJP), a participatory action research (PAR) study in a South Bronx neighborhood of New York City (NYC) designed to understand residents\u27 experiences with and attitudes towards the New York Police Department (NYPD). An illustration of public science, the research was conducted in solidarity with an emerging police reform movement and in response to an ongoing and particularly aggressive set of policing policies that most heavily impacts poor communities and communities of color. The case study describes a set of ongoing participatory, research-action, sidewalk science strategies, developed in 42 square blocks of the South Bronx, designed to better understand and challenge the ongoing structural violence of the carceral state. Collaboratively written with members of the Morris Justice collective, we tell our story across three sections that outline the genesis of the project, describe our major commitments, and offers PAR and public science as a possible intervention in traditional university practice

Pesquisa colaborativa para a construção da justiça e do movimento: Desafiando o policiamento discriminatório, o fechamento de escolas e o desemprego entre os jovens

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation with a set of related articles published in the spring 2018 special issue of Urban Education(Warren et al, 2018) that also addressed ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional tensions in collaborative research for justice. This EPAA special issue aims to advance the discussion through deep reflection within the context of focal ‘cases’ and within efforts to open space within universities for modes of engaged scholarship that can respond to the challenges of the current moment, as described in the articles that bookend the cases. Taken all together, this special issue demonstrates how scholars, educators, teachers, activists, community leaders, and policy makers can use the production and mobilization of knowledge as a force for building, supporting, sustaining, and advancing multi-issue movements for justice not just in schools and the academy but also in communities of color and others aggrieved by current inequities. Esta número especial involucra cuestiones éticas, epistémicas, políticas e institucionales en proyectos de investigación colaborativa para la justicia, concebidos con movimientos que impugnan el policiamiento, el cierre de escuelas, la desinversión de jóvenes y el desempleo. Tres de los artículos fueron escritos de forma colaborativa por activistas y académicos que implantaron investigaciones para cambios en la comunidad. Los movimientos y la investigación se sitúan, por lo tanto, en la intersección de las luchas contra la resurgente supremacía blanca anti-inmigración, la gentrificación, un Estado punitivo carcelario, bajos salarios y falta de oportunidades de empleo significativas, y la privatización del sector público. Estos artículos se basan en un conjunto de artículos relacionados publicados en una número especial de Urban Education (Warren et al, 2018), que también abordó las tensiones éticas, epistémicas, políticas e institucionales en la investigación colaborativa para la justicia. Esta número especial tiene como objetivo avanzar la discusión a través de profunda reflexión dentro del contexto de "casos" focales y dentro de los esfuerzos para abrir espacio dentro de las universidades para modos de estudios comprometidos que puedan responder a los desafíos actuales. Colectivamente, esta número especial demuestra como académicos, educadores, profesores, activistas, líderes comunitarios y formuladores de políticas pueden usar la producción y movilización de conocimiento como una fuerza para construir, apoyar, sostener y promover movimientos por la justicia, no sólo en las escuelas y en la escuela la sociedad. pero también en comunidades de color y otras que se sienten perjudicadas por las desigualdades actuales.Esta dossiê envolve questões éticas, epistêmicas, políticas e institucionais em projetos de pesquisa colaborativa para a justiça, concebidos com movimentos que contestam o policiamento, o fechamento de escolas, o desinvestimento de jovens e o desemprego. Três dos artigos foram escritos de forma colaborativa por ativistas e acadêmicos que implantaram pesquisas para mudanças na comunidade. Os movimentos e a pesquisa situam-se, portanto, na interseção das lutas contra a ressurgente supremacia branca anti-imigração, a gentrificação, um Estado punitivo carcerário, baixos salários e falta de oportunidades de emprego significativas, e a privatização do setor público. Esses artigos baseiam-se em um conjunto de artigos relacionados publicados em uma dossiê da Urban Education (Warren et al, 2018), que também abordou as tensões éticas, epistêmicas, políticas e institucionais na pesquisa colaborativa para a justiça. Esta dossiê tem como objetivo avançar a discussão através de profunda reflexão dentro do contexto de "casos" focais e dentro dos esforços para abrir espaço dentro das universidades para modos de estudos engajados que possam responder aos desafios atuais. Coletivamente, esta dossiê demonstra como acadêmicos, educadores, professores, ativistas, líderes comunitários e formuladores de políticas podem usar a produção e mobilização de conhecimento como uma força para construir, apoiar, sustentar e promover movimentos pela justiça, não apenas nas escolas e na sociedade. academia, mas também em comunidades de cor e outras que se sentem prejudicadas pelas desigualdades atuais