Introduction to Part II of the Special Issue

We are appreciative of the voices that are constantly being raised around the world, and the public discourse centered on unsettling systemic racism, anti-Blackness practices, discrimination and other related prevailing social issues. We believe that these voices in conversation signal that the stronghold of silencing among activists, abolitionists, and all other allies and co-conspirators in this space is being dismantled as we speak and write. We are also aware that dialogues must move to actions and concrete strategies for justice. We developed this two-part special issue around the themes of anti-racist and racial justice praxis to illuminate actions happening locally, nationally and globally, and how the work of anti-racism/racial justice might be adapted, integrated or used as guides for ongoing racial justice and social progress. These articles represent a call for a participatory, action oriented and decolonial liberatory standpoint rather than a bystander or deficit approach

Introduction to Part I of the Special Issue

The proliferation of racially charged incidents in the United States, Europe, Australia and across the world (Dastagir, 2017; Harris & Bogel-Burroughs; Politi, 2016), along with surmounting hate crimes against women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ identified people, and ethnoreligious populations, such as Muslim and Jewish communities (Potok,  2017), have brought an insurgence of activism. The activism, along with the persistence of local, national and transnational community organizing efforts, grassroots mobilization, coalitional emergent strategies, and waves of social movements, have all been aimed at disrupting institutionalized racism and the assemblages of racialized colonial violence. The jaws of colonial power -- as well as colonialism and coloniality that manifest as anti-Black racism, nativism, and intersecting forms of oppression implicated in racialized violence -- must be disrupted and dismantled

Introduction to Part II of the Special Issue

We are appreciative of the voices that are constantly being raised around the world, and the public discourse centered on unsettling systemic racism, anti-Blackness practices, discrimination and other related prevailing social issues. We believe that these voices in conversation signal that the stronghold of silencing among activists, abolitionists, and all other allies and co-conspirators in this space is being dismantled as we speak and write. We are also aware that dialogues must move to actions and concrete strategies for justice. We developed this two-part special issue around the themes of anti-racist and racial justice praxis to illuminate actions happening locally, nationally and globally, and how the work of anti-racism/racial justice might be adapted, integrated or used as guides for ongoing racial justice and social progress. These articles represent a call for a participatory, action oriented and decolonial liberatory standpoint rather than a bystander or deficit approach

Introduction to Part I of the Special Issue

The proliferation of racially charged incidents in the United States, Europe, Australia and across the world (Dastagir, 2017; Harris & Bogel-Burroughs; Politi, 2016), along with surmounting hate crimes against women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ identified people, and ethnoreligious populations, such as Muslim and Jewish communities (Potok,  2017), have brought an insurgence of activism. The activism, along with the persistence of local, national and transnational community organizing efforts, grassroots mobilization, coalitional emergent strategies, and waves of social movements, have all been aimed at disrupting institutionalized racism and the assemblages of racialized colonial violence. The jaws of colonial power -- as well as colonialism and coloniality that manifest as anti-Black racism, nativism, and intersecting forms of oppression implicated in racialized violence -- must be disrupted and dismantled

Latina/o Youth Cultural Citizenship: Re-Conceptualizing Dominant Constructions of Citizenship through Membership, Sense of Belonging, Claiming Space and Rights

This dissertation is an ethnography of Latina/o youth’s cultural citizenship. The goal of this research is to center the voices and lived experiences of Latina/o youth in the conceptualizing and theorizing of citizenship and rights, specifically cultural citizenship. Drawing on data from a school-based youth participatory action research (YPAR) program, with fourth and fifth grade Latina/o youth, this ethnographic case study addresses two interrelated questions. First, how do Latina/o youth define the terms citizen and citizenship? Second, how do Latina/o youth reflect on and enact their cultural citizenship? Data for this research include ethnographic fieldnotes, and semi-structured one on one interviews with youth conducted at two separate time points. The results highlight the voices and experiences of thirteen Latina/o youth, from first and second-generation im/migrant families from Latin America. Specifically, Latina/o youth’s cultural citizenship in relation to four processes: membership via positionality and social identities; sense of belonging through meaningful participation and intergenerational friendships; claiming space in the process of de-ideologizing and decolonizing settings; and demanding rights beyond individual self-determination. This research sets the foundation for an intersectional critical approach toward the study of Latina/o youth’s political subjectivities