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Youth Participatory Action Research and Educational Transformation: The Potential of Intertextuality as a Methodological Tool

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Abstract

In this article, Melanie Bertrand explores the potential of using the concept of intertextuality—which captures the way snippets of written or spoken text from one source become incorporated into other sources—in the study and practice of youth participatory action research (YPAR). Though this collective and youth-centered form of research entails an explicit focus on change-oriented action, there is still much to be learned about the connection between processes within YPAR groups and educational shifts beyond them. Using data from a YPAR group as an example, this article aims to chart a course for research to explore this area. The author demonstrates that a methodology incorporating the concept of intertextuality can illuminate how discursive phenomena within a YPAR group may radiate outward. In addition, intertextuality may provide YPAR groups a strategy for increasing outside influence.

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Notes

  1. A pseudonym.

  2. All names of people are pseudonyms. The name of the teacher is not capitalized intentionally. The teacher intended to align with bell hooks, who chooses to not capitalize her name.

  3. Quote taken from field notes, not audio- or video-recording.

  4. I did not audio- or video-record this conversation, and my field notes do not provide the exact wording that Melissa used to describe the conversation.

  5. The audio recording does not catch the previous utterance.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (UC/ACCORD). I would like to thank the following individuals (listed in alphabetical order) for supporting the research described in this article: H. Samy Alim, Ernest Morrell, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, and John Rogers. In addition, I would like to express heartfelt gratitude to all the members of the Council of Youth Research.

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  1. Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 37100, Mail Code 3151, Phoenix, AZ, 85069-7100, USA

    Melanie Bertrand

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  1. Melanie Bertrand
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Correspondence to Melanie Bertrand.

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Bertrand, M. Youth Participatory Action Research and Educational Transformation: The Potential of Intertextuality as a Methodological Tool. Urban Rev 48, 15–31 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-015-0343-8

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