Abstract
We draw on a multiyear ethnographic exploration of activism and consciousness-raising among recently arrived Southeast Asian adolescents aged 14–19 in North Carolina, USA, to examine the ways that one community nonprofit organization used social justice programming to actively engage high school age youth in advocating for racial equity in their communities. The research question was, “How was social justice programming used to raise the critical consciousness of newly arrived Southeast Asian immigrant youth in North Carolina?” Participants were youth activist interns at a local community nonprofit organization that served immigrant youth. Data sources consisted of field observations, Facebook post analysis, archival data, and semistructured interviews with the youth interns. While extant research has explored the use of an activism framework to integrate leadership development and cultural awareness, and academic support among marginalized Black and Latinx youth. Even less work has highlighted the experiences of recently arrived Southeast Asian adolescents as they navigate unfamiliar and oppressive social systems within the United States’ highly politicized and volatile anti-immigration social context. This study seeks to honor the work of one grassroots, nonprofit organization in the lives and communities of recently arrived Southeast Asian youth as they learn to rise up as one collective voice to fight for equity in their communities.
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Kolano, L., Wagner, K., Triplett, N. (2021). Rising Up in Solidarity: Southeast Asian Immigrant Youth Activism in North Carolina. In: Mullen, C.A. (eds) Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35858-7_124
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