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The Urban Review

, Volume 47, Issue 5, pp 824–846 | Cite as

Revisiting the Collective in Critical Consciousness: Diverse Sociopolitical Wisdoms and Ontological Healing in Sociopolitical Development

  • Sonia Abigail Sánchez Carmen
  • Michael Domínguez
  • Andrew Cory Greene
  • Elizabeth Mendoza
  • Michelle Fine
  • Helen A. Neville
  • Kris D. Gutiérrez
Article
First Online:

Abstract

In this manuscript, we take up a “critical friend” perspective on sociopolitical development (SPD), seeking to expand the field’s understanding of the collective, intersectional, and dialectic qualities and dimensions in which sociopolitical youth development might occur. Specifically, we contribute to thinking around how SPD is conceptualized and deployed in relation to historically marginalized and racialized youth and communities. We offer ethnographic descriptions from two separate empirical investigations conducted with high school, community college, and university students of color to explore (a) the diverse sociopolitical wisdoms that students bring to educational settings, and the extent to which this wisdom can be sharpened collectively in the classroom, and (b) the ontological healing that can take place once these perspectives and knowledges are respected and promoted within educational spaces that take history and power seriously. Our article concludes with firm recommendations to theorists and practitioners concerning how SPD frameworks and practices might better leverage these goals of engaging diverse wisdoms and encouraging ontological healing to highlight the beyond-intellectual process of critical consciousness and liberation.

Keywords

Ontological healing Critical consciousness Sociopolitical development Critical Ethnic Studies Community college students Historically marginalized youth 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sonia Abigail Sánchez Carmen
    • 1
  • Michael Domínguez
    • 2
  • Andrew Cory Greene
    • 3
  • Elizabeth Mendoza
    • 4
  • Michelle Fine
    • 5
  • Helen A. Neville
    • 6
  • Kris D. Gutiérrez
    • 7
  1. 1.Graduate CenterCity University of New YorkNew YorkUSA
  2. 2.University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUSA
  3. 3.How Our Lives Link Altogether! (H.O.L.L.A!)BrooklynUSA
  4. 4.University of CaliforniaSanta CruzUSA
  5. 5.Public Science Project; Graduate CenterCity University of New YorkNew YorkUSA
  6. 6.University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbanaUSA
  7. 7.University of CaliforniaBerkeleyUSA

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