Repertoires of Racial Resistance

“Repertoires of Racial Resistance is an essential read for anyone committed to social justice. This timely volume, comprising 15 compelling chapters, brilliantly highlights the imaginative and transformative strategies that communities of color employ to resist and combat inequities. Featuring contributions from an intergenerational group of current college students, practitioners, and academics, the book showcases how youth and their allies harness creativity and leadership to drive meaningful social change. This book is a powerful testament to the resilience and ingenuity of marginalized communities in the face of oppressive forces that seek to silence and erase them. This volume is a vital resource for educators, scholars, and activists dedicated to improving the material conditions of our most marginalized.”

Dr. Royel M. Johnson, Associate Professor of Education and Social Work at University of Southern California, Director of the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates

“Repertoires of Racial Resistance is an excellent collection of essays focusing on how young people of color’s re-imaginings have the potential to transform the education system in pursuit of racial justice. While theoretically informed, a major strength of the volume is that the voices of young people are front and center, underscoring that they are legitimate producers of knowledge with the potential to create change in the educational environment. Repertoires of Racial Resistance is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of America’s multiethnic educational system.”

Leo R. Chavez, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

“In Repertories of Racial Resistance, Abad and Conchas provide a brave and timely volume to address the role of education that both instructs us about the challenges that exist in our social ecologies, while also recognizing the transformative possibilities of education, particularly for historically marginalized communities. Rooted in Freirean pedagogy, and others, Abad and Conchas assemble a slate of scholars who are dedicated to these principles and provide students, educators, and scholars with a set of tools to help them dream and imagine the true transformative possibilities of education.”

Louie F. Rodriguez, Professor of Education, University of California Riverside

“As a Black race scholar activist who leads a youth centered organization focused on racial identity development and intergenerational healing, and racial justice, I am beyond elated and honored to be invited to affirm the labor and wisdom put into this book. This book unveils and further illuminates content that is needed amidst our sociopolitical context for educators, researchers, P-20 professionals, workforce development designers, and beyond. From racial identity affirmation and navigation, this book further enhances and invigorates the work needed toward the actualization of racial healing.”

Dr. Janiece Z. Mackey PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism (YAASPA)

“Youth are our best teachers. This collection is beautifully written and illustrates the power of learning from and with BIPOC young people and the adults who understand their brilliance. This volume is urgently needed. It invites a rethinking of the theories we engage and methods we use, drawing attention to multiple sites where racial resistance is occurring in and beyond classrooms. Through incisive methodologies, the essays remind us of the worlds young people are creating and our role in supporting them.”

Edward R. Curammeng, Associate Professor, College of Education, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Acknowledgements

Series Foreword

Introduction: Repertoires of Racial Resistance and Pedagogical Dreaming from the Classroom to the Streets
Victor DeAlba, Gilberto Q. Conchas, and Miguel N. Abad

Chapter 1: Fostering Belonging: How Yemeni Boys Create Counterspaces in a NYC High School
Orubba Almansouri

Chapter 2: Youth Participatory Action Research and Student Resistance: Envisioning for College Food Security for All
Rachel Brand

Chapter 3: Making Mundo Nuevo: Chicana/Latina Daughters Enacting Chicana/a/o/x and Latina/o/x Immigrant Educational Futurities and Possibilities Through Spiritual Activism and Transformative Ruptures
Brianna R. Ramirez

Chapter 4: Community, Care, and Relational Practice: Reimagining Freedom Dreaming in a Difficult Dialogues Program
Jie Y. Park, Borodine Chery, Eric J. DeMeulenaere, Elsabet Franklin, Leyla Knight, Zabrina Richards, and Chloe Wing Ching Yau

Chapter 5: Resisting Exclusion: The Civic Engagement of a Female Muslim American Student Leader
Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui

Chapter 6: Championing Disruptive Dreaming Among Students: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Adult Allies
Anna Mei Gubbins and Aubry Threlkeld

Chapter 7: “We Don’t See That in Our History Books…” Dialectic Conversations on Designing for Collective Social Dreaming in History Education
Ava Jackson and Corey Winchester

Chapter 8: Dreaming Otherwise: Creative Policy Negotiation and Creating Communities of Recognition for Multilingual Immigrant Youth
Reva Jaffe-Walter and Kathleen Rucker

Chapter 9: Dreamweaving Youth Expressions Through Multimedia Methodologies: “The Words That They Were Never Told and Were Wishing To Hear”
Jorge F. Rodriguez, Bernadine Cortina, and Jessica Tonai

Chapter 10: Questioning with Love: Developing Racial Literacy to Disrupt Racism
Simona Goldin, Danita Mason-Hogans, Justin Clyburn, and Shelby Freeman

Chapter 11: Dreaming of Different Pasts, Presents, & Futures: Filipino & Cambodian American Youth-Led Art & Organizing in California
Charlotee Austria, Chelsea Chhem, J Jimenez, May Lin, and Madison San Luis

Chapter 12: A Collective Dreaming Process: Reimagining Youth Space to Facilitate Latinx Youth Critical Consciousness Towards Educational Injustice and Anti-Immigrant Politics
Carlos R. Casanova and Eric Alvarez

Chapter 13: Reimagining Life After High School: Black and Latinx Students’ Experience in a (Virtual) Counter-Space
Olga M. Correa

Chapter 14: The Politics of Faith: Father Luce and the 1968 High School Blowouts in East Los Angeles
David Flores

Chapter 15: Dreamers Rise: A High School Pre-College Program for Undocumented Students in Wisconsin
Gerardo Mancilla

About the Authors

Index

Miguel N. Abad

Miguel N. Abad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Development at San Francisco State University. For over a decade, he has been a youth worker collaborating with community-based and non-profit organizations in the Bay Area in numerous fields such as college access, career development, arts education and social movement organizing. As a youth studies researcher, his scholarly work touches upon race and social justice, out of school time education, youth development, youth activism, and participatory action research. His work has been featured in publications such as Race, Ethnicity and Education; Anthropology and Education Quarterly; and Race and Class.

Gilberto Q. Conchas

Gilberto Q. Conchas obtained a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently the Inaugural Wayne K. and Anita Woolfolk Hoy Endowed Chair of Education at the Pennsylvania State University and a Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) research associate. Prior to Penn State, Dr. Conchas was Professor of Educational Policy and Social Context at the University of California, Irvine, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Senior Program Officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Conchas is an expert on qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on case study methodology. Conchas’ research focuses on inequality with an emphasis on communities and schools. A sociologist, widely published scholar, and experienced university administrator, Conchas has designed and led mentoring programs, has a well-honed awareness of the experiences of racially minoritized students and faculty, and draws on these experiences to advocate for pathways to better diversify higher education institutions. Numerous scholarly journals have published his work. He is the author of ten books, including the award winning The Color of Success: Race and High-Achieving Urban Youth; Small Schools and Urban Youth: Using the Power of School Culture to Engage Youth; StreetSmart SchoolSmart: Urban Poverty and the Education of Boys of Color; and Cracks in the Schoolyard—Confronting Latino Educational Inequality, and Race Frames in Education. His current coauthored book, The Chicana/o/x Dream: Hope, Resistance, and Educational Success, was conferred the 2021 Book-of-the-Year Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). Conchas was also named the 2022 Sylvia Hurtado University Faculty Award for teaching and research from AAHHE.