Interconnected third spaces: collective inquiry into spaces that honour the hybrid identities of immigrant children and youth

This conceptual paper theorizes interconnected third spaces through collective inquiry among four literacy researchers across three researcher-initiated, community-based projects with Korean American children and youth. Drawing on focal moments from these projects, we examine how Korean American children and youth negotiate hybrid identities and mobilize multilingual and transnational resources through literacy practices in spaces that are intentionally designed to honour their lived experiences. We also explore how our collective inquiry functioned as a linked researcher space for revisiting research designs, interpretations, and commitments across projects. We use interconnected third spaces to describe the relational links between third spaces created with and for children and youth and the collective inquiry space formed among us as researchers. We argue that these linked spaces illuminate identity, literacy, and transnational meaning-making for Korean American children and youth while deepening researchers’ reflexive and relational understandings of their work with immigrant communities.