Toward a Critical Youth Policy Praxis: Critical Youth Studies and Participatory Action Research

Critical youth studies and participatory action research reflect critical methodology to question what is participation in policy making and educational reform. We discuss Mestizo Arts and Activism (MAA), a participatory action research collective made up of young people who focused their research on the educational rights of undocumented students, coupled with the emotional and economic impacts of stereotypes of immigrant communities. MAA's participatory process offers a type of radical inclusion that starts with informed understanding of personal experiences by those being legislated upon and then moves toward social analysis, critical inquiry, and reform. We merge critical youth studies with participatory action research to question how policy makers and educators can form policy: that values knowledge created in collaboration and in action; that is informed by a strength-based approach that works with and not for young people; and that engages new audience towards action by questioning the impact of research, policy, or educational reform.