Joy as Data, Resistance as Assessment: Black Student Photovoice at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

This paper explores how Photovoice methodology was used as an assessment tool to understand the lived experiences of Black students at West Coast University (WCU), a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Guided by Black Critical Race Theory and Black Placemaking, the assessment examined how Black students experienced anti-Blackness, joy, and belonging at WCU. Traditional assessments can overlook or flatten the complexity of Black student life, especially at institutions focused primarily on Latine-servingness. By centering student-created images and narratives, this assessment highlighted the power of art-based assessment to reveal nuanced insights and foster institutional accountability. Findings challenge assumptions about equity at HSIs and call for race-conscious, participatory, and justice-oriented approaches to assessment that affirm Black student resistance, joy, and community building as essential to campus transformation.