Past Episodes

Episode 14: “People who live in their neighbourhoods know it better”: On community-engaged and participatory urban planning research with Dr. Aditi Mehta

Details

This episode features Dr. Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Toronto, and podcast host Dr. Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Professor and Director of the Youth Research Lab here at OISE. Drawing on her diverse experiences conducting PAR neighbourhoods in the USA and Canada, Dr. Mehta reflects on the politics of knowledge production and dissemination within contexts of urban community development and public health. Together, they discuss the dynamics of community collaboration and partnerships and the important distinction between participatory research and education.

Dr. Aditi Mehta is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Toronto and was a community-engaged learning faculty fellow at the Centre for Community Partnerships. She completed her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and was awarded the department’s most outstanding dissertation prize for her investigation of the politics of community media in post-disaster cities. Her research and pedagogy consider environmental justice, community development, technology, and how knowledge infrastructures influence policy. She was recently awarded the Social Science and Humanities Research Council Partnership Engagement Grant for her participatory action research course in which UofT students and youth living in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood collaborated to research local experiences of redevelopment and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This episode was hosted and directed by Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez, produced by Qichun Zhang, and supported by Youth Research Lab assistant Madeleine Ross.

TRANSCRIPT

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

UofT and Regent Park PAR course:
Course site: FOCUS Media and Arts and UofT Participatory Action Research
U of T News: U of T and Regent Park teens team up to bust stereotypes, tell stories of a changing neighbourhood
Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA) Community Collaborations Learning Series: Youth, Faith, & Gentrification: Multimedia Exploration into Regent Park

YPAR in Red Hook, Brooklyn:
https://aditimehta.info/portfoliocpt/participatory-action-research-with-the-red-hook-initiative/

Prison Education course:
MIT News: https://news.mit.edu/2016/prison-ideal-classroom-new-urban-studies-course-0531
Publication on Inside-Out Prison education pedagogy: https://journals-sagepub-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/doi/10.1177/0739456X17734048
Instructor Insights on course: Urban Sociology in Theory and Practice

Episode 13: “There’s no one way to do this”: On youth-adult partnerships and embracing complexity, a conversation with Sharif Mahdy, Stoney McCart, Kwaku Agyemang, and Maddy Ross

Details

This episode features Sharif Mahdy, Stoney McCart, Kwaku Agyemang from the Students Commission of Canada (SCC) and podcast host Maddy Ross. In this conversation, they reflect on how the SCC’s origins at a national youth conference in 1991 helped to shape four core values, referred to as the Four Pillars, as a process for youth engagement. Drawing on these Four Pillars - Respect, Listen, Understand and Communicate™️ - as a research framework, they discuss the dynamics of producing knowledge through youth-adult partnerships and why addressing adult positionalities is a critical dimension of conducting YPAR.

The Students Commission of Canada is a national charitable intergenerational organization that purposely works with others to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and valued so that their ideas for improving themselves, their peers and their communities can be put into action. In 2000, the SCC was named the lead organization for the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement (CEYE): a network of youth, youth-serving organizations, academics and policy-makers focused on identifying and sharing best practices on meaningful youth engagement and the impact of youth engagement initiatives.

Sharif Mahdy is the Executive Director of the Students Commission of Canada. He has worked in the youth sector for over two decades, and has been with the SCC since 2010. Sharif has an Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University. Sharif volunteers for several non-profit Boards and currently serves as the Chair of the National Alliance for Children and Youth (NACY): a national charitable organization that brings organizations together in a collaborative network dedicated to enhancing the well-being of children and youth in Canada. Sharif also serves as volunteer Board member for Child Development Institute (CDI): a children’s mental health agency in Toronto, the Catalysts’ Circle and Mentor Canada.

Stoney McCart is a co-founder of the Students Commission of Canada and Director, Program Development. As publisher of Tiny Giant magazine, the precursor to the SCC, she converted an adult-written youth magazine into a youth-directed weekly publication with an editorial board of 100 students from across Canada, reaching every high school in the country. As the Executive Director of the SCC from 1992 to 2017, Stoney supported youth across Canada to turn their ideas into action. In 2000, Stoney helped establish the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement to develop an evidence base for youth-driven work in Canada.

Kwaku Agyemang is the Manager of Client Relationships and External Communications at the Students Commission of Canada, where he facilitates youth engagement in policy and decision-making through national programming. He has a passion for creative strategy, amplifying youth voice, and mentoring his peers. Kwaku has a degree in Media Production from Toronto Metropolitan University. You can find him @KwakuOnAir

References and further reading

Students Commission of Canada: https://www.studentscommission.ca/en
SCC Archives: https://www.studentscommission.ca/en/resources/archives
Youth Who Thrive: https://www.youthwhothrive.ca/

Episode 12:“Not everything can be fully participatory, right?”: On "True" PAR, A Conversation between Aurora Santiago-Ortiz and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández

Details

This episode features conversation between Dr. Aurora Santiago-Ortiz, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women studies the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with podcast host Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, a Professor here at OISE, the Director of the Youth Research Lab, and one of the Co-Producers of The WhyPAR podcast. In this episode, Aurora and Rubén discuss the principles that constitute “pure” PAR, and how principles of PAR can be adapted across diverse contexts. They discuss themes including challenges of conducting PAR during the COVID-19 pandemic, facilitating equitable participation in PAR, and the role of solidarity in community spaces. Aurora discusses her work both with the community organization Colectivo Casco Urbano de Cayey and with Latinx migrants in Lexington, Kentucky.

Aurora Santiago Ortiz, PhD, is 2020 Ford Dissertation Fellow and current Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Kentucky. She obtained her PhD from the Social Justice Education program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her work examines community based, participatory action research and critical methodologies; anticolonial, queer, feminist, and antiracist social movements; and decolonial feminisms.

This episode was hosted and directed by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, produced by Naima Raza and Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez, and supported by Youth Research Lab assistants Oliver Thompson and Madeleine Ross.

References and further reading

Aurora’s website - https://www.aurorasantiago-ortiz.com/

Aurora’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/santiaaurora?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Aurora’s dissertation - Collaboration, Collective Agency, and Solidarity Through Participatory Action Research in Puerto Rico - https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2218/

Research in Progress: “La solidaridad no perece”: Community organizing, political agency, and mutual aid in Puerto Rico. Peer-reviewed journal article for Curriculum Inquiry.

Colectivo Casco Urbano de Cayey Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ccucayey/

Colectivo Casco Urbano de Cayey webite

https://ccucayey.wixsite.com/website?fbclid=IwAR0D4rxArwyF3iGkNbea9ScHZDpANRBeTxZJdZ3vLfC4Lu0Zqr9f0shj13U

Colectivo Casco Urbano de Cayey instagram- https://www.instagram.com/ccucayey2020/?hl=en

La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción https://www.facebook.com/Colectiva.Feminista.PR/

Episode 11: “What happens when you run onto the edges of progressivism?”: On Conducting YPAR in Elite Schools, A Conversation Between Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Leila Angod

Details

This episode features conversation between Dr. Leila Angod, Assistant Professor in the Childhood and Youth Studies Program at Carleton University, and a former postdoctoral fellow at the Youth Research Lab with podcast host Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, a Professor here at OISE, the Director of the Youth Research Lab, and one of the Co-Producers of The Why PAR podcast. In this episode, Leila and Rubén discuss the challenges of doing YPAR within the context of elite institutions. They discuss themes including using YPAR to subvert schooling, the ethics of negotiating youth knowledge dissemination, elite institutions as mechanisms of erasure and forgetting, and YPAR’s impact as subjective rather than institutional change.

Dr. Leila Angod (she/her) is Assistant Professor in the Childhood and Youth Studies Program at Carleton University’s Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies. Her research examines how schools invite young people to enact racial and colonial orders, and how youth engage, resist, and refuse these invitations. Leila examines the methodological, political, and ethical possibilities and constraints of using yPAR to create feminist, anti-racist communities for students of colour. She is the co-founder of the Youth Research Lab’s youth-led journal, in:cite. Her current yPAR project explores the making of Afro-Asian girls’ collectives as humanizing spaces that counter the violence of schooling and Canadian white supremacy. Leila is writing a young adult novel that mobilizes speculative fiction to explore themes of colonialism, race, and feminist community-making in the context of Canadian elite schools.

References and further reading

Gaztambide-Fernández, Rubén. 2014. “Elite entanglements and the demand for a radically un/ethical position: the case of Wienie Night.”, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(9): 1229-1147.

in:cite journal: https://incitejournal.org/index.php/incite

Vijenthira, Shangi, Rifaa Ali, and Erin Manogaran. 2018. “Unaffirmative Actions: Lessons on Refusal, Racism, and Youth Research.” in:cite journal 1. https://incitejournal.org/index.php/incite/article/view/28880

Episode 10: On Knowledge from Identity and Place - A Conversation between Maddy Ross and Artist-Researchers Pree Rehal, Bert Whitecrow, Ayrah Taerb, Ammarah Syed, and Jahmal Nugent

Details

This episode features five artist-researchers from the Making With Place Research Project (MWP), a collaborative initiative in T’karonto between York University graduate students Charlotte Lombardo and Phyllis Novak and SKETCH, an award-winning community arts program. Pree Rehal, Bert Whitecrow, Ayrah Taerb, Ammarah Syed, and Jahmal Nugent are all established young artists who came together during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore and create placemaking art installations and activations. MWP recently launched an online journal-zine at makingwithplace.ca, and four exciting immersive and interactive public art projects taking place across T’karonto throughout fall 2021 and spring 2022. In this conversation, the artist-researchers discuss the epistemologies of identity and place that guide their creative practice, and their perspectives on whether art is or can be research. They also reflect on their initial skepticism of the MWP research and how they subvert colonial ways of knowing and knowledge production as artists, place-makers, and culture creators.

Priya “Pree” Rehal Pree is an artist educator currently based in Tkaronto, originally from Tiohtià:ke. They’re the children of immigrant settlers from Punjab. Pree’s work centres their identity as a queer, non-binary, trans, disabled, fat, and racialized individual. They have an interdisciplinary arts practice under the name: Sticky Mangos and co-founded the Non-Binary Colour Collective. You can follow their arts practice on Instagram: @StickyMangos or on Twitter (@preezilla).

Roberta “Bert" Whitecrow Bert is a 2 Spirited, Anishinaabe multidisciplinary artist from Seine River First Nation. Their work explores themes of healing, preserving, and practicing ancestral knowledge. As a conceptual artist, Bert works with a variety of media, often combining traditional and unconventional materials. They are a founding member of the Weave and Mend collective, which is a mixed Indigenous collective that focuses on building relationships with Indigenous communities through art making workshops, facilitated conversation and permaculture. Bert is currently attending OCAD University in the Indigenous Visual Cultures program.

Ayrah Taerb Is The Founder Of Kundalini Kurrency Khansultancy; A Collective Of Creative Professionals & Administrators Who Seek To Spread The Values Of Self Determination & Co Operative Economics Among The Global Black Community. As An Executive Producer, Creative Consultant, and Embodiment Instructor; He Is Equipped With The Skills & Expertise Required To Develop Artists, Mentor Professionals, and Responsibly Condition Children & Youth To Exist Within The Context Of A Transcendental Society.

Ammarah Syed is an interdisciplinary artist interested in documenting how modern day discourses such as capitalism, colonialism, and various power dynamics have developed to inform mental health, identity and sexuality. Ammarican explores how words among other factors, influence emotion, culture and politics. AmmariCan’t Even, Ammarah’s performance alter-ego, likes to deconstruct and explore the little boxes our society and our minds like to put us in. Both of their processes involve sitting on their ass for 8 weeks (contemplating of course) & then creating something all in one go. They aspire to use the arts as a means to transform oppression into change. www.ammarican.com (@ammarican)

Jahmal Nugent (aka NINJAHMAL) Visual media artist Jahmal Nugent, born, raised and based in Toronto, primarily focuses on digital photography and videography to create, but sometimes experiments with physical mediums. Jahmal’s work explores seeing the ordinary as extraordinary, and reminding us of how beautiful and amazing elements we take for granted can be.

This episode was hosted and directed by Madeleine Ross, produced by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab Assistants Naima Raza and Oliver Thompson.

Art and Further Reading

We encourage listeners to visit the Making With Place Digital Journal-Zine at https://www.makingwithplace.ca

Art by the Artist-Researchers:

Acknowledge Place Honour Spirit, Bert Whitecrow

Video Projection with Poetic Narrative: https://www.makingwithplace.ca/2021/06/18/acknowledge-place-honour-spirit/

Grounding and Activating, Ammarah Syed (@ammarican)

Photography and Poetry Mural Installation: https://www.makingwithplace.ca/2021/06/15/grounding-and-activating/

CRIP COLLAB, Pree Rehal (@stickymangos)

Curated zine featuring works of racialized disabled 2SLGBTQ artists: https://www.makingwithplace.ca/2021/06/09/crip-collab/
Making With Place blog, https://prehal.com/blogs/blog/making-with-place

Indica Omega, Ayrah Taerb

Performance Piece, ‘Untitled’: https://www.makingwithplace.ca/2021/06/08/untitled/
MWP Public Art Project Indica Omega: https://www.sketch.ca/publicart/indica/

Elements, Chasing Fire, Animal Crossings, Jahmal Nugent (@ninjahmal)

Three visual pieces designed to take you on a journey within our own city: https://www.makingwithplace.ca/2021/06/10/elements-catching-fire-and-animal-crossings/

Making With Place Podcast:

On November 16, the MWP project will also be launching their own podcast series! Check out the teaser here:

Episode 9: On Community-Engaged Programming with Lil Sis (Alma Ahmed, Suzanna Maharaj, Rayan Saied, Belul Kidane, and Kamilah Apong) and Naima Raza

Details

This episode features conversation between the Lil Sis team - Alma Ahmed, Suzanna Maharaj, Rayan Saied, Belul Kidane, and Kamilah Apong - and podcast host Naima Raza.

In this episode, Lil Sis and Naima discuss community-engaged youth research and programming. They discuss the need for arts-based programming for queer and racialized youth in Regent Park; the importance of community-based research; and how Lil Sis branding challenges heternormativity in the Toronto Arts scene.

Alma Ahmed: From a spectator at the first open mic to participating in its current grant and research project, Alma has been involved with the hummingbird open mic and LIL SIS since 2015. she has been part of the hummingbird street team and has been a co-contributor of its current research project. aside from admiring how far the project has come, she is currently a nursing student and hopes to bring smiles to everyone’s faces; whether it be her future patients or spectators at the events she hosted with her co-emcee and co-contributor Suzanna.

Suzanna Maharaj: hummingbird and the LIL SIS project has had a place in Suzanna’s heart for years. from performing spoken word at the first open mic, to being brought on as a host, to now being the admin and resources lead on the team that achieved this research grant. when Suzanna isn’t working on LIL SIS content, she can be found waving her flag in a fete or improving her one-woman business.

Rayan Saied: Rayan began her work with the hummingbird team in highschool working to help spread the word out about our first ever youth-centred open mic in Regent Park. as event host and outreach team member, she was closely involved with many of the open mics throughout the years. her role with hummingbird evolved into a research role as we began to focus our work on recording and understanding the experiences of racialized LGBTQI artists and their access to resources and spaces within Toronto.

Belul Kidane: Stop trying, it’s pronounced “Bae-Lou-l”. Belul Kidane is a new member of the Lil Sis team but has been engaged with hummingbird since 2018. She is a performing artist, song-writer, part-time social media comedian and also owns a “non-borrowable” library in her bedroom. If she could eat one thing forever, it would be Mac and cheese. Thank you for coming to this Ted Talk.

Kamilah Apong: kamilah (kah-MEE-lah) apong is a queer 90’s babe, and is currently re-watching entire Sailor Moon series for the 49283742rd time. She has some cute tummy rolls and would like to mother a couple alpacas 🦙 🦙 🦙 🦙 🦙. She’s the lead singer for the disco project, Tush, and co founded the hummingbird open mic in 2015, and LIL SIS in 2020.

This episode was hosted and directed by Naima Raza, produced by Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab assistant Madeleine Ross.

Episodes 7 and 8: A Conversation Between Maddy Ross and Jaden McGregor, Luisa Gonzalez, Annie Silva, Lainey Rios, and Valeria Pineda

DETAILS

These episodes are a two-part series featuring conversations between the WhyPAR Podcast’s new co-host, Maddy Ross and five youth researchers: Valeria Pineda, Lainey Rios, Luisa Gonzalez, Jaden McGregor, and Annie Silva.

In Part One, the five youth researchers reflect on their experiences in a school-based YPAR project, Youth Solidarities Across Boundaries (YSAB), a collaboration between the Urban Indigenous Education Centre (UIEC) of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Youth Research Lab to convene Latinx and Indigenous high school students in T’karonto to understand and address the challenges youth face in schools.

In Part Two, the five youth researchers discuss their most recent YPAR project conducted in the summer of 2020 that explored the experiences of Indigenous and Latinx youth living in T’karonto during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Valeria Pineda (she/her)

I am 21 years old and I recently graduated from a Social Service Worker program for Immigrants and Refugees, and I am currently working as a Youth Support Worker at a non-profit organization. I was born in Mexico and migrated to Canada with my family at a young age and have grown up in Toronto ever since. My experience being raised as a Mexican immigrant has definitely influenced my choice to work with marginalized communities. I was able to use my desire to work in social justice, research and community with the YPAR group for Indigenous and Latinx students.

Lainey Rios

My name is Lainey Rios. I am 18 years old and identify as Latinx as my family originates from Mexico. I love to learn, spend time with family, and enjoy being involved in my community or in other programs, like YPAR. I am in my second year of the biological science program at the University of Guelph. I am currently working towards achieving high grades, expanding my knowledge in the science field and completing my undergraduate degree. I enjoy studying the sciences because it relates to everyday life and helps build my understanding of the world we live in. I have been working with YPAR for 3 years now and have really enjoyed my time with the program. Through YPAR I have learned many things through the research projects I've participated in, such as how much I love being part of research.

Luisa Gonzalez

My name is Luisa Karime Gonzalez, I am 19 years old, my pronouns are she/her. I identify with the LatinX community as my parents are both from Guatemala. Currently I am in my second year at Ryerson University obtaining a Bachelor of Social Work. I am very grateful for the opportunities of participating in multiple YPAR projects

Jaden McGregor

Hello Aniin my English name is Jaden Mcgregor and my Spirit name is Wasseyaa giiwe nibin which translates to light of the late summer. I was born in Toronto but my ancestors come from Manitoulin Island which is a few hours north of Toronto in Lake Huron. I’m also from The Island Nation Of Jamaica and therefore identify as Afro-Indigenous. Currently, I study at the University of Waterloo in the Geography and Aviation program which combines pilot training and an environmental studies degree. In my free time, I am primarily a freelance photographer who focuses on portrait landscape and street photography. Working with YPAR has been an amazing opportunity that has strengthened my research skills as well as my curiosity. I want to thank everyone who I have worked with for their passion and their curiosity. Miigwech

Annie Silva

My name is Annie Melisa Silva Borda, I am 19 years old. I identify as a Latinx, born in Colombia and then moved to Canada a couple years later. This past year I finished my first year at the University of Toronto in the Arts and Science Faculty. I enjoyed it very much, I learned a lot of new things and accomplished another goal of mine. I love playing sports, learning and being part of making a change. Having the chance to share our project and talk about it in depth has been an amazing experience and I’m glad we could shine a light on people's different experiences during COVID-19.

This episode was hosted and directed by Madeleine Ross, produced by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab Assistant Naima Raza.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Luisa Karime Gonzalez, Jaden McGregor, Lida Valeria Pineda Flores, Lainey Rios, Annie Silva, Kaitlind Peters, Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez, Pedro Morán Bonilla, and Michael Carlson. “Indigenous and Latinx Youth Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic.” in:cite journal 4 (2021): 64–97. https://doi.org/10.33137/incite.4.37162.

Michael Carlson. “Navigating COVID-19: A Story of Resilience. Youtube Video, 7:20. August 10, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r20B86CRm90

Episode 6: A Conversation Between Nicole Mirra, Antero Garcia and Melanie Bertrand

Details

This episode is the first featuring conversation between Mel Bertrand, Nicole Mirra, and Antero Garcia. In this episode, Mel, Nicole, and Antero discuss ethical commitments and dissemination of youth knowledge while conducting YPAR. They discuss the opportunities and tensions of conducting YPAR within schools; and how YPAR must both expand the definition of what counts as research and also serve purpose beyond academia; the tensions of conducting YPAR when its’ labour benefits adults.

Nicole Mirra is an assistant professor of urban teacher education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She previously taught high school English Language Arts in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California. Her research explores the intersections of critical literacy and civic engagement with youth and teachers across classroom, community, and digital learning environments.

Antero Garcia is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. His work explores how technology and gaming shape learning, literacy practices, and civic identities. Based on his research focused on equitable teaching and learning opportunities for urban youth through the use of participatory media and gameplay, Antero co-designed the Critical Design and Gaming School--a public high school in South Central Los Angeles.

Melanie Bertrand is an associate professor at Arizona State University. Her research explores the potential of youth and community leadership to improve schools and challenge systemic racism and other forms of oppression in education. She applies cultural-historical activity theory to better understand how youth and community members engage in roles of activism, governance, and leadership within education.

This episode was hosted and directed by Naima Raza, produced by Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab Research Assistants, Andrea Vela Alarcon and Madeleine Ross.

References and Further Reading

Duncan-Andrade, J., & Morrell, E. (2008). The art of critical pedagogy: Possibilities for moving from theory to practice in urban schools. Peter Lang.

Lac, V. T., & Fine, M. (2018). The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: An Autoethnographic Journey on Doing Participatory Action Research as a Graduate Student. Urban Education, 53(4), 562–583. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918762491

Lac, V. T. (2019). The critical educators of color pipeline: Leveraging youth research to nurture future critical educators of color. The Urban Review. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-019-00507-4

Mirra, N., Filipiak, D., & Garcia, A. (2015). Revolutionizing inquiry in urban English classrooms: Pursuing voice and justice through Youth Participatory Action Research. English Journal, 105(2), 49–57.

Tuck, E., & Guishard, M. (2013). Uncollapsing ethics: Racialized sciencism, settler coloniality, and an ethical framework of decolonial participatory action research. In T. M. Kress, C. S. Malott, & B. J. Porfilio (Eds.),Challenging status quo retrenchment: New directions in critical qualitative research (pp. 3–27). Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Episode 5: How Youth Collectives Create Beauty, A Conversation Between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández

Details

This episode is the third in a three-part series featuring conversations between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández.

Rangoato Hlasane from the Keleketla! Library and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández discuss how youth collectivities create beauty, and specifically, within Ra’s program, the Keleketla! Library in Johannesburg, South Africa. Keleketla is a library and media arts project co-founded by Ra that was formerly based at Johannesburg’s historic Drill Hall (2008-2015) and is now based at King Kong, also in Johannesburg. King Kong is a multidisciplinary arts space and concert venue. The Drill Hall is the site where Nelson Mandela and 156 prominent freedom fighters were tried for treason in 1956.

In this episode, they discuss what it means to make beautiful things within youth collectives and within contexts of material precarity, how youth collectives create and shift narratives, and how ethical commitments to anti-racism are challenged while facilitating collectives.

Rangoato Hlasane is a cultural worker, selector, educator and co-founder of Keleketla! Library in Johannesburg. He holds a Master’s degree in Visual Art from the University of Johannesburg and teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he is a PhD candidate in African Literature. He 'selects' music to expand his research into the social, political, spiritual and economic significance of African oralities, sonic and musicking practices.

This episode was hosted and directed by Naima Raza, produced by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab Research Assistants, Andrea Vela Alarcon and Madeleine Ross.

References and Further Reading

Hlasane, Rangoato. “Culture as Development of Voice and Selfarticulation: Keleketla! after-School Programme.” Focus 68, no. 1 (2013): 16–24. https://admin.hsf.org.za/publications/focus/focus-68/%283%29%20R.%20Hlasane.pdf.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies - Research and Indigenous Peoples. 2nd ed. Zed Scholar, 2012.

Teen Talk: Fun but Not Funny (on Migration & Xenophobia in South Africa). YouTube. Keleketla! Library, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DasU6nq7ds.

Episode 4: On Building Youth Collectivities, A Conversation Between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández

Details

This episode is the second in a three-part series featuring conversations between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández.

Rangoato Hlasane from the Keleketla! Library and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández discuss the process and importance of building youth collectivities, and specifically, within Ra’s program, the Keleketla! Library in Johannesburg, South Africa. Keleketla is a library and media arts project co-founded by Ra that was formerly based at Johannesburg’s historic Drill Hall (2008-2015) and is now based at King Kong, also in Johannesburg. King Kong is a multidisciplinary arts space and concert venue. The Drill Hall is the site where Nelson Mandela and 156 prominent freedom fighters were tried for treason in 1956.

In this episode, they discuss children and youth’s understandings of and commitment to the program and their learning, the importance of ephemeral moments between children and parents in building understanding about the program, and importance of the role of demonstrations and performance in maintaining the structure of a participatory program such as Keleketla! Library.

References and Further Reading

Hlasane, Rangoato, Fouad Asfour, Malose Malahlela, and Judith Reker. Creating Spaces: Non-Formal Art/s Education and Vocational Training for Artists in Africa between Cultural Policies and Cultural Funding. Edited by Nicola Lauré Al-Samarai, Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte, and Henrike Grohs. Goethe-Institut South Africa, 2014.

Moiloa, Molemo, ed. 58 Years to the Treason Trial: Inter-Generational Dialogue as a Method for Learning. 1st ed. Keleketla! Library, 2014.

Episode 3: On The Geographies of YPAR, A Conversation Between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández

Details

This episode is the first in a three-part series featuring conversations between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández.

Rangoato Hlasane (Ra) from the Keleketla! Library and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández discuss how YPAR plays out in marginalized geographies, and specifically, in Ra’s context of the Joubert Park neighbourhood in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this episode, they will discuss Keleketla!, a library and media arts project co-founded by Ra that was formerly based at Johannesburg’s historic Drill Hall (2008-2015) and is now based at King Kong, also in Johannesburg. King Kong is a multidisciplinary arts space and concert venue. The Drill Hall is the site where Nelson Mandela and 156 prominent freedom fighters were tried for treason in 1956.

Ra and Rubén discuss the role of place and identity in the emergence of resistant creative spaces, the ways that young people come together and create their own spaces to engage in the arts, and the significance of spaces like the historic Drill Hill as being the site where young people imagine and create programming for themselves.

References and Further Reading

“Keleketla Library - Keleketla Media Arts Project.” Keleketla Library, 2013. https://keleketla.org/about/.

What Happened at the Treason Trial? Google Arts & Culture, 2021. https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/what-happened-at-the-treason-trial-africa-media-online/PwJS8md1REM3Iw?hl=en.

Episode 2: On Ethical Commitments and the Politics of Dissemination, A Conversation Between Sarah Switzer and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández (Part Two)

Details

Sarah Switzer and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto discuss the dissemination of youth knowledge in YPAR. They discuss the opportunities and tensions around knowledge dissemination; honouring youth voices while navigating the politics of dissemination within academic spaces; the importance of relevant and meaningful products; and building collective capacity in youth and adult researchers through YPAR.

Sarah Switzer is a Toronto-based popular educator and community-based participatory researcher. Inspired by fifteen years of working at the intersections of community arts, peer/youth programming, and HIV and Harm Reduction, her larger program of research and teaching explores how to creatively and meaningfully engage communities who experience marginalization in programs, policy change, and collaborative knowledge translation efforts. Her research interests include critical approaches to participation and engagement (including youth engagement), pedagogy in community-based settings and participatory visual methods.

Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández‘s research and scholarship are concerned with symbolic boundaries and the dynamics of cultural production and processes of identification in educational contexts. He is the Director of the Youth Research Lab at the Centre for Urban Schooling of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where he is Principal Investigator of the Youth Solidarities Across Boundaries Project, a participatory action research project with Latinx and Indigenous youth in the city of Toronto. His theoretical work focuses on the relationship between creativity, decolonization, and solidarity.

References and Further Reading

Switzer, S., Lyrauu, T., Apong, K., Bell, O., Manuel-Smith, C., Hernandez, L., McWhinney, P.G., Pariah, S., Seidu, F., Bykes, A., Bykes, A. (2016). What's glitter got to do with it?: Re-imagining harm reduction, decision-making and the politics of youth engagement. In C. Smith & Z. Marshall (Eds.), Critical perspectives on harm reduction: Conflict, institutionalization, co-optation, depoliticization, and direct action. (pp. 113-133). New York: Nova Publishers.

Switzer, S. (2019). Working with photo installation and metaphor: Re-visioning photovoice research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919872395.

Guerrero, C. A., Gaztambide-Fernández, R., Rosas, M., & Guerrero, E. (2013). Proyecto Latin@ on stage and under the magnifying glass: The possibilities and limitations of a high-profile institutionally sponsored youth participatory action research project [Abstract]. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 4(2).

Gaztambide-Fernández, R. & Guerrero, C. (w/ West-Burns, N., Larrabure, M., Velasquez, M., Granados-Ceja, L., Guerrero, E.) (2011). Proyecto Latino –– Year One. Report to the Toronto District School Board. [Technical Research Report]. Toronto, ON: Centre for Urban Schooling, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Guerrero, C. A. (2014). Rethinking Latin@ Student Engagement: Identification, Community Engagement, and Transformative Learning through Youth Participatory Action Research. University of Toronto. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1807/68130

Switzer S.; Flicker, S., McClelland, A., Chan Carusone, S., Ferguson, T.,B., Herelle, N., Yee, D., Guta, A., Strike, C., (2020) Journeying Together: A visual exploration of “engagement” as a journey in HIV programming and service delivery. Journal of Health and Place, 61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102247

Episode 1: On Ethical Commitments and the Politics of Dissemination, A Conversation Between Sarah Switzer and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández (Part One)

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Sarah Switzer and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto discuss ethical commitments while conducting YPAR. They reflect on the importance of relationships while conducting YPAR; the challenges and opportunities faced while conducting YPAR across different settings such as schools and community health centres; participants’ motivations for involvement, and the ethical commitments that guide their work.

Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández's research and scholarship are concerned with symbolic boundaries and the dynamics of cultural production and processes of identification in educational contexts. He is the Director of the Youth Research Lab at the Centre for Urban Schooling of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where he is Principal Investigator of the Youth Solidarities Across Boundaries Project, a participatory action research project with Latinx and Indigenous youth in the city of Toronto. His theoretical work focuses on the relationship between creativity, decolonization, and solidarity.