“Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate and What That Means for Me and My Existence in this Country”: Qualitative Exploration of Black Immigrant Adolescents’ Critical Action

Abstract

A growing body of literature has characterized critical consciousness as a developmental asset, especially among minoritized adolescents, given its association with positive developmental outcomes. However, much is unknown about how critical action (a key component of critical consciousness) develops among Black immigrant youth who uniquely experience both anti-Black racism and xenophobia in the United States. This qualitative study examines the contextual and developmental factors that shape Black immigrant adolescents’ retrospective interpretations and engagement in critical action during a period of heightened sociopolitical mobilization, the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents ages 13–17 (Mage = 15.7; 66.6% girls and 33.3% boys; 73.3% born in the U.S.). Through deductive analysis, we identified dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization, identity position in racial justice movements, and levels of (dis)engagement in activism as primary interrelated themes that highlight the complexity of Black immigrant adolescents’ meaning-making of sociopolitical movements. Within and across these themes, we identified subthemes that further captured the nuance of Black immigrant adolescents’ positioning in the context of critical action. Overall, our findings contribute to a new understanding of critical action, particularly among adolescents navigating unique and complicated experiences related to racism and xenophobia, to identify ways to support the development and sustenance of critical action, particularly during adolescence.