The Internal Power of Chican@/Latin@ Youth

Abstract

This is a qualitative study conducted by two researchers who engaged with Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Researchers worked together to illuminate the process youth went through as they engaged in YPAR. Researchers uncovered that youth went through an external process (community awareness, discoveries, and creation) and internal process (internal conflict, discoveries, motivation) as they engaged in YPAR. This study documents how youth empower themselves by engaging in YPAR through the sharing of their testimonio , accessing/acknowledging a nepantlá state, and finding their internal power through conocimiento and reaching a holistic healing space