Beyond the “basic stuff”: Authentic caring and digital storytelling with youth

Abstract

ABSTRACT Concepts such as “subtractive schooling,” explain that schools that de-value young immigrants’ perspectives, strip them of their social and cultural resources and make them especially prone to academic failure. Building on the scholarship surrounding critical race theory and applied theatre, this article examines how young people in a Spanish for Heritage Speakers class navigated self and group representation during a digital storytelling residency aimed at disrupting subtractive schooling. I illustrate how digital storytelling as applied theatre positioned the young people as creators of digital media and opened opportunities to recognize their own and each other’s cultural wealth. Through this study, I hope to contribute to the greater systemic change needed to create schooling experiences that build on the knowledges Latinx students bring with them into the classroom.