YOUTH, NON-FORMAL EDUCATIONAL SPACES AND ANTI-RACIST PRACTICES: GEOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE MEDIATED IN YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY (NY) AND NEWARK (NJ)

• Grant number: 23/11052-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 30, 2024
• End date: March 29, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Straforini
• Grantee: Raquel Almeida Mendes
• Supervisor: Priscilla Pinto Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/12274-4 - YOUTH AND HIGH SCHOOL: GEOGRAPHICAL REASONING AT SCHOOL AND THE TEACHING OF ETHNIC AND RACIAL ISSUES, BP.DR

Abstract

The present proposal consists of comprehending the implications of geographic knowledge operated in spaces of non-formal education for black youth, specifically in the organizations "The Brotherhood Sister Sol" in New York City (NY) and "Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC)" located in Newark (NJ), and how such contexts can be read through interpretive tools of spatial practices in different scalar cutouts, from the socio-spatial dynamics of the place and, at the same time, in spatial practices that act as an antagonistic cut against the structural racism operative in the daily life of young blacks. Thus, we start from the idea that, among the missions and political articulations of these youth organizations, there are possible and potent contributions arising from Geography in the tensioning of identities, spatial practices and urban territorialities of black, Latino and poor youth, contemplated as the target audience of these formative spaces. In this sense, we adopted as a methodological path of investigation the resources of ethnography added to techniques of bibliographical, documental and participant observation research, as well as the assumptions of the Theory of Discourse by Laclau and Mouffe as methodological guides with regard to the discursive articulations present within of non-formal spaces and in the mobilization of public policies for racial equity in the states of New York and New Jersey. Thus, we have considered pertinent the approach of the present BEPE project about the geographic dimension of non-formal education spaces, given that such educational environments fit as fruitful means of youth formation in commitment to anti-racist and social justice practices, seeking to supply debates and prerogatives related to ethno-racial difference historically neglected in school.