A much needed update

It has been far too long since I’ve last posted to this page, an unfortunate trap that I knew I might eventually fall into in starting a page like this.  Part of the problem has been that I have spent the last two months thinking in great depth about my plans to conduct field work in the youth justice system.  This process has meant that I am constantly engaged in a process of questioning, then re-questioning where I stand on my philosophies and principles about youth justice.  This translates into difficulty in writing in a space that perhaps demands a bit more certainty in opinion.

Lately I’ve been thinking quite a lot about developing a method or approach for researching young people’s experiences in the youth justice system.  My politics draw me to methods that abide by several principles.  In researching young people, I feel like I need to develop a relationship that is: 1) non-exploitative 2) reflexive of what I bring to the table, both in terms of my class, race, and gender and my previous experience as a policymaker and a social worker and 3) creative 4) most accurately represents young people’s voice.  There have been two traditions that I have been increasingly drawn to.  

One:  Students as Researchers.  This approach cultivates and trains students to conduct research in schools that is directed at policy change.  There has been some wonderful work done in this field to develop strategies for training students to critically assess their education environments.  For me, one of the potentials of this kind of research is also a critical engagement with education as a social and political process–ie. engaging students in thinking about how (state-based) education relates to citizenship.  

Two: Participatory Action Research.  This is an exciting approach to research which is aimed at engaging participants as researchers and is focused on developing research for change.  Here is some information on some of the key tenets of PAR.  One of this tenets is the notion that participatory action research is a political process.  I think this nicely addresses one of the facts of research that has been acknowledged since the inception of the philosophy of social science, and most significantly by Thomas Kuhn–that scientific theories are value-laden, and that we cannot ignore this fact in our pursuit of social science.  

There are some promising features of these kinds of methods in engaging with young people charged with crimes.  I think that in a context in which young people are actually expected to participate in the making and re-making of their lives, it would seem a worthwhile endeavor to engage young people in a participatory strategy that helps them to reflect on that very idea of ‘participation’ that is promulgated by the courts.  Does it in fact recognize young people’s autonomy?  Do young people charged with crimes actually have autonomy, or is it bounded and delimited?

These are just some rambling thoughts, but I’m putting them out there in an effort to begin a dialogue that I hope to continue to update more regularly now.