Spacemaking by Those Rendered Placeless: Youth Enacting a Culture of Care through Learning, Identity and Design

Abstract

In my ethnographic dissertation, I employed participant observations, audio and video recordings, interviews with young people, and examination of artifacts to investigate a nonprofit organization's 20-week youth design and build program. This program took place over a calendar year and aimed to construct a space for the deaf community, combating issues such as rapid gentrification, displacement, and the loss of place. Throughout the study, the focus was on five girls of color who engaged in activities ranging from selecting the client to designing the space with the guidance of architecture mentors and ultimately building the space with the assistance of carpentry mentors. Data analysis involved grounded theory, open coding, and thematic analysis methods, culminating in a multimodal collage-style presentation that explores the data and its connection to the ways in which youth constructed a sense of place through narratives and vignettes. The findings are presented in a three-paper format, highlighting emerging insights regarding a) making and maintaining places of resistance, b) identity cultivation, space and belonging , and c) building a culture of care. Throughout this work I pull heavily from Black spatial and geographic perspectives, knowledges, lineages of thought and ways of being to foreground Blackness in how we understand learning. By learning through Black spatial histories and the ways it can inform and guide learning and spatial resistance that leads to liberation is where my dissertation is situated. This work serves as a foundation for future research on designing learning environments that promote Black spatial perspectives as a means for dismantling whiteness and white supremacy, including their interlocking systems of oppression. This dissertation also positions young people and youth as key contributors and producers of space in our urban landscape. A focus on their engagement in interdependence, learning, and resistance during the process of designing and constructing physical spaces demonstrates how youth employ their learning experiences as a key tool for resistance through space. Moreover, the implications of this work extend to policies that allocate resources towards various initiatives in planning and community development, shift how we position Black spatial perspectives in learning environments, and ultimately, build infrastructure to support youth in leading.