'We Just Want to Break the Stereotype': Tensions in Black Boys' Critical Social Analysis of Their Suburban School Experiences

This study used a youth participatory action research (YPAR) approach to explore the meaning five Black boys make of race, identity, and oppression through their school experiences in a suburban high school. The first author developed, cofacilitated, and assumed the role of participant observer in a YPAR afterschool program aimed at promoting sociopolitical development. The participants completed photovoice projects identifying problems in and solutions for their school community. In their initial framing of the projects, they espoused a deficit narrative of Black student achievement, rooted in low public and private racial regard: Black students are not achieving. At the end of the program year, with the help of individual and group meaning-making in the YPAR program, some participant narratives shifted away from a deficit narrative, and two participants presented a counternarrative that emphasized the ways in which Black students are trying and achieving. These findings contribute to our understanding of how YPAR programs, as situated in liberation and transformative psychology, facilitate critical social analysis for Black boys. Furthermore, these findings contribute to the literature on the experiences of Black boys in suburban schools, through the voices and perspectives of the boys themselves.