Healing From the Harms of Schooling

Abstract

In Circles de Confianza (CdC), Latinx youth from a suburban, predominantly White high school, gathered to pause, reflect and collectively engage in radical healing practices to heal from experiences of desconfianza (harms) of schooling and take action to prevent future harms. Healing is conceptualized as 1) rooted in Indigenous and/or People of Color-developed frameworks, 2) emphasizing the importance of individualized AND collective healing, and 3) addressing the harms of systemic oppression. This study is based on research conducted with the Belonging and Trust research team based in the Renee Crown Wellness Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Methods included testimonio, photovoice, photoethnography and multimodal testimonio. The practices of healing, pláticas and desahogando, are rooted in Curanderisme wisdom and serve as examples of how Indigenous people have responded to oppression and historical trauma over generations. My research questions are: 1) How are students describing their experiences of harm and/or trauma in their schooling experiences? What did students say they were healing from? What were the “traumas/harms” that they described?; 2) How did students describe their experience with the Circles de Confianza space?; and 3) How did students take action to reduce harms in schools as a result of their experience with CdC?

Findings show that the stories of desconfianza fell into four categories: invisibilizing students in learning environments by not learning their names; the practice of placing academic expectations on students based on their racial, ethnic, linguistic backgrounds and/or national origins; harmful experiences of cultural incompetence and tokenization; harms of enduring years of schooling curriculums excluded substantive contributions of BIPOC people. Congruent with Teeters et. al. (2023a, 2023b), the CdC space was healing for students. Through pláticas and processes of desahogando we held space that allowed for radical healing to occur. Student-led actions influenced district-wide change and students engaged in exercises to radically imagine “schools de confianza”. CdC offers a case study of a school-based radical healing program that provides the field of Youth Organizing studies and the Learning Sciences with an example of what healing practices in activism spaces can look and feel like.