Our American Dream: Development of a Digital Storytelling Workshop for Immigrant Youth in Atlanta, Georgia Open Access
Gomez Lopez, Arianna R. (Spring 2020)
Published
Abstract
Background: Immigrant youth currently account for one-fourth of the nation's 75 million youth. They are more likely to experience poverty and often lack access to health services and educational resources. Many face additional challenges such as language acquisition, bullying, isolation, extreme stress, and loss of identity. The political polarization of the United States has resulted in heightened aggression toward this population, and their future in the country remains uncertain. Digital storytelling can serve as a powerful tool to educate students, educators and policymakers about the realities and needs of this population.
Purpose: The purpose of this project was to develop a digital storytelling workshop to serve as a culturally sensitive tool through which to explore the immigrant narrative and harness the power of storytelling to influence policy. The workshop, tailored toward younger audiences, will be provided to youth-serving organizations in the Atlanta.
Methods: The workshop was developed as a project for the University-Partner Learning Community (UPLC) at Emory University and tested with immigrant youth who were alumni of the local Cross Keys High School in the Buford Highway Community. The workshop was revised and tailored to younger audiences.
Results: Six participants engaged in the pilot workshop, which consisted of 4 modules that guided them through the process of creating an autoethnographic digital story. The process was participant-guided and focused was on their experience as immigrant youth and first-generation Americans. The completed digital stories explored themes of cultural identity, resilience, and family pressure to succeed. Two stories were showcased at the Latino Youth Leadership Conference in November 2019. The group was engaged in the revision process. The final product will be provided to youth-serving community organizations as a tool to harness community wisdom through storytelling.
Discussion: Further efforts should be made to explore and showcase the immigrant narrative in the context of the United States with the purpose of exploring and addressing the health needs of this population and influencing policy which will guarantee their access to quality education, health services, and opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. This should be accomplished through continued collaboration with the local immigrant population and youth-serving organizations.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1
Problem Statement 2
Context: Buford Highway Corridor 3
Location and Environment 3 Demographics 4 Community-Researcher Partnership 5
Problem Statement 5
Chapter 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 7
The Challenges of Immigrant Youth 7 Health and Healthcare Access Challenges 8 Catalyzing Policy Change 10
Community-based Participatory Action Research—Community Organizing, and Community Building 11 CBPAR and Immigrant Populations 12 Marginalized Populations and Digital Storytelling 14 Influence of Digital Storytelling on Policy-making 15
Purpose Chapter 3: METHODS 17
Rationale 17
On the Researcher 19 Workshop Development 19 Ethical Considerations 19
Participants 19
Participant Profiles 21 Table 1. Participant profiles 21
Workshop Pilot 22
Story Circle 23 Digital Stories 25 Themes 25 Workshop Evaluation 27 Revisions 27
Chapter 4: RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 29
Results 29
Digital Storytelling Workshop Guide 29 Table 2. Digital Storytelling Workshop Guide Overview 30
Conclusion 31
Strengths 31 Limitations 32
Discussion 32 Recommendations 33 References 36
Appendix A: PILOT DIGITAL STORIES--SNAPSHOTS 42 Appendix B: DIGITAL STORYTELLING WORKSHOP GUIDE 45
About this Master's Thesis
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