Searching for Change: Exploring Historical Silences and Counterstorytelling through Youth-Led Social Justice Movements
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| Title: | Searching for Change: Exploring Historical Silences and Counterstorytelling through Youth-Led Social Justice Movements |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Ariana Varela |
| Source: | Communications in Information Literacy. 2025 19(2):271-288. |
| Availability: | Communications in Information Literacy. e-mail: editors@comminfolit.org; Web site: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 19 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Social Justice, Youth, Story Telling, College Freshmen, Learner Engagement, Librarians, Minority Groups, Information Literacy, Critical Literacy, Seminars, School Community Relationship, Activism, Personal Narratives, History, Academic Libraries, Library Instruction, Critical Race Theory, Feminism, Social Action |
| Geographic Terms: | California |
| Abstract: | During a first-year engagement program, a librarian and a cohort of students worked towards a shared understanding of dominant narratives, historical silences, and creating counterstories through research to center marginalized stories and complicate existing narratives. As information literacy professionals, we should design interactive lessons that demonstrate critical search and evaluation skills through topics that are relevant to students and encourage them to work with issues that impact their communities. Incorporating critical information literacy, feminist pedagogy, and critical race theory, this two-day micro-seminar introduced first-year students to the legacy of youth community activism in the neighborhoods around their university. They practiced centering marginalized voices and experiences in their scholarly output and used a critical lens to reanalyze dominant interpretations. Seeing individuals of their own age group lead community change and create lasting historical objects encouraged their own ability to advocate through their scholarship and community involvement. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1493672 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | During a first-year engagement program, a librarian and a cohort of students worked towards a shared understanding of dominant narratives, historical silences, and creating counterstories through research to center marginalized stories and complicate existing narratives. As information literacy professionals, we should design interactive lessons that demonstrate critical search and evaluation skills through topics that are relevant to students and encourage them to work with issues that impact their communities. Incorporating critical information literacy, feminist pedagogy, and critical race theory, this two-day micro-seminar introduced first-year students to the legacy of youth community activism in the neighborhoods around their university. They practiced centering marginalized voices and experiences in their scholarly output and used a critical lens to reanalyze dominant interpretations. Seeing individuals of their own age group lead community change and create lasting historical objects encouraged their own ability to advocate through their scholarship and community involvement. |
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