AltaVoces
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Description
This dissertation focuses on the AltaVoces project - an anti-oppressive social work research (AOSWR) project that used participatory, digital narrative methods to explore the barriers and bridges to well-being for Latino youth in New Orleans. The purpose of this anti-oppressive, digital narrative research with Latino youth in a newer Latino destination is to enhance understandings of their lived experiences and perspectives to inform social work research, practice, and policy. This dissertation achieves its purpose by: (1) critically reflecting on the research process to present promising practices for using digital narrative methods to engage Latino youth as co-creators of knowledge within an anti-oppressive social work research (AOSWR) paradigm; (2) presenting the findings from the AltaVoces project to enhance understandings of the lived experiences of Latino youth in New Orleans and draw attention to the intersecting systems and identities that impact their well-being; (3) documenting and disseminating the digital testimonios of Latino immigrant youth to amplify youth’s voices as a catalyst for change; and, (4) connecting findings to implications for social work to enhance Latino immigrant youth’s well-being. Increased knowledge and awareness of the challenges, stressors, and systems of oppression that negatively influence Latino youth’s well-being and the resources, assets, and coping strategies that promote it will assist practitioners and scholars to develop research programs and interventions that can effectively support Latino youth in newer Latino destinations. The first stand-alone manuscript in this dissertation provides practical and ethical guidance for researchers and practitioners interested in using digital narrative methods to capture the stories of marginalized groups. The second stand-alone manuscript presents findings from a critical narrative analysis of participants’ digital testimonios, making an important contribution to social work literature focused on the well-being of Latino immigrant youth in a newer Latino destination. Adding to the rigor of the study, the digital testimonios allow findings to be disseminated in a multimedia format. This critical analysis of both the process and the findings of the AltaVoces project contributes to knowledge about how to promote the well-being of Latino youth in newer Latino destinations through social work research, practice, and policy.