The pedagogy of sistahood : Living in this skin in the classroom

Historical and contemporary social dynamics have constructed a 'commonsense' of Latina youth as submissive characters to el macho (the male), in addition to portrayals as sexually promiscuous, destined for marriage and pregnancy, quiet, resistant learners, and as lacking in ambition. These deficit mediated images have done very little to challenge the 'commonsense' about Latina youth and even less to involve said youth in the process of speaking for/represefiting the self. Following the models set forth by youth cultural studies scholars and participatory action researchers Living In this Skin brings together seven high school-aged Latina students (identified as "at-risk" by the administration), to individually produce testimoniosltestimonies that recount their lived experiences with oppression. Using a layered narrative, I illustrate tensions underlying youths participation, my researcher role, critical youth studies literature and ethnographic examples operati.ng In the Skin to describe a distinct kind of education I call the­ Pedagogy Of Sistahood (POS). The Pedagogy of Sistahood demonstrates how youth create educative spaces by employing everyday language and embodied knowledge ('the flesh') to (re)conceptualize stereotypes and to offer critique of the institutions that maintain their positions of marginalization. Through this process the study (re )conceptualizes "education" through the relational teaching and learning practices that participants developed in the telling of their stories and through their active involvement with topics that intersected acro.ss race, class, gender and sexuality