Crystal Chen Lee and Nina R. Schoonover
This paper aims to explore how currently underserved young adults engaged in a community-based organization (CBO), Bull City YouthBuild, wrote and published a book together, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how currently underserved young adults engaged in a community-based organization (CBO), Bull City YouthBuild, wrote and published a book together, and how this work impacted them and their communities. Through a critical literacy framework, the research asked: How do students in a community-based writing project demonstrate self-empowerment and agency through narrative writing?
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative case study examined the students’ published narratives. The researchers used ethnographic methods in data collection, and the qualitative data analysis approaches were developed through a critical conceptual framework.
Findings
The students’ narratives expressed self-empowerment and agency in the ways the young adults wrote against a dominant discourse; they wrote about repositioning their lives and redesigning their futures to reveal how they wanted to be externally perceived and to be leaders in their communities. The students expressed how the CBO offered them freedom to write their stories as they found new ways of using their historical and cultural backgrounds to collectively pursue success.
Social implications
This work offers implications of how CBOs can meet the needs of currently underserved young adults through centering their voices. The authors see the writing process as crucial for student engagement in finding agency and self-empowerment with their words.
Originality/value
Critical literacy foregrounds the voices of young adults as they push back against dominant narratives and stereotypes. This research hopes to reveal the intersections between CBOs and the communities they serve to develop literacies that are relevant and meaningful to young adults’ lives.
Details
Keywords
Intan Hapsari Surya Putri, Imam Buchori and Wiwandari Handayani
This study aims to prove that land-use change plays a role in the occurrence of hydro-meteorological disasters in Central Java, especially in relation to its upstream and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to prove that land-use change plays a role in the occurrence of hydro-meteorological disasters in Central Java, especially in relation to its upstream and downstream.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents empirical findings from quantitative research using a spatial analysis and descriptive analysis.
Findings
The upstream and downstream area of Central Java is categorized as a rapid development area that results in changes in land use and land cover. The findings showed that there was an increasing number of hydrometeorological disasters such as floods and landslides as the impact of land-use change and rainfall conditions.
Research limitations/implications
Analysis of the relationship between rainfall and disaster events with more technical and specific analysis could be done in the further research.
Originality/value
In this study, more analysis in the context of river basin systems including upstream and downstream in different periods to examine the linkage between them have been considered and incorporated.