The Power is in the Process: Co-creating Participatory Action Research Spaces With Youth as True Partners

This study adds to the discussion of critical consciousness development through the processes of YPAR, not as an outcome after results are shared, but through the experience of power shifting that occurs as youth become true partners in youth-led YPAR. Combining unique and boundary-pushing elements at the nexus of action research and qualitative research, this paper illustrates particular ways in which power was intentionally directed towards youth and ways in which that anti-hegemonic shift impacted all participants during the research process. We end with a challenge to our action researcher community to commit to work through the tension between external research goals and youth leadership, to ignite the transformative power that is present in the YPAR process as youth take the lead.