Journal of Community Psychology
2019

“They were just waiting for me to mess up”: A critical discourse analysis of immigrant Latinx teens' perceptions of power dynamics (Article)

Merino Y.* , Thomas T. , Lightfoot A. , Eng E. , Simán F. , Thatcher K. , Chapman M.
  • a Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • b Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • c Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • d Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • e El Pueblo, Inc., Raleigh, NC, United States
  • f Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • g School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States

Abstract

This paper explores Latinx adolescents' perceptions of power dynamics with authority around them. We seek to inform how community-based professionals engage with and seek to understand members of this population. We conducted a critical discourse analysis of data collected during a community action photovoice project with 13 Latinx adolescents living in a metropolitan region of the southeastern United States. Participants felt they were under greater surveillance scrutiny by authority figures in social and academic spaces than their non-Latino peers. They discussed ways their movements were at times constrained because others presumed they were deviant, and how that affected their identity development. Judgments and assumptions held by both powerful adults and oppressed groups alike serve to reinscribe social stratification that places Latinx adolescents at a power disadvantage relative to their white peers. These experiences and understandings of power relations shape the circuitous racial dispossession of youth. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Author Keywords

Latinx Identity development Photovoice Power Adolescents

Index Keywords

male perception female immigrant discourse analysis social stratification juvenile clinical article decision making Article United States human adult Adolescent
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85074851722&doi=10.1002%2fjcop.22276&partnerID=40&md5=4337fdc0569e5591e1a56c45762cb27b
DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22276
ISSN: 00904392
Original Language: English