Inner City Kids: Adolescents Confront Life and Violence in an Urban Community (Qualitative Studies in Psychology, 4)

Urban teens of color are often portrayed as welfare mothers, drop outs, drug addicts, and both victims and perpetrators of the many kinds of violence which can characterize life in urban areas. Although urban youth often live in contexts which include poverty, unemployment, and discrimination, they also live with the everydayness of school, friends, sex, television, music, and other elements of teenage lives. Inner City Kids explores how a group of African American, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, and Haitian adolescents make meaning of and respond to living in an inner-city community. The book focuses on areas of particular concern to the youth, such as violence, educational opportunities, and a decaying and demoralizing urban environment characterized by trash, pollution, and abandoned houses. McIntyre's work with these teens draws upon participatory action research, which seeks to codevelop programs with study participants rather than for them, and exemplifies the youths' efforts to create programs within their community to address their concerns. Advocating the incorporation of activism within the research experience, McIntyre here showcases the ways in which Participatory Action Research, along with community photography, can present opportunities for collaborative research with urban youth and other disempowered groups that can ultimately assist them in becoming agents of social change in their communities. Author Biography: Alice McIntyre is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions at Fairfield University and the author of Making Meaning of Whiteness: Exploring the Racial Identity of White Teachers .

Urban teens of color are often portrayed as welfare mothers, drop outs, drug addicts, and both victims and perpetrators of the many kinds of violence which can characterize life in urban areas. Although urban youth often live in contexts which include poverty, unemployment, and discrimination, they also live with the everydayness of school, friends, sex, television, music, and other elements of teenage lives. Inner City Kids explores how a group of African American, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, and Haitian adolescents make meaning of and respond to living in an inner-city community.

The book focuses on areas of particular concern to the youth, such as violence, educational opportunities, and a decaying and demoralizing urban environment characterized by trash, pollution, and abandoned houses. McIntyre's work with these teens draws upon participatory action research, which seeks to codevelop programs with study participants rather than for them.

This work explores how a group of African-American, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and Haitian adolescents respond to living in an inner-city community. It focuses on areas of particular concern to the youth, such as violence, educational opportunities, and a decaying and demoralizing environment. Participatory action research Exploring community Constructing meaning about violence Community photography : visual stories by inner-city youth Becoming somebody Exploring racism, whiteness, and careers with urban youth From dialogue to action Making the road as we go.