Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities
This article seeks to amplify our scholarly view of immigrant identity by centering the first-person narratives of immigrant-origin children and youth. Our theoretical and methodological framework centers on testimonio—a narrative practice popularized in Latin American social movements in which an i...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-04-01
|
| Series: | Societies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/2/38 |
| _version_ | 1797536867865853952 |
|---|---|
| author | Ariana Mangual Figueroa Wendy Barrales |
| author_facet | Ariana Mangual Figueroa Wendy Barrales |
| author_sort | Ariana Mangual Figueroa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article seeks to amplify our scholarly view of immigrant identity by centering the first-person narratives of immigrant-origin children and youth. Our theoretical and methodological framework centers on testimonio—a narrative practice popularized in Latin American social movements in which an individual recounts a lived experience that is intended to be representative of a collective struggle. Our goal is to foreground first-person narratives of childhood as told by immigrant-origin children and youth in order to gain insight into what they believe we should know about them. We argue for the power of testimonio to communicate both extraordinary hardship and everyday experiences and that—through this storytelling—immigrant-origin children and youth also express imagined futures for themselves and their loved ones. Through our analysis of ethnographic recordings of testimonio shared by Latin American immigrant children and multimedia testimonios created by immigrant-origin adolescents with roots in the Caribbean and West Africa, we gain a fuller understanding of immigrant subjectivities and push the boundaries of “the immigrant experience” still prevalent in mainstream discussions today. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:06:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a823026d381a409aae0694c35c8bcb16 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:06:56Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-a823026d381a409aae0694c35c8bcb162023-11-21T16:29:48ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982021-04-011123810.3390/soc11020038Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant SubjectivitiesAriana Mangual Figueroa0Wendy Barrales1Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USAGraduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USAThis article seeks to amplify our scholarly view of immigrant identity by centering the first-person narratives of immigrant-origin children and youth. Our theoretical and methodological framework centers on testimonio—a narrative practice popularized in Latin American social movements in which an individual recounts a lived experience that is intended to be representative of a collective struggle. Our goal is to foreground first-person narratives of childhood as told by immigrant-origin children and youth in order to gain insight into what they believe we should know about them. We argue for the power of testimonio to communicate both extraordinary hardship and everyday experiences and that—through this storytelling—immigrant-origin children and youth also express imagined futures for themselves and their loved ones. Through our analysis of ethnographic recordings of testimonio shared by Latin American immigrant children and multimedia testimonios created by immigrant-origin adolescents with roots in the Caribbean and West Africa, we gain a fuller understanding of immigrant subjectivities and push the boundaries of “the immigrant experience” still prevalent in mainstream discussions today.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/2/38testimoniocounterstorytellingimmigrant-originraceethnicitychildren |
| spellingShingle | Ariana Mangual Figueroa Wendy Barrales Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities Societies testimonio counterstorytelling immigrant-origin race ethnicity children |
| title | Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities |
| title_full | Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities |
| title_fullStr | Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities |
| title_short | Testimonio and Counterstorytelling by Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth: Insights That Amplify Immigrant Subjectivities |
| title_sort | testimonio and counterstorytelling by immigrant origin children and youth insights that amplify immigrant subjectivities |
| topic | testimonio counterstorytelling immigrant-origin race ethnicity children |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/2/38 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arianamangualfigueroa testimonioandcounterstorytellingbyimmigrantoriginchildrenandyouthinsightsthatamplifyimmigrantsubjectivities AT wendybarrales testimonioandcounterstorytellingbyimmigrantoriginchildrenandyouthinsightsthatamplifyimmigrantsubjectivities |