Continuing Researchers – NU Borders and Identities Collaborative

Professor

Alejandro Carrion

Undergrads and Graduate Students

Danielle T. Dougé

Hi, I’m Danielle Therese Dougé! I am a a senior studying Radio/TV/Film in the School of Communication at Northwestern University! I joined the YPAR collective in the summer of 2016 and I continue to do this work because this space and these people allow for me to experience research in ways that move beyond the traditional boundaries that stifle the knowledge making, love, caring and action that exists within the margins. More importantly, I get to extend that space to youth who so rarely have their voice and knowledge heard in the classroom.

Monica Garcia

My name is Monica Garcia and I’m a senior studying English – Creative Writing, Spanish, and Latinx Studies in Weinberg College. I am a co-founder of the Latinx Asian American Collective (LAAC) and a part of the Borders and Identities Collaborative since the spring of 2017. I joined the collaborative because it was something that I wish I’d had in high school. To me, it felt important to do work together with youth from similar backgrounds as me – low-income, marginalized students of color. Recognizing and working to change our social realities will always be important work, regardless of the time that we are living in.

Hector Gomez

I’m Hector Gomez and am currently a junior at Northwestern. My major is Social Policy in SESP with an English minor. The first and only project I have done with Borders and Identities Collaboratives is the Summer Institute 2018. I joined this year because I wanted to continue my education research this summer, but I wanted to do more than research for research’s sake. Supporting high school students to create change within their own schools makes my work feel like it’s doing something to directly improve the world.

My name is Helen Gutierrez. I am a Senior in the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) at Northwestern and I am double-majoring in Social Policy and Latinx Studies. I am a co-founder of the NU Borders and Identities Collective and have been apart of every project since its inception. I joined the collective because I believe in the work and think it’s both necessary and important that students see the value in the knowledge they’ve gained through their lived experiences.

Daniela Hernandez

Hello! My name is Daniela Hernandez. I am a second year and planning to transfer into SESP in the fall. I am double majoring in learning sciences and Latina/o studies. This is my first project in YPAR, so participating in Borders and Identities this summer was great and I hold this program dear to my heart. I joined Borders and identities to fulfill my passion in educating the youth and working alongside them to better our communities.

Alex Macedo

I’m Alex Macedo and I am currently an rising Junior at Northwestern University, double majoring in Human Developmental and Psychological Studies, and Latina and Latino Studies. My first project working with NU Borders and Identities is the Summer Institute 2018. The reason why I joined my fellow co-researchers this summer is because I wish to spread the knowledge and awareness of the many corrupt systems we live in. For this reason, working with the high school co-researchers in order for them to know what to call the systems that victimize them and attempt to create change by challenging them is why I joined the program.

Erykah Nava

I am Erykah Nava. I am a rising junior. I’m a full time student and a full time mother (Miah’s mom). I am majoring in Latinx Studies and not sure if I want to minor or major in anything else. I became part of Borders and Identifies YPAR through Latinx Studies. I became very close to my academic advisor and Professor Alejandro. He was super open to letting me join at anytime, and it was his openness that made me become curious about YPAR. The space quickly became somewhere I could share my radicalness with others, and it was not an ordinary program. Usually, university programs focus on college readiness, whatever that means, and/or STEM, and these programs are usually expensive and inaccessible to most POC. YPAR, however, allows us to challenge what research means outside of colonial institutions and helps everyone grow and understand the systems we deal with in our daily lives. It challenges power dynamics/hierarchies created due to colonial forms of research. We are all Co-Researchers and share knowledge among each other. No one is the owner of any knowledge. These practices along with my intense love for my people allows me to watch my people grow without having authoritative power over them although these dynamics might occasionally pop up. Of course, nothing is ever perfect, but YPAR gives me hope for new imaginaries.

Miah Luz

Miah Luz, Radical Toddler

I joined Borders and identities with my mom and love to going so I can watch PJ Mask and other cartoons with my co-researcher friends while my mommy challenges colonialism. I like to challenge authority by asking why and questioning the world. I love to draw and eat snacks in the room. I have been apart of the 2018 Latinx Summit and the 2018 Summer Research Institute. I look forward to continuing the decolonial work on upcoming projects and taking my knowledge to pre-school to fight the power.

April-Alexis Navarro

My name is April-Alexis Navarro, I am a Senior in the School of Education and Social Policy studying Social Policy and Latina/Latino Studies. I have had the amazing opportunity to be a co creator of Borders and Identities since its conception at Northwestern in 2015. Throughout my time I have worked on the project Ethnic Studies in Our Barrios, Critiquing College Transitions and Applications, Latinx United, and (Re)Imagining Our Communities. As Xicana from the Southwest side of Chicago, transitioning from one prestigious institution to another, I joined YPAR after continuously seeing my communities portrayed as helpless, damaged, and in deficits caused through individual rather than systematic and purposeful oppression. I felt removed from the realities of my community but YPAR gave me the opportunity to work with other young researchers from communities similar to mine and regain the power and humanity that academia had tried to take away from me as a high functioning student.

Betsy Mirella Pisabaj

Betsy Pisabaj

My name is Betsy Mirella Pisabaj and I am a fourth year student at Northwestern. I am majoring in Social Policy and Latina/o Studies. I have been a part of the ETHS Latinx Summit projects in 2017 and 2018 as well as the Summer Institute 2018. The borders and identities collective has been a space where I feel comfortable and good in a university that can be so alienating. I joined the Borders and Identities Collaborative because I wanted to connect to young people who share similar values and who enjoy working with the community. I also wanted to be a part of something that not just takes from our communities but also gives back to our communities. It has helped me get through NU and I appreciate it.

Victor Saavedra

I am Victor Saavedra, a senior double majoring in Neuroscience and History with a minor in Latinx Studies. My participation in the NU Borders and Identities Collaborative began with the Summer 2018 Institute. I joined the collaborative on accident, at first not really understanding what the program was and the work that it has done. After attending several planning meetings, I decided that I wanted to join this de-colonial group and their efforts of trailblazing progressive forms of education. I am beyond grateful for the conversations and memories that occurred within the space, and I look forward to further participating in the work this collaborative undertakes.

Tanya Tovar