IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION A

Abstract

Reclaiming Home: Social Practice as a Catalyst for Change. A Case Study is a project that pioneers a model of interdisciplinary community-engaged scholarship across humanities, art, the urban environment and film to bring to light the stories of Black and brown communities and their forced displacement due to urban renewal of the 60’s. Hundreds of communities across the US were targeted, and the Bottoms district in Topeka was among them. In less than ten years, more than 20 blocks of a thriving Black business district and a robust Latinx community were demolished, erasing decades of history and disrupting an entire way of life. However, the trauma is intergenerational, leaving the younger generations buried in a palimpsest of erasures with no physical access to their ‘origin’ nor knowledge of their ancestors’ stories and struggles. Reclaiming Home creatively reconstructs the neighborhood and invites the community to co-create, listen, and participate in a public exhibition that celebrates the lost neighborhood. More than forty interviews and QR codes, a community mapping event, and artworks bring to life residents’ stories of segregation, resilience, camaraderie, sadness and a deeply-felt desire to be seen and heard. Reclaiming Home: Social Practice as a Catalyst for Change. A Case Study posits the storytellers as the true experts whose poignant testimonies reveal the important role of immigrant communities in America. This project involved students across academic fields from PhD’s to Freshman and will continue to explore action-based research and curricular development to help bridge college experiences with K-12 curriculum in ways that unveil the complex layering of U.S. racial and ethnic histories, migration, and urban processes. This case study is ‘research in action’ and creates partnership models to promote social justice and equity in local communities and around the globe.