Place, Meaning and Praxis

My doctoral dissertation work focuses on better understanding the meaning and significance of "place attachment" (connection to one's social and built environment) among Puerto Rican youth who are civically active to improve the health and well-being of Chicago's Humboldt Park community. To do so, I have been collaborating with community leaders and a group of Puerto Rican youth (co-researchers) in a community-rooted educational research project. During several sessions, we reflected around the themes of the project through dialogue, writing, and photography. The study's data mostly consists of photographs, such as this one, taken by the youth co-researchers to depict their impressions of having a sense of belonging or attachment and being civically engaged. This photo of La Casita de Don Pedro, located in Humboldt Park, was taken by one of the youth co-researchers and selected by the group to represent our project. This place houses the statue of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campus, a political figure who stood up for freedom, and a mural of a Puerto Rican political prisoner. For the group, it symbolizes the feeling of belonging to a unified, proud community and the importance of being aware of one's cultural history in order to become positive agents of change.