Stories in Action: Childhood Counternarrative Development and Emerging Adult Social and Critical Action

ABSTRACT

This study examines how children (9–12 years old) construct liberatory counternarratives regarding adultism within a youth participatory action research (YPAR) program and how these narratives inform social and critical action in adulthood. Analyzing archival ethnographic data and interviews with former participants both as children ( n = 30, or all children in the program) and emerging adults ( n = 5) via thematic analysis and the Listening Guide (LG), the study reveals children utilized critical dialogue to challenge dominant narratives about youth capabilities. Results indicate dialogue enabled children to name power disparities and articulate counternarratives, voiced in poems created through the LG process. Furthermore, emerging adults continued to leverage these childhood counternarratives, prioritizing collaboration, advocacy, and the elevation of marginalized voices in their social justice efforts. Implications suggest that to support long‐term critical action, adults must prioritize critical dialogue, making space for youth to interrogate dominant narratives and mobilize their liberatory truths.