Radical Reimaginings is a 5-minute creative video highlighting a multi-year, arts-based, youth participatory research project (YPAR) conducted in collaboration with Black middle and high school girls through the Black Girl Futures program and its signature initiative, Girl Talk! The video uses visual storytelling, youth voice-overs, archival media, and community footage to showcase how Black girls define themselves, build community, and engage in collective meaning-making around identity, mental health, and liberation.
This project addresses feminist youth engagement and participatory feminist research by positioning Black girls not as subjects of study but as co-researchers, visionaries, and cultural producers. Drawing on Black feminist frameworks and YPAR, the project honors Black girls’ inner worlds and lived experiences while resisting deficit-based narratives that too often define their realities. Through Girl Talk! and our Youth Research team, girls engaged in critical discussions, creative expression, and youth-led inquiry centered on self-definition, school experiences, healing practices, and future dreaming.
The chosen creative format is a short video intentionally selected to reflect the project’s values: accessible, expressive, and rooted in storytelling. The video brings together joyful footage, affirmations, research themes, and vision boards voiced and curated by the girls. It captures the evolution of Girl Talk! across cohorts and sites, including virtual sessions and conference presentations, like AERA READY (Research Engagement and Development with Youth).
While Girl Talk! has expanded across cohorts and sites, the foundation of Radical Reimaginings is tied to partnership with a local alternative school. This partnership emerges from relationships grounded in a commitment to equity among faculty, graduate students, and community stakeholders at the University of Florida and the school. The alternative school primarily serves Black and Brown girls who face systemic inequities, such as pushout, which describes disproportionate suspension and expulsion rates that funnel girls into the criminal justice system.
Current data show that Black girls face disproportionate disciplinary actions leading to exclusion from mainstream education, harming their well-being and resilience. Factors like school pushout, adultification bias, and referrals contribute to their placement in alternative schools, which have evolved but lack oversight and remain disconnected from education policy and research. This neglect exacerbates racial and gender disparities, with little understanding of how systemic racism influences the overrepresentation of Black girls in these settings. To address this, we must reimagine the alternative schooling landscape, ensuring accountability and equity.
The co-authors sought to position this project within the alternative school context to emphasize the experiences of Black girls while encouraging their creativity and critical inquiry. Educators and staff at the school collaborate with the research team by assisting with recruitment, providing meeting spaces and feedback, and, at times, joining activities to understand the girls’ perspectives better. At the same time, university partners offer resources and training. This exchange is intentionally reciprocal and grounded in partnership. The co-authors spent a year and a half engaging with the school before conducting any research with the girls. The overarching goal is to build trust, center the needs of the girls, and acknowledge the sociocultural factors that shape their lives.
This groundwork set the stage for the video’s focus on participatory feminist practice, which encompasses the co-construction of knowledge, affirmation of voice, and reimagining of power. Girls define Black girlhood in their own words, reflect on growth, and offer visions for the future through journaling, collage, conversation, and critique. Youth voice-overs share their experiences in Girl Talk! accompanied by clips of expressive arts-based activities and spontaneous moments of joy and connection.
Radical Reimaginings documents what girls learned and uplifts how they lead. The girls participating in Girl Talk! are exploring their identities and shaping communal understandings of what Black girlhood can look and feel like when rooted in affirmation, love, and agency. Their work exemplifies feminist praxis by demonstrating how knowledge derived from lived experiences is grounded in relationships and utilized to envision and foster change.
Ultimately, this project expands the scope of what constitutes research and who is considered a researcher. Digital archives are crucial to youth culture, and our research focuses on co-creating, preserving, and highlighting young people’s voices, stories, and accomplishments. We promote research dissemination through community-engaged methods, emphasizing accessible platforms that nurture identity and community, empowering youth to express their views and shape cultural narratives. Archives also serve as educational resources and sources of inspiration, ensuring youth contributions are acknowledged and woven into broader cultural history. This digital archive celebrates Black girl brilliance and invites others to value their voices and visions.
Author Biographies
Ayanna Troutman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is a proud first-generation graduate of Spelman College and earned her doctorate in school psychology from the University of Florida. Her research focuses on enhancing the educational experiences of Black girls and developing culturally responsive interventions for Black youth. Currently, Ayanna is completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where she conducts research and provides group therapy to children at risk for traumatic stress. Looking ahead, she aims to engage in international research across the African diaspora to better understand girls’ experiences and advance youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a tool for empowerment.
Taryrn T.C. Brown, PhD (she/her), is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in the College of Education. Her research explores community-based youth initiatives, focusing on youth-led research and the development of research literacy. She highlights how race, class, and gender shape educational reform by positioning young people as knowledge producers. Grounded in Black feminist thought and critical qualitative methods, her work amplifies the voices of Black women and girls and advocates for justice-oriented research and teaching. She founded the Black Girlhood Collaborative, an intergenerational research lab dedicated to learning and research in Black girlhood.
Oluyemisi Oladejo is a second-year doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Florida. Her research sits at the intersection of Education, Globalization and Identity.
Dr. Kenesma D. John is an educator, scholar, and advocate committed to advancing equity in education. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with a certificate in Women and Gender Studies, from the University of Florida. As a second-generation Caribbean American, Dr. John’s identity and lived experiences deeply shape her scholarly and teaching pursuits. Her research explores how educational systems in the U.S. and globally shape the learning journeys and identities of Black girls and women. Through her work, Dr. John emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive teaching in creating inclusive, affirming, and transformative educational spaces. Her dissertation, “I Am More than My Hair: A Closer Look at Black Girls’ Hair Experiences,” highlights how hair functions as a site of identity, resistance, and belonging in educational contexts. In addition to her academic work, Dr. John has taught across K–12 and higher education, developed equity-focused curricula, and mentored students through the Mellon Scholars Initiative. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Feminist Book Club, where she continues her commitment to amplifying marginalized voices and fostering critical dialogue.