Painting, Talking, Rapping and Healing: U.S. Latine Youth and Young Adults Define Wellbeing through Arts-Based PAR

Abstract

This paper describes how a collective of Latine youth and adult allies used art-based approaches in a participatory action research project to better understand the ways in which young U.S. Latines make meaning of wellbeing. In this study, we interviewed 19 individuals who identified as Latino/a/e, ages 19–24, from Colorado, Washington state and New Jersey. Our team intentionally chose art-based approaches, including music and painting, as analytical tools and healing methods to synthesize the responses of the Latine youth we interviewed. We found that Latine youth and young adults initially struggle with defining wellbeing, considering it to be an overly abstract concept or something only achievable through expensive, Western-based medical practices. We also found that many Latine youth often link the root cause of a majority of their mental health issues to numerous systemic terrors such as racism, capitalism and sexism that directly harm their most intimate and supportive relationships: their immediate or extended family and friendships. Young Latine adults have identified these components as pillars of their wellbeing, along with the need for intergenerational conversations, a sense of convivencia, rootedness with freedom of movement and our right to healing and joy.

An ecologically informed transdisciplinary prevention model for Black and Latine family wellbeing

“…Rogers (1999) viewed the use of expressive arts as a nonverbal form of self-expression that contributed to awareness, understanding, and insight. In fact, Armas et al (2023) used music and painting as healing methods in a PAR project with Latine youth and adult allies, where participants explored the role of oppression (i.e., racism, sexism, and capitalism) as detractors from wellbeing.…”