Articulating social change in Puerto Rico: Environmental education as a model for youth socio

236 Pages·2015·1.05 MB·English

UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff SSoouutthh FFlloorriiddaa
SScchhoollaarr CCoommmmoonnss
Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School
4-7-2010
AArrttiiccuullaattiinngg SSoocciiaall CChhaannggee iinn PPuueerrttoo RRiiccoo:: EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaall
EEdduuccaattiioonn aass aa MMooddeell ffoorr YYoouutthh SSoocciioo--PPoolliittiiccaall DDeevveellooppmmeenntt aanndd
CCoommmmuunniittyy--LLeedd SScchhooooll RReeffoorrmm
Federico Cintrón-Moscoso
University of South Florida
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd
Part of the American Studies Commons
SScchhoollaarr CCoommmmoonnss CCiittaattiioonn
Cintrón-Moscoso, Federico, "Articulating Social Change in Puerto Rico: Environmental Education as a
Model for Youth Socio-Political Development and Community-Led School Reform" (2010). Graduate
Theses and Dissertations.
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1600
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has
been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar
Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected].
Articulating Social Change in Puerto Rico: Environmental Education as a Model for

Youth Socio-Political Development and Community-Led School Reform

by

Federico Cintrón-Moscoso

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Applied Anthropology
College of Arts and Sciences
University of South Florida

Major Professor: Susan Greenbaum, Ph.D.
Jean Schensul, Ph.D.
Nancy Romero-Daza, Ph.D.
Ken Williamson, Ph.D.
Barbara Cruz, Ed.D.

Date of Approval:
April 7, 2010

Keywords: social movements, youth research, critical ecological theory, educational
applied anthropology, formation of activists

(cid:1) Copyright 2010, Federico Cintrón-Moscoso
A María Cristina Moscoso-Álvarez, gran mujer caribeña, por introducirme a la
antropología e inculcarme el amor y el respeto por los demás.

A Federico Cintrón-Fiallo por demostrarme con la acción y la palabra que en la política
siempre hay espacio para la sensibilidad y que el arma más poderosa de un revolucionario
es su humanidad.

A mi clan Moscoso por siempre ser y estar…
Table of Contents

List of Tables..................................................................................................................iv

Abstract...........................................................................................................................v

Preface..........................................................................................................................vii

Chapter One: Introduction...............................................................................................1
Why Study Young People? Young People Around the World..............................2
Youth research and access to participation................................................4
Getting Started: A Long Walk Back to My Backyard...........................................6
About this Dissertation: Synopsis of Chapters....................................................11

Chapter Two: Anthropology, Development and Environmentalism................................14
Introduction.......................................................................................................14
Environmentalism: The Self, the Land, and the Struggle to Change
The World..........................................................................................................16
Breaking the psychological connection: Modernism and the
unnatural self..........................................................................................17
Anthropology and conservation: Cultural rights or the rights
of the land..............................................................................................19
Sustainable development and ecotourism: Alternative models
for a new paradigm.................................................................................22
Environmental Education: Transforming the Young, Sustaining
The Future ........................................................................................................26
Youth participation on development and urban change...........................28
A New Project for Education: Who’s Responsible for Bringing
About Change?..................................................................................................30

Chapter Three: Understanding Youth Participation: Young People as
‘Experiencers’ of Social Change...................................................................................33
Introduction.......................................................................................................33
Early Approaches: Psychological and Sociological Influences...........................34
Psychological influences.........................................................................34
Sociological influences and educational ethnography.............................36
Youth Studies and Applied Anthropology Today...............................................43
Applied research, action research and action anthropology.....................45
Participatory action research (PAR): Historical background....................49
PAR components: Culture, research and action.......................................51
Lessons from youth participatory action research (YPAR)......................55
i
Chapter Four: An Eco-Critical Approach to the Study of Youth Pro-Environmental
Behavior and Community Development........................................................................61
Introduction.......................................................................................................61
Building a Methodological Approach for the Study of Youth
Pro-Environmental Behavior..............................................................................62
The critical-ecological approach.............................................................62
The environmental education approach...................................................64
Background........................................................................................................68
Aims of the Study..............................................................................................72
Methodological Framework: Epistemological Approach
and Research Techniques...................................................................................73
Research Plan ....................................................................................................76
Elusive multiple research settings...........................................................76
Participant observation...........................................................................79
Semi-structured interviews: Building local knowledge with Conuco.......83
Semi-structured interviews: The broader context....................................88
Documents and audio-visual data...........................................................91
Data Analysis Plan.............................................................................................92
Challenges and Limitations................................................................................96

Chapter Five: Research Findings...................................................................................99
Introduction.......................................................................................................99
Historical Overview of The DEPR: Americanization And
Colonial Schooling...........................................................................................103
The DEPR today: Economic and social bankruptcy..............................106
Government’s Perspective on Economic Development and
the Environment...............................................................................................113
Individual Development and ‘Sense Making’...................................................117
Conuco’s early development: Cross-fertilization and
experimentation....................................................................................117
Conuco as a space to explore the self....................................................125
Local Context and Social Structures.................................................................140
Río Piedras : « Ciudad Universitaria ».................................................140
Conuco as an organization: Guiding principles and objectives..............143
Conuco: Implementation of the model.......................................148
Learning about Río Piedras: Understanding Children’s Difficult Lives.............161
On Assessment and Other Organizational Characteristics.................................165
Development of skills and integration of knowledges...........................169

Chapter Six: Articulating Social Change in Puerto Rico: Understanding Youth
Development and Community-Led School Reform......................................................177
Introduction: Youth Participation in Social Change..........................................177
Implications for Environmental Education: Experimentation on
Community-led School Reform........................................................................179
On experimentation and participation...................................................180
On community-led school reform and community development...........182
i i
Implications for Applied Anthropology and Future Research
in Puerto Rico..................................................................................................184
Future research.....................................................................................187
Final Thoughts.................................................................................................188

Notes...........................................................................................................................190

List of References........................................................................................................205

About the Author............................................................................................END PAGE
ii i
List of Tables

Table 1 Assessment of Conuco at the End of the School Year ..........................173
iv
Articulating Social Change in Puerto Rico: Environmental Education as a Model
for Youth Socio-Political Development and Community-Led School Reform

Federico Cintrón-Moscoso
ABSTRACT

Recent attempts at developing an environmental education agenda in public
schools emphasize the need to foster greater public awareness about environmental
rights, issues, and solutions, while producing citizens with the knowledge and skills
needed to address the ecological challenges of contemporary society. However, some
scholars have argued that the attempt to integrate environmental principles into the school
curricula has created a conflict between the politically-oriented goals of environmental
education and the more passive practices of uncritical assimilation and reproduction
found in many schools today (Stevenson 2007). Moreover, although there is a need for
public schools to take on the challenge of prioritizing environmental education, they may
not be ready to do so. Ideological conflicts, structural constraints and perceptions about
the urgency of the problem seem to affect the ways in which implementation of these
new philosophies and practices take place.
One approach that the environmental movement in Puerto Rico is utilizing to
fulfill what they perceive as their responsibility to the new generations of Puerto Ricans
and society at large is to partner with local elementary public schools in an effort to
develop activities and knowledge relevant to local ecological issues and environmental
v
principles. To better understand this complex articulation, I set out to conduct an
ethnographic case study of Conuco, a youth-led activist group working in collaboration
with four elementary schools in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Utilizing an eco-critical approach, this study looks at the multiple-levels in which
Conuco intersects as a public organization and a transformative space for its individual
members. By caring for and working with elementary school children, the young people
in the study learn to behave in ways that are ecologically conscious while, at the same
time, fulfilling their perceived social responsibility as mentors and environmental
activists. However, while these practices might improve the performance of individual
teachers and the level of awareness and participation of particular groups of students,
they raise questions about the ability of the school system to confront these new
challenges systematically by transforming the system of instruction and improving its
commitment to the environment. How effective these strategies are and what they mean
for all involved—teachers, students, and activists—are the primary questions being
explored in this study.
v i
Preface

I would like to thank my major advisor, Dr. Susan Greenbaum, for her guidance
and support throughout this long but rewarding process. Without her direction and
reassuring deadlines this dissertation would have never been completed. Dr.
Greenbaum’s clear understanding of the role of anthropologists in local politics and her
engagement and willingness to support her students through new pathways of research
and action have served as inspiration for my own scholarship. Special thanks go to Dr.
Jay Schensul who introduced me to so many aspects of applied and educational research
and who has devoted so much of her time to educating and transforming me into a better
intellectual. I also want to extend a very important recognition to the other extraordinary
members of my committee, Dr. Nancy Romero-Daza, Dr. Ken Williamson, and Dr.
Barbara Cruz, for challenging me at every step of the way and for sharing their
knowledge and wisdom with me. Their friendship, collegiality and enormous humanity
provided me with consolation and sympathetic advice through the emotionally strenuous
battles that accompanied this journey away from home. Loving thanks go to Karen Dyer
for the hours spent revising and editing the multiple drafts, papers and memos produced
as part of finishing this manuscript. Her dedication and caring concern for my success
and improvement are a testament of love and companionship. I will be forever in debt.
To Margarita and Ana, members of the Moscoso clan, thanks for their indispensable
assistance in finalizing the technical aspects of this dissertation, for helping facilitate
initial relationships with Conuco, and for sharing their graduate stories with me as
vi i