Revisiting the Collective in Critical Consciousness: Diverse Sociopolitical Wisdoms and Ontological Healing in Sociopolitical Development

In this manuscript, we take up a “critical friend” perspective on sociopolitical development (SPD), seeking to expand the field’s understanding of the collective, intersectional, and dialectic qualities and dimensions in which sociopolitical youth development might occur. Specifically, we contribute to thinking around how SPD is conceptualized and deployed in relation to historically marginalized and racialized youth and communities. We offer ethnographic descriptions from two separate empirical investigations conducted with high school, community college, and university students of color to explore (a) the diverse sociopolitical wisdoms that students bring to educational settings, and the extent to which this wisdom can be sharpened collectively in the classroom, and (b) the ontological healing that can take place once these perspectives and knowledges are respected and promoted within educational spaces that take history and power seriously. Our article concludes with firm recommendations to theorists and practitioners concerning how SPD frameworks and practices might better leverage these goals of engaging diverse wisdoms and encouraging ontological healing to highlight the beyond-intellectual process of critical consciousness and liberation.