Presentation Title: Youth Agency in an International School: A Case Study

Presenter(s): Jolani Rhodenizer & Saara Doi

Abstract: International school libraries ought to represent a meeting point for literacy, culture and knowledges of the stakeholders within and adjacent to a larger school community. A framework that acknowledges youth as citizen subjects, capable of constructing their own narratives and meanings, permits student-led engagement with and within society. However, discrepancies in politics, the immediacy of history, and emotional connection can create confusion around the organizational purpose of a school library and how this is negotiated. In the Arabian Gulf, these political, linguistic and cultural incongruities have come into sharp focus following the recent events in Palestine. Misalignments between the directives of decision-makers and emergent models of LIS for youth, places the school library as a center for exploring the dynamic of student agency with the constricts of a specific educational landscape. This case study will consider how the school library at Qatar-Finland International School, a Finnish curriculum international school operating in Qatar, is attempting to responsively engage with youth as transdisciplinary subjects on the topic of the conflict in Palestine.

Link to Recorded Presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uvs4Xp-pWrxvgGhrySvgrkD-j52y6rPc/view?usp=drive_link