Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2024

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph. D.

Department

Social Work

Degree Program

Social Work, PhD

Committee Chair

Sar, Bibhuti

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Rote, Sunshine

Committee Member

Rote, Sunshine

Committee Member

Winters, Andrew

Committee Member

Cuellar, Gregory

Author's Keywords

Arts-based research; drawings; religiosity and spirituality; resilient children; U.S. southern border; central America

Abstract

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 drawings gifted to the Arte de Lágrimas. Participatory visual research methodologies (PVRM) guided the analysis. The application of these methods concentrates on describing the drawings' compositionality and color significance. Content analysis followed this process, focusing on the figures' frequency counts in the drawings and a coding scheme based on categories. A concept mapping approach was applied to identifying themes. Study results identified themes related to memories of homeland, connection with nature, sense of community before migrating, facing fears linked to the border crossing, and religious symbols and language of spirituality as strategies relied on to counter the hardships faced in their migration journey. These findings suggested that children applied the resources before migrating to adjust their behaviors to cope during the travel. Children were fully aware of the perilous journey. Family and a sense of community helped them preserve self-consciousness. Minors applied faith to seek comfort, encouragement, and meaning in the lived experience. It was found that children's drawings can be a powerful data source for amplifying and giving voice to displaced children's lived experiences by telling their stories in visual form. Future studies on the role of spirituality and religiosity in children under risk exposure to serve post-traumatic healing are suggested.

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