Who am I?
Hi I'm Hania. That's me
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My name has three syllables: Ha-nee-ah.
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(Sometimes people call these words pronouns.)
The words that feel good when you're talking about me are she, her and hers.
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I enjoy
swimming,
hiking,
long walks on the beach,
taking pictures,
art projects,
reading too many books at once
and
making messes
because it usually means I'm
doing something fun.
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I also enjoy the work that I do as a student (most of the time).
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I am a PhD student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
A "PhD student" is a fancy name for a student who is learning to be a researcher. Often, doing research means learning to ask and answer questions. I am learning to do research with kids, families, and grown ups who help kids!
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Harvard is located on the unceded land of the Massachusett people. That means that the Massachusett people didn't give up their land, it was stolen from them.
I partner (and play!) with 3rd-5th graders in Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) projects. This means we are learning to do research together!
I do research about these projects, which means I am asking questions about what works well, and what doesn't. I hope that this can help adults learn more about how research with kids like you can help us find and create joy while building towards more just futures.
Why should I care?​
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For a long time, lots of communities around the world have been working to imagine more just futures, because they see injustices around them.
Injustices happen when not all people have the things they need to be safe, happy, and healthy, or when groups or people are treated unfairly.
For example, some people might be given more resources (like money) because of some part of who they are (their identity) - like the color of their skin, what gender they feel like, what language(s) they speak, what side of a border (lines on a map someone drew to say what land belongs to who) they live on or are born on, what papers they have to say they can be in a certain country, how old they are (their age), who they love, or how much money or other things their family has had over time.
Luckily, communities have been resisting (standing up against or working against) injustice for a long time. A lot of these communities have done two things.
The first is allowing people who are experiencing an injustice to say what would help to fix the injustice, and for those people to be a part of changing whatever action, idea or way of doing things that is creating or upholding the injustice. (If they want that!) That means the people who are experiencing an injustice aren't just listened to, but they are the people making decisions
about issues that are affecting them (things that are happening to them).
A second thing that has been important in resisting injustice is that people who aren't experiencing an injustice stand in solidarity (that means stand together) with people who are experiencing injustice. The people who aren't experiencing that injustice listen to what the people experiencing an injustice have to say, and make sure that any decisions that are made to address that injustice are made with the people who are being hurt.