Collaborative Agency in Civic and Community Engagement: Narratives of College Students Working Toward Generative Partnerships

Abstract

The development of democratic citizenship and youth leadership requires an ability to collaborate with others in ways that are jointly empowering. In this study, we sought to understand how students at an urban liberal arts college in the United States framed their own and others’ efficacy and responsibility in narrative accounts of situations they faced in civic and community engagement. We were interested in how young people learn and work alongside local stakeholders, rather than serve on behalf of people and communities considered to be in need. We aimed to gain insight into occasions in which collaborative agency emerged, or failed to emerge, in the coordinated activity of individuals engaged in the creation of intersubjectivity, shared commitments, and perceptions of group accomplishment. We collected narratives over a 4-year period from 123 Bonner Scholars, campus leaders whose scholarship includes a substantial weekly commitment to service. Our analysis of stories featuring or problematizing collaborative agency showed students grappling with limits of collaborative agency, but also generativity and interdependence. They described civic agency and leadership with other students, non-profit partners, and citizens. In some settings, we heard students striving for a collaborative solidarity, moving beyond collaborative agency toward relationships affording mutual empowerment.