Safe rebellious places: the value of informal spaces in schools to counter the emotional silencing of youth of color

Drawing on qualitative research with adolescent youth of color, this paper imagines the power and potential of informal youth-driven spaces in schools as sites of emotional safety and rebellion. Calling upon Hochshild’s (1979) conceptualization of the social regulation of emotions, we examine the racialized and gendered feeling rules that govern the social worlds of adolescents of color, particularly within educational institutions. Additionally, we theorize how the presence of informal youth-driven spaces inside schools, but outside of the traditional classroom or club structure, provide a place where young people can safely express their emotions, experience emotional understanding from their peers, and freely critique the institutional and systemic injustices they experience.