Deanna Ibrahim, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Critical Youth Development in the Department of Health and Human Development. Her research aims to understand the mechanisms and contexts that can support youth’s critical consciousness development, or their ability to recognize structural inequities and engage in sociopolitical action. She leverages multi- and mixed-methods approaches to understand the kinds of critical and creative skills that can support youth’s consciousness-building, and the ways in which adults can structure in-school and out-of-school contexts to encourage critical consciousness.
Dr. Ibrahim primarily focuses on understanding arts-based youth programming as a context for critical consciousness development. She has built and engaged in research-practice partnership with youth-serving arts organizations in New York (Guggenheim Museum’s Teen Program, South Bay Arts), Rhode Island (2nd Act) and Washington (Partners for Youth Empowerment). Most recently, Dr. Ibrahim partnered with Westbury Arts (NY) to implement a youth arts intervention she founded, designed, and co-facilitated. Funded by the Huntington Arts Council and New York State Council on the Arts, the program engaged youth in various forms of art to explore and speak out on issues that matter to them in their community, culminating in a community performance.
Dr. Ibrahim’s research is interdisciplinary and informed by fields of education, developmental psychology, critical pedagogy, community psychology, creative youth development, and arts education.
Prior to joining the Department of Health and Human Development, Dr. Ibrahim received her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Development, and Education at New York University. She received her BA in Psychology and Theatre from Muhlenberg College. Dr. Ibrahim is also a trained teaching artist and creative facilitator, a trained dancer, and a theatre artist.
- Child and Youth Work Practicum
- Adolescent Development
- Critical consciousness development
- Social justice arts education
- Youth development
- Out-of-school time programming
- Youth-adult partnerships
Ibrahim, D.A., Nalani, A., & Godfrey, E. (2023). Promoting critical consciousness through participation in the arts. In L.J. Rapa (Ed.), E.B. Godfrey (Ed.), Developing critical consciousness in youth: Contexts and settings. Cambridge University Press.
Burson, E., Godfrey, E.B., Brown, R.M., & Ibrahim, D.A. (2023). Structural and historical attributions in critical reflection. In L.J. Rapa (Ed.), E.B. Godfrey (Ed.), Critical consciousness: Expanding theory and measurement. Cambridge University Press.
Singh, S., Nalani, A., Ibrahim, D.A., Adler, J., Javdani, S., & Godfrey, E. (2022). When diversity is not enough: An intersectional examination of how juvenile legal system actors of color experience the system’s welfare mandate for girls of color. American Journal of Community Psychology, 69(1-2), 71-85.
Ibrahim, D.A., Godfrey, E.B, Burson, E., & Cappella, E. (2021). The Art of social justice: Examining the link between arts participation and critical consciousness development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1-19.
Watts, T., Ibrahim, D., Khader, A., Li, C., Gandhi, J., & Raver, C. (2020). Exploring the impacts of an early childhood educational intervention on later school selection. Educational Researcher, 49(9), 667- 677.
Watts, T.W., Gandhi, J., Ibrahim, D.A., Masucci, M.D., & Raver, C.C. (2018). The Chicago School Readiness Project: Examining the long-term impacts of an early childhood intervention. PLoS ONE 13(7): e0200144.
- Statewide Grant for Creative Learning: Awarded by the Huntington Arts Council and New York State Council on the Arts for the development of community-based, youth-led, justice-oriented arts programming (Gen Connect) – 2023
- Chein-Lehmann Dissertation Proposal Award, Department of Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development – 2023
- Felix M. Warburg Memorial Award: Granted for academic excellence and departmental commitment, Department of Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development – 2021
- Dr. Ibrahim serves as a Creative Associate for EastLine Theatre, a non-profit theatre company that aims to create inclusive, equitable, and collaborative art on Long Island, NY. In addition to advising on decisions, she initiated and facilitated the first line of youth programming within the organization.
- Dr. Ibrahim has served as an ad hoc reviewer for the following journals:
- American Journal of Community Psychology
- Adolescent Research Review
- Child Development in Perspectives
- Developmental Psychology
- Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology