(2018). Teaching as a Political Act: Critical Pedagogy in Library Instruction. Educational Considerations, v44 n1 Article 3. This article establishes a theoretical framework for critical library instruction (and thereby critical information literacy) that is built upon critical feminist theory, critical race theory, and engaged pedagogy, among others. Using the ideas and work of theorists to create a path linking the ideas of critical analyses together, the author demonstrates the importance and need for critical information literacy within library instruction to empower students, creating opportunities for lifelong learning. Noted within the article are the obstacles for librarians who focus on feminist engaged pedagogy in their teaching; however, the author shares with readers that the challenge is in fact worth the struggle. Overall, the article presents a theoretical foundation for the author's call to action — it's time for librarians to move forward as teachers-as-activists roles and use library instruction as a transformation into a lifelong learning experience for students…. [PDF]
(2018). Unpacking Resilience and Trauma: Examining the "Trump Effect" in Higher Education for Undocumented Latinx College Students. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, v12 n3 p33-52. In response to the "Trump Effect", or the negative climate in education following President Trump's election, we examine the ways in which anti-immigration rhetoric from the recent election cycle and the elimination of DACA has influenced college experiences and trajectories of undocumented Latinx students. Using critical race theory, along with literature on trauma and resilience, we based our findings on three focus groups with 16 undocumented student participants, and highlight four emergent themes: (1) citizen fragility seemed pervasive and finding hope was deemed as challenging; (2) students experienced an increase of emboldened racist nativism on their college campuses; (3) the exploitation of undocumented student labor; and (4) shared solidarity was beneficial for student resilience. Findings illuminate how colleges and universities need to reconceptualize the notion of resilience by addressing systemic racist nativism in higher education…. [Direct]
(2018). On the Utility of Asian Critical (AsianCrit) Theory in the Field of Education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v31 n10 p935-949. Despite the powerful influence of race and racism on the experiences and outcomes of Asian Americans in US education, coherent conceptual frameworks specifically focused on delineating how White supremacy shapes the lives of this population are difficult to find. The AsianCrit framework, grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the experiences and voices of Asian Americans, can begin filling this gap. In this article, we review an AsianCrit framework and examine Asian American issues in education through seven AsianCrit tenets to demonstrate their utility in the analysis of and advocacy for Asian Americans in U.S. education. We end by discussing implications of how AsianCrit can provide a framework to guide future research, policy and practice, as well as a foundation for discourse around the racialized experiences of Asians Americans and other racially marginalized groups in education…. [Direct]
(2018). 'Let's Make a Little Drum': Limitations and Contradictory Effects of Cultural Approaches in Indigenous Education. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v21 n6 p757-772. Initiatives to improve low levels of educational attainment amongst Indigenous students in the Canadian Prairies have long emphasized cultural approaches and ignored how racism affects achievement. Taking up the debates offered by critical race theory, and utilizing post-structural theorizing of knowledge and subjectivities, this article provides a discourse analysis of educators' contradictory deployments of cultural discourses. The analysis highlights the inadequacy of cultural narratives for explaining the inequality experienced by Indigenous students. I show how naming racism in schools is difficult for teachers because cultural integration efforts are taken as evidence that equality is being achieved, and I trace the ways in which this leads to the naturalization of schooling exclusions and unequal subjectivities. Readers are brought to rethink the integration of Indigenous culture in schools as a singular pathway to student success, and the importance of centering race and… [Direct]
(2018). They Have "Verve": Preservice Teachers' Perceptions about Culturally Relevant/Responsive Pedagogy. New Educator, v14 n2 p153-170. Based on concerns about the permanence of racism in our society and its impact on opportunities for children's equitable education, this empirical study used narrative inquiry to explore four preservice teachers' developing dispositions as they studied and implemented culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy (CR/RP) in an early literacy education course framed by critical race theory. Whereas the majority of publications based on this study's findings have focused on preservice teachers' problematic white racial discourse showcasing narrative profiles, this article focuses on a finding that opportunities to study race and CR/RP led the preservice teachers to new perceptions about culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy, race, and racism. Yet, within these purported learnings, preservice teachers' continued use of white racial discourse points to the need for teacher educators to engage preservice teachers in contextualized discussions about the social, political, economic, and… [Direct]
(2014). Critical Race Theory, Hip Hop, and "Huck Finn": Narrative Inquiry in a High School English Classroom. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v46 n2 p244-267 Jun. This study explores the impact of reading "Huckleberry Finn" through the lens of critical race theory for both teacher and students in a racially diverse urban high school environment. The teacher/researcher used narrative inquiry and creative non-fiction to examine student language usage, white privilege (including her own), and student reaction to the novel in a collaborative qualitative study. Major findings include distinct differences between students of color and white students in their level of teacher trust and their views on reclamation…. [Direct]
(2020). Curriculum as a Discursive and Performative Space for Subjectivity and Learning: Understanding Immigrant Adolescents' Language Use in Classroom Discourse. Modern Language Journal, v104 n4 p842-859 Win. This article examines the relationship between language curriculum and learners' subjectivity through a poststructuralist perspective. I use performativity theory to highlight the constituting power of language and integrate it with critical race theory to understand the relationships among curriculum, classroom interaction, and subjectivity negotiation of 3 immigrant adolescents in one U.S. secondary multilingual classroom. Drawing on data from a critical ethnography, this classroom discourse study analyzes instructional materials, classroom interactions, and interviews to understand how the teacher-designed curriculum for one routinized vocabulary activity–namely, the sentence-starter language practice–constructed subjectivity for students and how the immigrant youths negotiated their racialized, gendered, and schooled subjectivities in relation to the curriculum content. This analysis shows that the sentence starters, designed as scaffolding tools, served an implicit goal of… [Direct]
(2020). The Black Educator Connection: An Examination of the Lived Experiences of Black Elementary Educators. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Bowie State University. There is very little known about why Black elementary educators enter the profession, their professional preparation and experiences, and factors that retain them in the profession. Given that Black elementary educators are underrepresented in the literature, this study filled a gap in the literature by investigating their: (1) reason for becoming teachers; (2) preparation to become teachers; (3) pedagogy; and (4) teaching experiences. Critical race theory served as the framework for this hermeneutic phenomenological study to explore the lived experiences of 9 Black elementary educators. Study findings indicated that Black elementary educators seek, value, and need connections with other Black people, including former educators, colleagues, administrators, and students. Additionally, Black elementary educators are skilled in developing and maintaining relationships with Black students rooted in cultural connections. Black educators consider salary, support from administration, and… [Direct]
(2020). Understanding the Personal and Academic Experiences of Graduate Students with Disabilities. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University. This qualitative research study explored current graduate students with disabilities personal and academic experiences. The three theoretical frameworks utilized were Disability Studies in Education (DSE), intersectionality and Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to connect how race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability identities impact graduate students with disabilities experiences. This dissertation study had a total of four research questions to explore the impact of graduate students with disabilities higher education experiences. This research study was conducted at three different California higher education institutions: two private universities and one public university. There was a total of twenty graduate student participants interviewed that were registered with their institution's Disability Resource Center. 55% of the interview participants identified as students of color. The findings indicated how intersectionality impacted their graduate school… [Direct]
(2020). Exploring Black Student Accounts of Anti-Black Structural Violence at an HBCU. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Tennessee State University. While several studies have discussed the existence of internalized oppression and the residuum of anti-Blackness at Black colleges and universities (learning spaces originally intended for Black scholarship), detailed experiences with and consequences of this phenomenon are not common. Using emergent design, this critical ethnography will examine the storied responses of Black students attending a public, southeastern HBCU regarding potentially normalized antiblackness and internalized oppression or "anti-Black structural violence." Student interviews, classroom observations, a review of organizational documents and written accounts on public forums will be investigated using the theoretical frameworks of Bell's critical race theory and Galtung's theories of structural and cultural violence. I will likewise examine how this type of violence may affect student engagement, racial empowerment, and identity development. I will later discuss the responsibility of educational… [Direct]
(2020). Summary of the 69th Annual Conference of the Literacy Research Association, December 4-7, 2019. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, v69 n1 p11-18 Nov. "Literacy Research: Illuminating the Future," was the conference theme. The theme highlighted paradigmatic, theoretical, methodological and substantive diversity that embraced a full gamut of perspectives and approaches to make sense of and advocate for literacy. Over 1,100 attendees gathered in Tampa, Florida to share and discuss the precipice of literacy research. The conference featured 346 individual research paper presentations, 65 symposia sessions, 26 alternative format sessions and 177 ongoing research roundtable presentations. For the second year, additional space was created for in-progress research conversations which provided opportunities for 26 poster presentations. The 2019 conference featured 13 research areas, 23 Study Groups, and 6 Innovative Community Groups (ICGs). Study group topics included: posthumanism, transformative activist stances, critical race theory, postsecondary literacy, Asian Americans Pacific Islanders, If I knew then what I know now,… [Direct]
(2020). Indian Education for All: Decolonizing Indigenous Education in Public Schools. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press In his new book, John P. Hopkins examines recent efforts to reform Indigenous education in public schools. Hopkins centers his critique on Montana State's innovative and bold multicultural education policy called Indian Education for All (IEFA), and demonstrates why Indigenous education reforms must decolonize the curriculum and pedagogy to address the academic inequalities facing Native students. Using tribal critical race theory and culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogy, "Indian Education for All" proposes a shift in the ways teacher candidates learn about Indigenous education and instruct Native students. It explains why teachers and schools need to privilege Indigenous knowledge and explicitly integrate decolonization concepts into teaching and learning to address the academic gaps in Native education. This book will also help non-Native educators engage in productive and authentic conversations with tribal communities about what Indigenous education reform… [Direct]
(2019). Discovering Cultural Wealth in Latinx First-Generation Participants of a College Access and Enrichment Program: A Phenomenological Inquiry. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D./HE Dissertation, Azusa Pacific University. Nationwide, Latinx students are the largest minority group on college campuses and represent the largest increase in the rate of college enrollment (Pew Research Center, 2016). Sixty-one percent are first-generation, compared to 25% of White and Asian and 41% of Black students (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2018). First-generation college students are typically low-income minorities who have historically had and continue to have the lowest levels of academic performance and college degree attainment (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2018; Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, & Nora, 1996). There exists a prevailing deficit perspective at all levels of education that asserts students of color are responsible for their lack of educational progress, and their social, cultural, and economic environments deter academic advancement (Garcia & Guerra, 2004). More research is needed to gain insight into the lived experiences of first-year first-generation Latinx… [Direct]
(2019). Ho?olohe Pono: Listening to the Voices of Parents and Community to Envision a School-Family-Community Partnership at Waimanalo School. ProQuest LLC, D.Ed. Dissertation, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. The primary aim of this study is to promote social justice and educational equity by empowering the voices of parents and community members in a rural public-school community with a diverse minority population. The research questions focused on understanding how their perceptions, beliefs, experiences, and values influence their engagement with the local public school. Based on the values of the community and its families, I offer recommendations to improve the school's family and community engagement efforts to support students' academic achievement as well as their overall experience in school. This study focused on Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School, which is located in the culturally diverse community of Waimanalo. Waimanalo has a large Native Hawaiian population, as well as other minority ethnic groups such as Filipinos, Micronesians, and Samoans. Because the majority of Waimanalo residents and students at Waimanalo School represent these nondominant groups,… [Direct]
(2019). Perspectives of Children from Refugee Backgrounds on Their Family Storytelling as a Culturally Sustaining Practice. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, v33 n1 p6-21. Foregrounding the lived experiences and voices of children from refugee backgrounds, the authors adapted culturally sustaining pedagogy and refugee critical race theory frameworks to investigate how Nepali, Somali, and South Sudanese children from refugee backgrounds whose families resettled in western New York perceive family storytelling. The authors analyzed their perspectives based on interviews of siblings following family storytelling at their houses. The authors found that the children in this study intuitively identified unique ways of family telling stories (e.g., remembering and repeated storytelling, narrative structure, and performative nuances) and internalized family storytelling as an important culturally and linguistically sustaining practice. In addition, the children made powerful connections between family and school storytelling practices (e.g., suggesting cross-cultural literacy strategies, identifying common genres, and noticing similar values taught at both… [Direct]