(2021). Sorority and Fraternity Life: Examining Racial Discourse via Institutional Websites. Journal of College Student Development, v62 n5 p547-562 Sep-Oct. Scholarship has provided some insight into inequities that exist within sorority and fraternity life (SFL), whereas members of culturally based sororities and fraternities within Multicultural Greek Councils (MGC) and National Pan-Hellenic Councils (NPHC) report being treated as inferior to those in historically white organizations. However, few studies have examined institutional efforts to render culturally based sororities and fraternities visible to campus communities. This qualitative critical discourse analysis examined how SFL offices at 18 research universities in the southeastern United States communicated information about councils through institutional SFL web pages. Findings show that few communities attempted to represent council information equally, with MGC and NPHC most often underrepresented within these spaces. Using tenets from critical race theory and critical whiteness studies, we describe three forms of discourse apparent through our analysis of SFL web pages:… [Direct]
(2021). Latina/o Students as Agents of Change: The Influence of Cultural Assets and College Experiences. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v24 n6 p789-809. Enhancing the civic engagement of Latina/os can promote the economic and political advancement of this racial/ethnic group. Employing a critical quantitative longitudinal design with data from UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), this study examines the factors that influence Latina/o college students' social agency, which represents values associated with civic engagement. The study draws from Critical Race Theory, including community cultural wealth. Multiple regression analyses indicate that cultural assets and Latina/os' college experiences shape their commitment to social change. Specifically, Latina/o students draw from various forms of capital (aspirational and spiritual) as they engage in their college environment and experience marginalization and empowerment, which collectively influence their social agency. Also, findings suggest some differences within the monolithic Latina/o group. By understanding the factors that motivate Latina/o students' social… [Direct]
(2021). Classroom Counternarratives as Transformative Multicultural Citizenship Education. Multicultural Education Review, v13 n3 p229-244. This paper examines pedagogical responses to James Banks's concept of "failed citizenship," namely the structural factors that inhibit migrants and minorities from accessing fully functioning citizenship and their human rights. Banks commissioned and published 16 case studies of social studies teachers in different national contexts to illustrate and exemplify transformative civic education. These illustrate his theories of failed citizenship and "transformative citizenship education." Analysing this dataset through the lenses of failed citizenship, human rights and counternarratives, the paper provides empirical evidence to support and illustrate the theories. These minority teachers working in hostile cultural environments are very aware of the dangers of failed citizenship for their students. They use pedagogical strategies that have been theorized in critical race theory and human rights education including countering homogenizing national official narratives… [Direct]
(2021). Bringing DisCrit Theory to Practice in the Development of an Action for Equity Collaborative Network: Passion Projects. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v24 n5 p703-718. Disability Critical Race Theory (Dis/Crit) was useful as a tool and a lens for the development of a collaborative network of educators, community providers, and community stakeholders including educators, community members, parents, and individuals. Initially I engaged these stakeholders in action research sessions to inform planning for developing contextualized cultural competence among pre-service special education teachers. Examining equity and inequity in educational and community experiences for people representing minoritized identities including disability, race, ethnicity, language, immigrant status, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status broadened our focus and passion for change. Expanding the process of building collective narrative inquiry, our network built projects to disrupt inequities at the intersections of disability and race in schools and community spaces. I discuss the utility of finding common ground in the theoretical framing lens Dis/Crit… [Direct]
(2021). Factors Associated with College STEM Participation of Racially Minoritized Students: A Synthesis of Research. Review of Educational Research, v91 n4 p614-648 Aug. Racially minoritized students in the United States constitute 30% of the U.S. population, but students from these populations represent a smaller proportion of those who earn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate degrees. This disproportionality contributes to race/ethnic income, status, and power inequalities linked to STEM careers. Using a combination of vote counting and narrative approaches, the authors synthesize 50 recent articles about the factors related to college students' STEM participation. Consistent with cumulative disadvantage and critical race theories, findings reveal that the disproportionality of racially minoritized students in STEM is related to their inferior secondary school preparation; the presence of racialized lower quality educational contexts; reduced levels of psychosocial factors associated with STEM success; less exposure to inclusive and appealing curricula and instruction; lower levels of family social, cultural, and… [Direct]
(2021). 'I Was Involved as an Equal Member of the Community': How Pedagogical Partnership Can Foster a Sense of Belonging in Black, Female Students. Cambridge Journal of Education, v51 n6 p733-750. Research suggests that a sense of belonging is fundamental to students' engagement, persistence and success in postsecondary education, and that racism systematically works against Black students experiencing these. Participating in student-staff pedagogical partnership can foster a sense of belonging, contribute to culturally sustaining pedagogy, and redress harms experienced by minoritised postsecondary students. Using a conceptual framework informed by research on belonging, critical race theory and intersectionality and a methodology informed by a Black-Feminist and Womanist Research Paradigm, Black Girl Cartography and counterstorying, the authors analyse responses to an ethics-board-approved survey completed by 12 Black, female students at three US colleges. They situate that analysis by presenting their conceptual framework, defining pedagogical partnership, and describing the pedagogical partnership programmes. They focus on how the students who responded to their survey… [Direct]
(2021). Constructing a Monolith: State Policy, Institutional DEI Plans, and the Flattening of Latinx Identity at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. AERA Open, v7 n1 Jan-Dec. As racialized institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions educate large portions of racially minoritized students within organizational and policy structures that advance Whiteness. This research considers how the institution-level diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans, produced in response to state-level DEI policies in Florida, California, and New York, construct narratives of intersectional diversity and a racialized Latinx identity at Hispanic-serving community colleges (HSCCs). Engaging critical discourse analysis, drawing together critical race theory and LatCrit, the analysis expands the consideration of DEI policy implementation at HSCCs. The findings illustrate the interconnectedness of state-level policy, policy implementation guidance, and institution-level discourse related to defining intersectional diversity and demographic data. Furthermore, it captures a lack of attention to racial composition among Latinx students and the limited characterization of HSI… [PDF]
(2021). Internationalism, Migration, and Education: Pluralistic Disposition in Multilingual and Multicultural Contact Zones–Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Foreign Language Annals, v54 n3 p847-871 Fall. Cyprus has always witnessed an influx of refugees and migrants as a conflict and contact zone and become a destination country for many international students for the last two decades. In the age of an unprecedented diversity and accentuated internationalist theories worldwide, pluralistic pedagogies embellished with nationally monoglossic discourses have become iconized pressing trends in education precipitating a dichotomous doom-loop vis-√ -vis multifaceted parameters of learning environments. Linking critical race theory with internationalism, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, field notes, observations, and informal chats were deployed for an elaborated scrutiny of students' perspectives through a normative-humanistic lens. The results signified that in conflictual contexts, policy-making may surpass basic humanistic norms such as equity and social justice where parental involvement, sustainable integration, discursive ideological orientations, coproduction among… [Direct]
(2023). Centering Black Faculty Voices: A Critical Qualitative Study of Black Tenure-Track Faculty's Priorities and Commitments at Predominantly White Research One Institutions. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University. This critical qualitative research study examines how Black tenure-track faculty at predominantly White Research 1 (PWR1) institutions describe and enact their personal and professional commitments while navigating their institutions priorities and reward structure. Using a purposive and snowball sampling methodological approach, I interviewed 17 Black tenure-track faculty at two large public PWR1 institutions. Drawing on critical race theory and Sule's (2014) model of engagement theory, I analyzed individual narratives. The data yielded six themes: Reframing Care Work, Navigating Service Requests, Sense of Responsibility, Redefining Success, Infusing Joy Into Faculty Work, and Reassessing Scholarly Impact. Findings suggest Black tenure-track faculty at PWR1 institutions engender audacious actions to maintain themselves and are often interested in bringing their whole self to their work and careers. This study suggests Black faculty may navigate their institution's tenure and reward… [Direct]
(2021). Black Families' Resistance to Deficit Positioning: Addressing the Paradox of Black Parent Involvement. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v24 n5 p637-653. Traditional conceptualizations of parent involvement are applied in paradoxical ways to Black families — schools ostensibly seek families' participation in schooling, while positioning multiply-marginalized Black families as deficient and disregarding their contributions. This article explores the experiences of Black families of Black girls using a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) framing. Our exploration reveals how Black families experience and resist racism and ableism imbued in traditional conceptualizations of parent involvement grounded in white, middle-class families' norms. We describe ways Black families (1) relocated the problem from Black girls' behavior to schools' expectations and actions; (2) shifted schools' priorities from a focus on disciplining dis/abled Black girls to a focus on their support needs; (3) initiated dialogue to support Black girls; and, (4) assisted Black girls in recognizing, processing, and responding to racism and ableism. Through this… [Direct]
(2021). A QuantCrit Analysis of Context, Discipline, Special Education, and Disproportionality. AERA Open, v7 n1 Jan-Dec. Using a dis/ability critical race theory (DisCrit) and critical quantitative (QuantCrit) lens, we examine disproportionate application of exclusionary discipline on multiply marginalized youth, foregrounding systemic injustice and institutionalized racism. In doing so, we examined temporal-, student-, and school-level factors that may result in exclusion and othering (i.e., placing into special education and punishing with out-of-school suspensions) within one school district. We frame this study in DisCrit and QuantCrit frameworks to connect data-based decision making to sociocultural understandings of the ways in which schools use both special education and discipline to simultaneously provide and limit opportunities for different student groups. Results showed a complex interconnectedness between student sociodemographic labels (e.g., gender, race, and socioeconomic status) and factors associated with both special education identification and exclusionary discipline. Our findings… [PDF]
(2021). Sparking a Commitment to Social Justice in Asian American Studies: Critical Service Learning That Centers "Community" to Inspire Leadership, Activism, and Social Change. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, v27 n1 p59-92 Win. ASAM 230–Civic Engagement Through Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Studies is a critical service learning course that effects social change by fostering students' leadership, activism, and professional aspirations. Our team (a professor and six alumni, some of whom became community partners) conducted a longitudinal, autoethnographic self-study centering social justice in the scholarship of community engagement. Making scholarly choices aligned with Asian American studies' goals to transform higher education and society, we centralize AAPI counter-narratives as people of color whose voices are neglected in educational research, challenge assumptions of what "community" means in community-engaged scholarship, and employ intersectionality and critical race theory as analytical lenses to expand what knowledge is valued. We found that the course's curricular elements and focus on community-mindedness, radical care, and mindful power sparked the alumni's reflective… [PDF]
(2021). The University Went to 'Decolonise' and All They Brought Back Was Lousy Diversity Double-Speak! Critical Race Counter-Stories from Faculty of Colour in 'Decolonial' Times. Educational Philosophy and Theory, v53 n3 p233-244. UK Higher Education is characterised by structural and institutional forms of whiteness. As scholars and activists are increasingly speaking out to testify, whiteness has wide-ranging implications that affect curricula, pedagogy, knowledge production, university policies, campus climate, and the experiences of students and faculty of colour. Unsurprisingly then, calls to decolonize the university abound. In this article, we draw upon the Critical Race Theory method of counter-storytelling. By introducing composite characters, we speak back to assumptions that universities are race-neutral, meritocratic institutions. We illustrate some of the key themes that shape the experiences of faculty of colour in UK Higher Education: institutional racism, racial microaggressions, racial battle fatigue, and steadfast fugitive resistance. We argue that, despite the paradox of working under (what purports to be) a 'decolonial' agenda, widespread calls to decolonize our universities have further… [Direct]
(2021). "We're Just Not Acknowledged": An Examination of the Identity Taxation of Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track Women of Color Faculty Members. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, v14 n2 p161-173 Jun. This qualitative study examines the ways in which 15 full-time non-tenure-track Women of Color faculty members (NTWCFs) at historically White colleges and universities experienced identity taxation in their work. Critical race theory and critical race feminism were used as theoretical frameworks. Participants experienced identity taxation in 3 ways: care for marginalized students, overburdened with institutional service, and obligations to teach colleagues about race and racism. Although these findings are consistent with the research on tenure-track and tenured Women of Color faculty members, non-tenure-track faculty members faced distinct implications from identity taxation. This included feeling pressured to do this work in hopes of maintaining their position or securing a more permanent one as a result of the tenuous nature of their contracts. Given the overrepresentation of Women of Color in non-tenure-track positions, these findings illustrate a systemic problem that keeps… [Direct]
(2021). The Value of Education between Two African American Male Populations in a Rural Southern Community. Journal of Research in Technical Careers, v5 n1 p47-65 May. This study identified perceptions of education by low performing and college track African American males in a rural town in Southern Kentucky. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory and Symbolic Interactionism, the researchers explored how 16 young men value a secondary and postsecondary education. Selected by their administrator at two high schools, the males were identified as college track or low performing. The findings revealed that both groups identify racial relations as a barrier to educational achievement; however, college track males believed education would assist in overcoming racial divides. Additional findings highlight a difference in perception based upon the presence of a male role model, the home environment, and the felt need for survival. Based on the findings, recommendations include model programs and collaborations among societal groups within the young age; a need for male social programs that foster and encourage positivity throughout a young male's life;… [PDF]