(2023). "Once You See It, You Can't Unsee It.": A White Teacher and White Students' Exploration of Antiracist Education through Critical Whiteness Pedagogy. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Utah. White people have a responsibility due to their complicity in White Supremacy, to practice antiracism in solidarity for racial justice with Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) people and communities. Antiracist education, which fosters this sort of work, necessitates learning about racism and Whiteness to comprehend the violence of White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy. With the help of critical Whiteness pedagogy and critical Whiteness studies broadly, I engaged my White student-participants in antiracist education. As a White, male teacher of a social justice course at Crescent View High School (CVHS), a public school in a ski resort town in the Intermountain West, I had two goals with this scholarship. My first goal in the dissertation was to analyze how White students studying and practicing antiracism understood their racial identities. My second goal was to describe the various ways they tried to practice antiracism. I used critical Whiteness methodology and critical… [Direct]
(2021). Reflections on Operationalizing an Anti-Racism Pedagogy: Teaching as Regional Storytelling. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, v45 n2 p186-200. Responding to rising social tensions and ongoing theoretical and political changes in the study of geography, we advocate for greater operationalizing of anti-racism pedagogies within the field. Such pedagogies undermine long-standing geographic knowledge systems that marginalize and misrepresent people of color while also distorting and misinforming the worldviews of a White society. Drawing from classroom successes and uncertainties, five educators explore the anti-racist possibilities of geography education as a form of "regional storytelling." Regions, one of geography's formative constructs, play a central role within popular and academic understandings of racial differences and identities. Making exclusionary moral judgements about regions and associated populations has long been at the core of the colonization and racialization process. Contributors use reflexive storytelling — understood here as both a classroom instructional method and a way to create supportive… [Direct]
(2020). 'We Don't Teach Race Here': Race-Silenced Pedagogies of Trinidadian Preschool Teachers. Early Child Development and Care, v190 n8 p1233-1241. Much of the educational literature highlights the importance of teaching young children about the value of diversity in relation to fostering positive social–emotional skills and well-being. In the Trinidadian context, while ample work addresses the prevalence of racism, far less research has investigated the racial socialization practices of Caribbean teachers in general and Trinidadian teachers in particular. The present qualitative study investigated how Indo-Trinidadian teachers addressed children's racial awareness, cultivated racial pride in young children and enacted anti-racist pedagogies. Findings revealed that teachers did not engage in explicit racial socialization; and the lack of anti-racist/anti-colonial pedagogy was strongly linked to teachers' professional and personal identities; as well, it appeared that context-specific race relations inform educator's conceptual understandings of race and its relevance to their teaching practice. The article concludes with… [Direct]
(2022). Upsetting the System: Ideology, Identity and Practice in a Teacher Education Program. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder. Teacher education is an entry point for education reform where candidates can learn how school can become a site for reinforcing norms that harm minoritized students, and also as a place of possibility, where ideologies are expanded to embrace possibility and exploration. This project investigates the use of critical, queer, and anti-oppressive methods in teacher education and how that preparation impacts teacher candidates' gender, race, classed and sexual ideologies, as well as their teaching practices, commitments and values. The data for this project was collected through participant observation in a critical teacher education program at the University of Colorado, Boulder School of Education as well as semi-structured interviews with 14 Elementary Education candidates and a content analysis of their course assignments. I conclude that the Elementary Education program's anti-oppressive teacher preparation positively impacted the candidates' teaching ideologies and practices to… [Direct]
(2020). Cosmopolitan Critical Literacy and Youth Civic Engagement for Human Rights. Pedagogies: An International Journal, v15 n4 p262-278. In this theoretical paper centered on adolescent literacy and civic engagement, we draw from human rights education and multimodal cosmopolitan critical literacy consider the ways adolescents may take up civic engagment. With a combination of multimodal resources and social networking, adolescents are able to have an impact on a variety of social and political issues including immigration, translanguaging, racism, bullying, and other community problems relevant to their lives. The purpose of this essay is to illuminate the many ways that adolescents can participate in local and global civic engagement through human rights education and multimodal critical cosmopolitan literacy, as well as critique current practices. The analysis uses a 3-level construct to selectively examine youth civic engagement. Results indicate that, while there is promising work being done to promote civic engagement from a justice-oriented stance, more work and research is needed to explore the affordances and… [Direct]
(2020). What Exactly Are We Doing Here? Reflections on the Role of Critical Educational Studies. Critical Questions in Education, v11 n2 p129-146 Sum. In advancing the struggle for social justice in education, we often advance an anti-racist praxis in our classrooms. However, students, teachers, and others trying to make sense of our praxis–oftentimes well-intentioned in their queries–will ask "why are we always talking about race?" and "why do we only present one perspective and one position (a "liberal" one) in this class?" These questions are relevant and require us to clarify what exactly are we doing in critical educational studies? As a former K-12 teacher, an instructor of Urban Education, Multicultural Education, and as a critical educational researcher, I seek to ask–and answer–three questions pertinent to critical educational studies: (1) What does it mean to study Urban Education? (2) Why do we focus on race and racism in social justice work, and why not just focus on class? (3) Why do some people attempt to equate critical educational studies with left-wing propaganda? I begin by… [PDF]
(2022). The (In)Visibility of Race in School Discipline across Urban, Suburban, and Exurban Contexts. Teachers College Record, v124 n4 p151-179 Apr. Background/Context: Racial disparities in school discipline represent a longstanding injustice in U.S. schools. Students of color, particularly Black students, are systematically subjected to harsher school disciplinary actions compared with their peers. A growing body of evidence demonstrates the severity of the problem and the negative consequences of harsh punishment, particularly given that students who are disciplined are more likely to be forced into the complex nexus of education and incarceration. Focus of Study: In this study, we aimed to understand how different racial contexts in urban, suburban, and exurban schools shaped responses to and understandings about racial disparities in school discipline. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework that centers the visibility and invisibility of race (Artiles, 2019) throughout the disciplinary cycle, this study was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the similarities and differences in educators' and students'… [Direct]
(2018). Israeli Education and the Apartheid in South Africa: Ongoing Insights. Intercultural Education, v29 n2 p218-235. Focusing on education policy and politics in Israel, this essay examines how ethnic segregation is established and sheds light on the latest curricular developments that place a heavy emphasis on Jewish identity. The first part of the paper underscores the rising influence of the radical right in Israel and it's political theology. The second part presents the Apartheid education in South Africa. In doing so, this part underscores the roles of segregation and religion in establishing a justificatory system that legitimises racial superiority and presents Apartheid education as 'civilising' and 'modernising'. In the third part, the paper discusses how segregation and religious-ethnonationalism make up an apartheid-like reality in Israel, focusing on recent curricular policies. The final part presents concluding thoughts on racism and colonialism…. [Direct]
(2015). Perceptions about the Role of Race in the Job Acquisition Process: At the Nexus of Attributional Ambiguity and Aversive Racism in Technology and Engineering Education. Journal of Technology Education, v27 n1 p41-55 Fall. This study explored the role of race in the negative job acquisition outcomes of African American graduates of a federally funded multi-institution doctoral training program. Because the credentials of African American graduates were similar, equal to, and/or, in some cases, exceeded those of their white peers, qualifications were ruled out as contributing to negative job outcomes. Further examination indicated that among the likely factors accounting for job acquisition outcomes were: tokenism; aversive racism; microaggressions; and inadequate professional development for graduates entering a White-male-dominated field. Recommendations for practice suggest amending graduate programming to include anticipatory socialization relative to being a member of a historically underrepresented group in the field, and mentorship that can help diffuse the impacts of tokenism and facilitate career success in academia…. [PDF]
(2017). A Race to the Top from the Bottom of the Well? The Paradox of Race and U.S. Education Reform. Educational Forum, v81 n2 p136-147. This article explores the paradox of "race" and U.S. education reform in the 21st century. I consider how the invisible ontology of race and its entangled relationship with class divert our attention from economic inequality and undermine policies intended to redress racial inequality in schools. I conclude that the education research community must unpack its use of "race" and focus on the role of racism in the maintenance of racial caste in America's schools…. [Direct]
(2023). A Critical Race Analysis of the Lived Experiences of Latino Male Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, D.Clin.Psy. Dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. This critical phenomenological study aims to analyze the lived experiences of Latino male student affairs (SA) professionals considered early to mid-career at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Three research questions guide the study: 1) How do Latino male SA professionals in higher education describe their leadership experiences at PWIs? 2)Why are there so few Latino males in SA? 3)What strategies benefit institutions looking to recruit and retain Latino male SA professionals within PWIs? This study applies a critical phenomenological approach analyzed via critical race theory's tenets to answer these questions. Six participants, all Latino male SA professionals, served as the sample for this research. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews via a phenomenological method with the tenets of critical race theory as the hermeneutic for thematic analysis, revealing seven themes: 1) student affairs work, 2) self-identifying as Latino and its accompanying experiences,… [Direct]
(2024). An Exploratory Study on the Impact of Cultural Identity Racial Affinity Groups on Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and School Belonging among Black Elementary School Youth. ProQuest LLC, D.S.W. Dissertation, Southern Connecticut State University. Black youth in America must overcome many systematic obstacles to function successfully in American society. Racist social views and racist structures significantly impact Black youth's access to equitable education and resources and lead to disparate educational outcomes. One intervention that may help protect school age Black youth from the impact of racism is racial affinity groups. Racial affinity groups are successful spaces for discussing concepts unique to a group's shared experiences. An 8-session racial affinity group with fourteen Black second-grade participants was the pilot intervention used in this study. A mixed-method research design was used to evaluate this intervention. The dependent variables included self-esteem, self-efficacy, and school belonging. Student questionnaires, parent and teacher focus groups provided data which was assessed to determine the intervention's impact. The quantitative data illustrated modest and inconclusive results. Self-esteem was the… [Direct]
(2022). Theory to Practice: Applying the Best Practices Model (BPM) for Living-Learning Communities at Cabrini University. Journal of College and University Student Housing, v48 n2 p30-53. Learning community programs, like many other forms of higher education, are at risk from the effects of financial constraints, systemic racism, and pressures from outside constituents that are forcing institutional leaders to face difficult decisions that result in cutting budgets and closing programs. During these tumultuous times, learning community programs should not only be retained, but also expanded and improved to align with best practices in order to create inclusive campuses, strengthen community, increase students' sense of belonging, and foster faculty-student relationships. This intentional approach will result in higher student retention, satisfaction, and persistence rates. In 2018, Inkelas and colleagues developed the Best Practices Model (BPM), which presents a pyramid of what they call the "building blocks" of a successful living-learning community program. The purpose of this paper is to provide an application of this model to a well-established,… [Direct]
(2019). Endless Mourning: Racial Melancholia, Black Grief, and the Transformative Possibilities for Racial Justice in Education. Harvard Educational Review, v89 n2 p227-250 Sum. In this article, Justin Grinage investigates how black youth experience and contest racial trauma using racial melancholia, a psychoanalytic conception of grief, as a framework for understanding the nonpathologized endurance of black resistance to racism. Examining data from a yearlong ethnographic study, Grinage engages the notion that melancholia is needed for mourning to take place, a crucial distinction that engenders agency in relation to the constant (re)production of racial oppression in the lives of five black twelfth-grade students at a multiracial suburban US high school. Grinage illustrates how racial melancholia structures racial trauma and analyzes its effects on black identity, dismissing pathologizing definitions of racial injury while centralizing the importance of asset-based, healing-centered approaches for enacting racial justice in education…. [Direct]
(2019). A Qualitative Metasynthesis of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice in Action: Pitfalls and Promises of Practice. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, v50 n3 p268-310 May. Mathematics classrooms are increasingly becoming sites for investigating social (in)justice, but research on teaching mathematics for social justice remains limited to individual case studies. This article reports on a metasynthesis of 35 qualitative reports of social justice mathematics enactments in diverse classroom contexts. Critical race theory serves as a guiding framework for analyzing possibilities and limitations of these enactments to address racial inequities in mathematics education. Findings from this metasynthesis reveal that addressing race in social justice mathematics explorations provided opportunities for centering the voices of people of Color and critiquing liberal views that camouflage subtle forms of racism and involved substantial and authentic mathematical work. Promising practices and implications for future research are identified based on this synthesis…. [Direct]