(2010). Teachers' Developing Understandings about Race and Achievement in a Graduate Course on Literacy Learning. Teacher Education and Practice, v23 n2 p194-209 Spr. In this article, we describe a study of teachers' constructions of understandings about race and achievement in the context of a course on literacy learning and instruction. We documented the course activities, the readings, the assignments, and the teachers' responses related to race during the semester course. The lead researcher also interviewed a few teachers after the course. We analyzed all statements that teachers made concerning race and education and found that while some new understandings emerged during the course, some students' viewpoints moved toward more explicit racism. The views presented in these findings will likely resonate with other teacher educators, which may inspire them to intervene when views of teachers are not in the best interest of the students they teach. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2010). Teaching for Racial Justice: A Participative Approach. Teaching Theology & Religion, v13 n2 p95-109 Apr. This article outlines an ongoing method the author developed for seeking to enable predominantly White students in theological education (those training for authorized public ordained ministry) to engage with the central tenets of racial justice. The quest for racial justice has been an important part of the mission of the major church denominations in the United Kingdom over the past twenty years, as they have declared that "Racism is a sin." Ordained ministers are now charged with the task of seeking to lead church congregations into faithful, anti-racist forms of practice–namely, the quest for racial justice. This paper outlines the working method the author has developed in order to conscientize ministers in training for this significant task…. [Direct]
(2012). The Continued Relevance of \Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom\. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, v9 n1 p21-26 1st Qtr. In 1994, bell hooks' work, Teaching to Transgress–Education as the Practice of Freedom was first published and this work re-examines it for its intent to counter the devaluation of teaching and on the basis that it addresses the urgent need for changes in teaching practices. Because of the intransience of racism and the various \isms\ that are part of our everyday culture, hooks' work remains relevant, particularly for those who find themselves in the position of the lone soldier in the war to effect equitable system change–forever conspiring and scheming in order to accomplish equity in education. This re-examination of hooks' work is also offered to those who face \disempowered collective backlash\ (p.31)–backtracking, ostracization and belittlement designed to dissuade paradigm shifts. It is offered to individuals who are seeking \freedom\–individuals who are seeking to define and contextualize their experiences, their struggle, and to those trying to cope with a society eager… [Direct]
(2010). Corporate Multiculturalism, Diversity Management, and Positive Interculturalism in Irish Schools and Society. Irish Educational Studies, v29 n3 p253-269 Sep. This article offers an empirical critique of recent social and educational policy responses to cultural diversity in an Irish context, with a particular focus on anti-racism, integration and intercultural education policies developed during the so-called "Celtic Tiger" era. Combining ethnographic and discourse analytic techniques, I highlight the centrality of the Celtic Tiger economy and corporate interests in influencing the particular version of interculturalism promulgated by the Irish state. I argue that broader macro processes and discourses operating at the level of Irish state policy can impact the local school level, resulting in negative consequences for ethnic minority students, particularly those who are least endowed with the cultural and linguistic capital valued by the school and wider society. (Contains 6 notes.)… [Direct]
(2008). Mix It up!. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, v74 n3 p21-23 Nov. Today's students are the most racially tolerant generation the nation has ever seen. According to recent studies, they are more likely to have friends or date across racial and ethnic lines than earlier generations. They believe racism is wrong. Despite some progress, racism is still pervasive in American schools. This article describes what schools can do to promote tolerance and equality. It discusses four areas that schools should focus on their effort to promote tolerance and equality. These are: (1) use anti-racist curricula; (2) deepen character education; (3) promote cross-group contact; and (4) strive for school equality…. [Direct]
(2012). Ubiquitous Music Learning in a Postperformance World. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, v111 n1 p196-215. Change growing from technological innovation occasions both excitement and apprehension for all educators. This is especially so in music education. For music educators, as many new wants as new worries accompany these changes. In this article, the author argues for the critical engagement of the music education profession to amplify positive change. This is a pragmatic view of technological change that emphasizes agency within the interplay of wants, needs, values, and practices as people change and are changed by technological innovation. To that end, and to better understand the possibilities and problems inherent in the present, the author reexamines larger trajectories of change over the past century. To do so, the present musical world is conceptualized as postperformance, a term used to capture the gradual decoupling of music from live performance via sound recording and the subsequent rise of the Internet and new media. In regard to learning, the present moment is framed… [Direct]
(2009). The Intersectionality of Nationalism and Multiculturalism in the Irish Curriculum: Teaching against Racism?. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v12 n3 p297-317 Sep. This research explores the interrelationship between the production of national identity and multiculturalism in Irish schools and society. Working from the perspective that ideas about "race" and nation are inextricably linked, I examine how contemporary nationalistic identity projects and processes map onto the current policy drive towards multicultural (or intercultural) education in Ireland. Informed by the intellectual oeuvre of Pierre Bourdieu, my analysis investigates state-level discourses as they are articulated in recent anti-racist policy documents and in the national curriculum, and how these broader discourses are interpreted at the local school level. Combining discourse analytic, observational and in-depth interviewing techniques, I examine how state and school-based intercultural policies and practices construct difference along racial-ethnic and national lines, and consider the implications of these policies and practices for sustaining and contesting… [Direct]
(2009). Reflections on the White Privilege Conference. New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, v23 n2 p47-53 Spr. What is the work of White adult educators to dismantle racism in our classrooms and training sessions? How are we to engage and influence White people to do what is required to create a more just society? These are some questions that the ninth annual White Privilege Conference attempts to address. This \Perspective on Practice\ essay reviews that conference to share my reflections on its meaning and relevance to adult education and implications for practitioners. (Contains 1 footnote.)… [PDF]
(2009). Using Performance Ethnography to Confront Issues of Privilege, Race, and Institutional Racism: An Account of an Arts-Based Teacher Education Project. Multicultural Perspectives, v11 n1 p3-11 Jan. Preservice student teachers engaged in a collaborative research initiative to examine the memory of the 1954 \Brown v. Topeka Board of Education\ decision that culminated in a public performance. Ethnographic data were translated into performance texts through students' performances that confronted issues of privilege, race, and institutional racism in their university context. Critical examinations of the memory of the \Brown\ court decision in their university learning community led to implications for teacher education. Students' use of performance ethnography as an arts-based educational research approach is discussed as a valuable means of alternative assessment. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)… [Direct]
(2013). Undergraduate Latina/o Student Organizations: A Latina/o Critical Theory Analysis. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University. Latina/o college enrollment is on the rise, but degree attainment continues to be an obstacle. In fact, Latin@s continue to hold the lowest levels of educational attainment (Fry, 2011). Therefore, it is important to better understand factors impacting their higher education journey. One of these factors includes involvement in registered student organizations. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the role of Latin@ student organizations (LSOs) in the experiences of Latin@s in higher education as perceived by current and former Latin@ students as well as current faculty and staff at a predominantly White institution. To this end, interview, survey, focus group, observation, and document data were used to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the internal dynamics of undergraduate LSOs? (2) Why do certain Latin@ students choose to participate in LSOs while others do not? and (3) How does LSO involvement foster or hinder Latin@ students' journey through higher… [Direct]
(2020). Chapter 5: Living "nan lonbraj la"–Haitian Immigrant Young People Writing Their Selves into the World. Teachers College Record, v122 n13. Background: Immigrant young people face many challenges in reconciling sociocultural differences that exist in their day-to-day experiences (e.g., school, home, peers), which raises important questions for how school settings can support these students' navigation of these experiences. Much is yet to be learned about the manifestation processes for these young people. This is especially true for Haitian immigrant young people as they encounter racio-cultural dynamics in the U.S. (e.g., through racism and classism) as they work to construct their Haitianness and straddle the different cultural domains they live out. Context: This article focuses on understanding the lived experiences of three Haitian immigrant young people. The young people included two siblings (ages 22 and 16) and a third child (age 8). Interview methodology was used in order to capture stories from the viewpoint of the young people. The mothers of these young people were also interviewed in order to corroborate the… [Direct]
(2011). "Much More than a Basic Education": Supporting Self-Determination and Cultural Integrity in a Non-Traditional School for Indigenous Girls. International Journal of Inclusive Education, v15 n9 p1001-1016. This paper presents data from an interview-based case study of a secondary school located in a suburban area of Queensland (Australia). The school is a non-traditional education site designed to support disadvantaged girls, many of whom are Indigenous, and is highly regarded for its holistic approach to gender and cultural inclusion and equity. Through lenses that align Nancy Fraser's theories of redistributive and recognitive justice, with Indigenous feminists' equity priorities, the paper identifies and analyses the structures and practices at the school that support the girls' capacities for self-determination and their sense of cultural integrity. The paper is an important counterpoint within the context of mainstream gender equity and schooling discourses that continue to homogenise gender categories, sideline the multiple axes of differentiation that interplay to compound gender (dis)advantage and deflect attention away from marginalised girls. In particular, it provides… [Direct]
(2011). Are the Walls of Injustice Tumbling Down?. Educational Foundations, v25 n3-4 p37-58 Sum-Fall. The discussion of multicultural education in teacher preparation dates back several decades. \The historical roots of multicultural education lie in the civil rights movements of various historically oppressed groups\ (Gorski, 1999, p.1). As communities of color resisted institutional racism, schools became one of the sites of struggle. Thus, the concept of multicultural education is a response rooted in reforming education for liberation. However, according to Nieto and Bode (2008) many courses are not translating into culturally competent teaching. Although the authors believe it is very complex to find the \magic\ in providing teachers and pre-service teachers with the tools to engage in multicultural education as practice, they do believe that they can offer a piece in the mosaic that may bring one a step closer to producing culturally competent teachers. Just like most reform ideas in education, multicultural education is defined differently from one city or town to the next,… [PDF] [Direct]
(2012). Echandole Ganas: Undocumented, Latino Students Fighting for Collegiate Survival in Their United States Homeland. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. This study examines the college aspirations and access of Latino, undocumented students. In a time when college access is limited and a college education is necessary, the issue of academically qualified, undocumented students trying to enter the higher education system under tremendous odds is one that deserves a closer study. This dissertation unearths the methods that undocumented, Latino students utilize to gain access and succeed in U.S. colleges despite the financial constraints and social stigma associated with being an undocumented, Latino student in the U.S. The theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory is used to analyze the stratification of immigration status in the U.S. along with examining the consequences of racialization of the term "undocumented". Utilizing a mixed methods approach that uses qualitative and quantitative methods, this study benefits from 16 in-depth interviews with undocumented Latino students from Arizona and California and 290 complete… [Direct]
(2012). Education and Violation: Conceptualizing Power, Domination, and Agency in the Hidden Curriculum. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v15 n4 p463-484. This article offers a theory of a process of \violation\ that connects macropolitical effects to the intimate terrain of subject production. I describe power, as violation, in terms of a simultaneous process of construction and destruction, which seeks its satisfaction in an injury to the very identities it is complicit in producing. Starting from analyses of power and racism in the historical Black radical tradition, and in particular the work of W.E.B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon, and in contrast to prevailing conceptualizations in critical and poststructuralist theory, I describe violation as active and motivated rather than the mere by-product of a more fundamental imperative of reproduction or normalization. This analysis foregrounds the continuous process of assault that characterizes the hidden curriculum of schooling for students of color and other marginalized students, particularly with regard to the contemporary clinical and academic discourses that work to name, know, and… [Direct]