(2006). Questioning the "Aloha" in a Multicultural Teacher Education Course. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v26 n1 p37-50 May. Hawaii is often perceived as the "Land of "Aloha," a racial paradise where everyone gets along. But do we? The author explores Hawaii's distinct cultural dynamics with pre-service teachers in a multicultural education course that problematised race and ethnicity. Using an inquiry approach and culturally relevant activities, the class examined the social inequity that exists between privileged "non-minorities" like Japanese, Chinese and Whites, and "disadvantaged minorities" like Filipinos, Native Hawaiians and Samoans. This study found that living among diversity in Hawaii made recognising racism and social inequity difficult. Patterns of student engagement reflected one's positioning in Hawaii's racial and socioeconomic hierarchy. Students from privileged groups minimised and deflected their role in contributing to racism, while students from disadvantaged groups assumed a more critical stance towards society. This study reframes the dialogue on… [Direct]
(2008). "Coming Home" to New Homes and New Schools: Critical Race Theory and the New Politics of Containment. Journal of Education Policy, v23 n2 p135-152 Mar. Older cities in the United States have long been trying to "bring back" the middle class in order to increase tax base. The poor quality of schools and the presence of public housing often were cited as deterrents for attracting higher income families. When the 2000 Census data revealed improvements in many cities, some elected officials and scholars attributed the turnaround to policies such as those aimed at transforming public housing and urban schools. In this article the authors examine these strategies as they have played out in a Chicago community to illustrate how these policies also facilitate the displacement and containment of poor people of color. Utilizing critical race theory, they argue that race continues to guide both education and public housing policy in historically segregated places like Chicago, and that racism is masked by class claims that allow the interests of middle class to trump educational opportunities for poor. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures,… [Direct]
(1996). Through Students' Eyes. Combating Racism in United States Schools. Racism has not been eradicated in U.S. schools, even though many educators do not view it as a major deterrent to the learning of minority students. Overt racism among students, racism demonstrated in the ignorance of teachers and administrators, and racism revealed in the internal struggles of students are common in today's schools. This book documents the racist experiences and antiracist solutions shared by a number of students through a variety of interviews, surveys, and studies. Much of the book focuses on the High School Project, a study from an inner-city high school in New England in a school district with 25,000 students. A race relations survey completed by 2,000 11th and 12th graders was a basis for this book. Information from the Middle School Arts Project, which focused on assessing an artistic fifth-grade social studies unit, and the Teacher Project, a study that has evolved from student ideas for solutions, add to the information base. Much of the book is centered…
(1974). Institutional Racism: A Barrier to Educational Change. Institutional racism remains a powerful force in American society, a reflection of the fact that the white majority which enjoys the benefits of racism is unable to see the destruction that racism works on others. Institutional racism is characterized by a set of organizational procedures, formal or informal, woven into the operational structure of an institution. This racism is deeply ingrained in all aspects of American life, and is particularly manifest in our educational institutions, so that minorities are not provided with the training needed to compete effectively in the job market. Attempts at public school desegregation in New York City and Berkeley demonstrate that minority students are placed at a disadvantage in terms of school size and distance of transportation to integrated schools. IQ tests are another example of a discriminatory procedure that is masked as a scientific enterprise. Higher education reveals these same propensities and conveniently excuses itself from…
(2009). No Child Left Behind: A Neoliberal Repackaging of Social Darwinism. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v7 n1 p364-381 Jun. It is widely believed that the end of Nazism, and the postwar era brought an end to academic theories and discourses regarding inherent racial inferiority. There was little tolerance Hawkins (1997) argues, for biological justifications for racism, war, and exploitation. The infamous Social Darwinism of key intellectual Herbert Spencer, and its explicit eugenics, racist, and free-market ideology of "Survival of the Fittest," was rendered unfashionable as Western democracies were quick to disassociate themselves with explicitly Nazi-related ideologies (Degler 1992). Social Darwinism has resurfaced in neoliberal economics and free-market policies where the similarities between Spencer and Friedman Hayek's (1994) brand of unrestricted markets are almost identical. This paper shall discuss the historical continuities between Spencer's Social Darwinism, and the essentialist ideals of meritocracy, selfishness, and competition that are advanced by neoliberalism, and that underpin… [PDF]
(2006). "New" Educational Injustices in the "New" South Africa: A Call for Justice in the Form of Vertical Equity. Journal of Educational Administration, v44 n5 p509-519. Purpose: Outlines a framework for social justice, describes both the social and educational context of South Africa, highlights inequitable funding practices, and then advocates for policy changes in the form of vertical equity. Design/methodology/approach: Provides a retrospective review of mandated segregation by race to hypothetical de-segregation by post-apartheid policies to de facto re-segregation by class, in the "new" South Africa. Findings: Describes how overt racism in the form of apartheid laws has been replaced by covert racism and class domination in the form of school fees. Originality/value: Reveals how "new" educational injustices are preventing poor and marginalized groups from getting universal access to high-quality education in the "new" South Africa. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2011). America's Urban Crisis and the Advent of Color-Blind Politics: Education, Incarceration, Segregation, and the Future of the U.S. Multiracial Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Over 40 years ago the historic Kerner Commission Report declared that America was undergoing an urban crisis whose effects were disproportionately felt by underclass populations. In "America's Urban Crisis and the Advent of Color-blind Politics", Curtis Ivery and Joshua Bassett explore the persistence of this crisis today, despite public beliefs that America has become a "post-racial" nation after the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. Ivery and Bassett combine their own experience in the fields of civil rights and education with the knowledge of more than 20 experts in the field of urban studies to provide an accessible overview of the theories of the urban underclass and how they affect America's urban crisis. This engaging look into the still-present racial politics in America's cities adds significantly to the existing scholarship on the urban underclass by discussing the role of the prison-industrial complex in sustaining the urban crisis as well as… [Direct]
(2004). 'Brutal and Stinking' and 'Difficult to Handle': The Historical and Contemporary Manifestations of Racialisation, Institutional Racism, and Schooling in Britain. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v7 n1 p35-56 Mar. In this paper, I begin by challenging the British Home Secretary's (David Blunkett) denial of the existence of institutional racism in Britain. While recognising the significance of Macpherson's acknowledgement in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry that institutional racism is, in fact, widespread, I offer a wider definition than that offered by Macpherson. I argue that institutional racism has been a reality in British society from the origins of the Welfare State up to the present day. Utilising the Marxist concept of 'racialisation', which critiques an ideological process that categorises people into distinct 'races', I suggest that racialisation best explains the economic and political factors, which underlay institutional racism in schooling in Britain, both historically and at the beginning of the twenty-first century. I conclude by stressing the need to pressurise the British Government to reject Blunkett's denial of institutional racism and, at the very minimum, urgently to… [Direct]
(2005). "P.S.-I'm White Too": The Legacy of Evolution, Creationism, and Racism in the United States. Science Education Review, v4 n2 p50.1-50.14. Despite decades of science education reform, creationism remains very popular in the United States. Although neither creationism nor evolution is inherently racist, creationists and evolutionists have used science to justify white supremacy. Powerful racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and popular racist advocates such as Frank Norris worked together to vilify evolution, promote racism, and begin the evolution-creationism controversy in the United States in the 1920s. The links between racism and creationism became explicit during "Epperson v. Arkansas", in which the US Supreme Court ruled that laws banning the teaching of evolution in public schools are unconstitutional. Today, the relics of racism, evolution, and creationism persist in many forms, ranging from books such as "The Bell Curve" to educational institutions such as Bob Jones University. This article discusses some of the historical links between evolution (a scientific theory liable to… [PDF]
(2006). Music Education, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism–Can We Talk?. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v5 n2 p1-30 Dec. This paper is a beginning attempt to \decolonize\ one's understanding of multiculturalism in music education. The author first considers the ways race is embedded as coded language in discourse, and the ways one's use of coded language hinders one's ability to talk about race directly. In this regard, the author addresses the silence that sometimes results when one names races and racism explicitly. The author then looks at official multiculturalism and multiculturalism within music education as racialized discourses. The final section of this paper investigates motivations in North America for engaging in multiculturalism in music education, drawing upon the literature of postcolonial and anti-racism studies, and then connects this motivation to the ongoing project of decolonization within educational discourse. Throughout the paper, the author includes excerpts from interviews conducted with members of the Mississauga Festival Youth Choir (MFYC) to show how racialized discourses… [Direct]
(1990). The New Racism. American School Board Journal, v177 n6 p14-18 Jun. A disturbing increase in incidents of racism and prejudice is occurring in schools. Suggested strategies for improving school race relations include the following: (1) adopt a firm policy of zero tolerance for racism in any form; (2) start early; (3) expand social contacts between racial groups; and (4) add multicultural education programs to the curriculum. (MLF)…
(1998). Research, Writing, and Racial Identity: Cross-Disciplinary Connections for Multicultural Education. Teacher Educator, v34 n1 p41-53 Sum. Examined how white students in an undergraduate multicultural education course experienced difficult, emotional content about racism. Analysis of samples of students' reflective writing indicated that the coursework influenced students' racial identities. Reflective writing in combination with teaching practices informed by psychological theory helped expand students' understanding of racism while facilitating the development of racial identities. (SM)…
(2006). Reaching for Justice: The Pedagogical Politics of Agency, Race, and Change. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, v28 n1 p67-94 Jan. The prevalence of institutional racism in the United States presents an urgent and complicated challenge. Little agreement exists among scholars regarding the existence and implications of racism, or the position educators might take in addressing it. In the context of public and scholarly retreats from the significance of and responsibility for individual and institutional racism, cultural studies is one area of discourse which has addressed both race and the ethical obligations of educators to a more just society, and offers those interested in such conversations a framework and resources for considering what is possible in terms of critique and change. Many working in cultural studies-related fields have addressed these obligations in the context of teaching and learning. In this article, the classroom serves as a starting point for an analysis of racism, cultural studies, and pedagogy. This article begins with a conversation among students and the author about the killing of… [Direct]
(2013). The Limits to Catholic Racial Liberalism: The Villanova Encounter with Race, 1940-1985. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Temple University. This dissertation examines the process of desegregation on the campus of a Catholic university in the North. Focusing on Villanova University during the period from 1940-1985, the narrative explores the tension between the University's public commitment to desegregation and the difficulties of implementing integration on a predominately white campus. Through oral histories, newspaper accounts (especially the student newspaper), University committee meeting minutes, administrators' personal correspondence, and other internal documents, I examine how Villanova students and administrators thought about and experienced desegregation differently according to their race. In examining the process of desegregation, this dissertation makes two arguments. The first argument concerns the rise and fall of Catholic racial liberalism. In early post-World War II era, Catholic racial liberalism at Villanova was consolidated when the philosophy of Catholic interracialism combined with the emerging… [Direct]
(1997). Racism and Reform: New Ethnicities/Old Inequalities?. British Educational Research Journal, v23 n3 p345-60 Jun. Explores how issues of "race," racism, and ethnicity are positioned within the education reforms reshaping the British schooling system. Exposes the new racist constructions of "the nation" and its "common culture" expressed through the marketization of schooling and willed ignorance about the extent and nature of racism in the system. (DSK)…