(2021). "A Woman Question and a Race Problem": Attending to Intersectionality in Children's Literature. Social Studies, v112 n2 p57-62. Historical narratives of Black women often focus solely on racial discrimination without acknowledging the structural and systemic gender-based discrimination they faced. Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality draws upon decades of Black feminist scholarship delineating how Black women experience systemic oppression on account of both their race and gender simultaneously and can serve as an important framework to guide more critical conversations related to the long civil right movement. This article considers how three picturebook biographies about Black women who are often overlooked in early social studies education can powerfully demonstrate the intersectional roles of racism "and" sexism in their lived experiences…. [Direct]
(2022). Democratizing Creative Early Educational Experiences: A Matter of Racial Justice. Review of Research in Education, v46 n1 p1-31 Mar. Inquiring into the democratization of creative early educational experiences through the lens of the politics of belonging, this review of research asks: What does research reveal about creative early educational experiences as they pertain to history, race, and justice? Seeking to better understand the racialization of creative early educational experiences, this review undertakes a transformative justice in education approach, attending to the historical roots of the contemporary racialized politics of belonging. Despite the creativity, improvisation, and imagination displayed historically by Black, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color, findings underscore how creative educational experiences prioritize Eurocentric onto-epistemologies, (re)inscribing inequitable schooling. Creative disruption and Black futurities offer two possible pathways to disrupt the legacy of racism in U.S. early schooling…. [Direct]
(2024). Empathy as a Virtue: A Confucian Interpretation and a Tool to Address Anti-Asian Hate Crime. Critical Studies in Education, v65 n2 p162-180. This paper extends the dominant understandings of empathy — as a trait, state, communication or relationship — by conceptualising it as a virtue and as a tool to address anti-Asian hate crime. Drawing upon the writings of the Confucian philosopher Xunzi, this article interprets empathy as a personal quality that attests to one's moral excellence. It is argued that Xunzi's concept of empathy revolves around the ethical attributes of "zhong" (authenticity) and "ren" (humaneness). This article amplifies Xunzi's formulation of empathy by applying it to anti-Asian hate crime in the U.S. The authors propose that Xunzian empathy is a powerful tool to address racism and violence towards Asians through two related and mutually reinforcing approaches: undoing fixation by identifying and eliminating racial/ethnic prejudice and discrimination; and habituating humane conduct by internalising and exhibiting "li" (normative behaviour) towards fellow human beings…. [Direct]
(2019). School Integration: How It Can Promote Social Cohesion and Combat Racism. American Educator, v43 n3 p26-30, 40 Fall. Public schools have always been meant to provide all children with the skills and knowledge to become successful participants in the economy. But currently, a second important purpose of public education has become more salient: to promote social cohesion in a diverse and fractured democracy. As ugly and naked racism in America is further unveiled, how can schools be a tool for combating racism and promoting unity? Ideas on a way forward can be found in the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The court was explicit in describing the damage that school segregation inflicted on children of color. Less discussed, both in the court opinion and in public discourse, is the body of research that outlines the educational and moral damage that segregation inflicts on white children. This article argues why racial and socioeconomic school integration has proven to be one of the most powerful strategies known to educators to improve the lives of students and… [PDF]
(2024). Invisible Scars: Reimagining Black Male Academic Excellence through a Hip-Hop Empowerment Model. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, Sacramento. Black males in higher education continue to face persistent challenges due to overt and covert racism, hindering their progress towards graduation, particularly within Historically White Institutions (HWIs). This study examines the factors contributing to the invisibility and barriers faced by Black males, including engagement, academic achievement, and lack of motivation, which contribute to low persistence and graduation rates among Black male college students. Existing research often fails to acknowledge the intelligence of Hip-Hop music and culture, with society emphasizing superficial aspects such as misogynistic and homophobic. Taken together, overlooking the intellectual contributions of Black men and Hip-Hop music and culture will guide my discussion as I argue that it stems from society's failure to validate the experiences, perspectives, and authentic expressions of Black men. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC…. [Direct]
(2023). "This Is Just Who We Are": A Participatory Case Study on the Implementation of Antibias/Antiracist Pedagogies in Early Childhood Spaces. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Until recently, many early childhood educators, particularly those in nontraditional preschool spaces, leaned on a color-evasive approach to their work, largely ignoring systemic racism and bias, claiming love and acceptance of all children in their care. While well-intentioned, these practices left young children to construct their own understandings of issues like race, gender, sexuality, and ability, often solidifying the racist and biased ideological messages from popular society. Since 2020, however, a year marked by political division, a global pandemic, and a public reckoning over systemic racism, early childhood educators have been reexamining their practices. Armed with research on young children's racial awareness and buoyed by support from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, preschool programs around the country began looking for ways to implement equity-based teaching practices with young children. This participatory case study follows the… [Direct]
(2017). The Elephant in the Room: Talking Race in Medical Education. Advances in Health Sciences Education, v22 n3 p761-764 Aug. The deaths of black men and women while in police custody, rising anti-immigrant sentiment and rhetoric in high-income countries, and the continued health disparities experienced by Indigenous communities globally have brought race and racism to the forefront of public discourse in recent years. In a context where academic health science centres are increasingly called to be "socially accountable," ignoring the larger social context of race and racism is something that medical education institutions can little afford to do. However, many such institutions have largely remained silent on the issue of race and racism, both within and outside of healthcare. Most medical education continues to emphasize a primarily biological understanding of race. We argue that a different approach is needed. Highlighting the social construction of race is an essential starting point for educators and trainees to tackle racialized health disparities in our clinics and to challenge racism in… [Direct]
(2019). The Legacy of Cold War Anti-Racism: A Genealogy of Cultural Distance in the Internationalisation of Higher Education. Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, v55 n2 p295-313. In this article, we develop a genealogy of international education studies' tenets of culture shock and skills deficit. To trace their emergence, we map the discursive shifts which underpinned cultural anthropology's involvement in the administration of US colonial, domestic, and international affairs respectively in the early 1900s and 1950s. These shifts are concomitantly linked to the formation of the field of intercultural communication, of which popularisation in the form of Hofstede model of "cultural distance" has structured international education when turning from a Cold War tool of total diplomacy to an export industry. Taking the development of international education in Australia as a case study, we demonstrate how the shifts in the disciplinary fields aforementioned are best understood as an anti-racist strategy, which mobilisation of the concept of culture has led to the paradoxical evacuation of the heuristic of race from the lexicon of intercultural contact… [Direct]
(2022). What Will We Teach the Teachers? Grappling with Racism in a Professional Development Setting. Cultural Studies of Science Education, v17 n3 p899-906 Sep. This paper is a result of the reflection on Kristin Searle, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Andrea Hawkman, Mario Suarez, and Beth MacDonald's paper, "Whiteness at work in the elementary classroom: a case study," which follows a White male teacher as he is trained to employ an integrated technology unit that connects science, social studies, and language arts. The need for teachers to integrate content in culturally relevant ways is imperative as schools become increasingly diverse. Our engagement with this paper left us to question whether the professional development program was designed to support Mr. Anderson's (and other teachers') sociopolitical consciousness and subsequently his (and their) capacity to enact Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. In this forum, we offer "grappling with racism" as a foundational practice for teacher education as a way to interrupt dysconsciousness among science education researchers and teacher educators, as well as those with whom we learn…. [Direct]
(2020). Racial Microaggressions: Using Critical Race Theory to Respond to Everyday Racism. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press Drawing from over 2 decades of research, this book offers an in-depth analysis of a systemic form of everyday racism commonly experienced by People of Color. Racial microaggressions are layered and cumulative assaults, often carried out in subtle and unconscious ways, which take a psychological and physiological toll on the body, mind, and spirit. The authors make a unique contribution to the study of racial microaggressions by using Critical Race Theory (CRT) to develop the concepts, frameworks, and models provided in this book. Focusing on the lived experiences of People of Color, "Racial Microaggressions" can be used to disrupt the everyday racism that continues to target so many Communities of Color. The book features: (1) Theoretical, conceptual, and pedagogical tools to help all people recognize, respond to, and challenge racial microaggressions; (2) An interdisciplinary approach that draws from the fields of education, law, policy, ethnic studies, Women of Color… [Direct]
(2018). Educating Force Multipliers: Constructing Terrorism in a US Public High School. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v39 n6 p841-855. This article ethnographically explores a specialized Homeland Security program at a US public high school, paying careful attention to the program's discursive constructions of terrorism and national security. In particular, this analysis examines how the Homeland Security program framed its study of national security as both anti-racist and objective. I contend that the invocation of anti-racism and objectivity can advance Orientalist discourses in the classroom. Critical education scholars need to address how teachers and students rely on liberal precepts like anti-racism to maintain dominant understandings of war, terror, and security…. [Direct]
(2023). Criticalizing Teacher Perceptions of Urban School Climate: Exploring the Impact of Racism and Race-Evasive Culture in a Predominantly White Teacher Workforce. Education and Urban Society, v55 n8 p949-974 Nov. This study seeks to critically examine perceptions of urban school climate from a predominantly white teacher workforce and discuss the role that white identity, as the Dominant culture, plays in maintaining the status quo of racialized school climate. Participants included 145 teachers from a large southwestern urban setting. Teachers' perceptions were measured by the Teacher Perceptions of Urban School Climate survey that includes six dimensions that are important aspects of urban school climate: (1) Leadership, Relationality, and Care, (2) Perceptions of Security and Safety, (3) Student Belonging, (4) Constructivist Teacher Practice, (5) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and (6) Educator Retention. Results indicate that elementary school teachers had more positive perceptions of urban school climate and beginning teachers were less positive about aspects of urban school climate. Implications stemming from the results are discussed including the role whiteness and racism play in… [Direct]
(2023). Barriers and Lifelines for Young Refugee Children's Education: The Experiences of One Young Iraqi Refugee Living in the Northern Suburbs of Beirut. International Journal of Early Childhood, v55 n3 p369-385. This paper identifies key barriers to young Iraqi and Syrian refugee children's access to education in Lebanon and highlights how local initiatives serve as glimmers of hope, or 'lifelines', for their well-being and learning. Reporting on aspects of my doctoral study, the paper homes in on one case study with an Iraqi family and their 5-year-old son, Kefa. The 'Day in the Life' methodology enabled rich insights into Kefa's home life and the informal school he attended, supplemented by interview data with his schoolteacher and observation of his school. The paper also draws on questionnaire data to situate this case study in a broader spectrum of refugee children's experiences in Lebanon (n = 100). Framed by sociocultural approaches to learning, the findings illustrate the interplay of social, economic and relational barriers that impede refugee children's access to quality education, and demonstrate how, despite limited resources, the informal school offered an inclusive and… [Direct]
(2023). Race and Rurality: Considerations for Advancing Higher Education Equity. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group This book offers context, research, policy, and practice-based recommendations centering college access and success for a historically overlooked population: rural Students and Communities of Color. Through an exploration of how colleges and universities can effectively welcome students from rural areas who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander, Black and African American, Hispanic and Latinx, and/or Indigenous, this text challenges the misleading narrative that "rural is white," thereby placing these students and their communities in conversation with national higher education discourse. Rich contributions on scholarship, practice, and policy address the intersection of racism and spatial inequities and consider the unique opportunities and challenges that rural Students and Communities of Color face across the United States' higher education landscape. Chapters provide direction on creating equitable policies and practices, as well as details of the assets, resources,… [Direct]
(2021). Embracing Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Instructional Materials: Promising Strategies for State and District Leaders. New America Choosing instructional materials wisely is one of the most important jobs education leaders and teachers have, perhaps now more than ever. Unfinished academic instruction resulting from the COVID-19 crisis demands better ways to reignite student engagement and accelerate learning. At the same time, the disparate impact of the pandemic on students of color and growing efforts to quash discussions about systemic racism in schools reveals an urgent need to approach this work through a racial equity lens. This report argues that embracing high quality instructional materials that are both rigorous and relevant is crucial to addressing these priorities…. [PDF]