(2021). DisCrit at the Margins of Teacher Education: Informing Curriculum, Visibilization, and Disciplinary Integration. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v24 n5 p654-670. Teacher education is polarized. Traditionalists tend to center core practices, while justice-oriented scholars center ideologies embedded within our practices. Both, however, must consider how practices and ideologies can operate interdependently to disrupt inequity and cultivate agency among all students. Drawing on an intersectionally-aligned theory, DisCrit, we argue that practices and the ideologies they embody can be problematized vis-√ -vis how racism and ableism operate to support hegemony bound in, and represented by, the normative center of schooling. In this paper, we unpack what DisCrit affords critical teacher education, how individuals with complex support needs are located within DisCrit's tenets, if at all, and the application of DisCrit in the disciplinary case of science education. By considering possibilities not yet explored within the literature, we further critical conversations about the relationship between DisCrit, silenced perspectives of populations… [Direct]
(2024). "The Smallest Acts Go a Long Way": Understanding Students' Perceptions of Citizenship and Civic Identity. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, School of Graduate Studies. This phenomenological study examined how eighth grade students in a privileged suburban community and school district understood their civic identities and saw their roles and responsibilities as citizens. Through analyzing artifacts the student participants generated in their eighth grade civics social studies class and conducting semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus groups, I was able to understand, from the students' perspectives, how they saw their own community, what they felt it meant to be a good citizen, and what they saw as the most significant issues of social justice facing society. Drawing on a critical sociocultural approach (Rubin, 2016), Norm Theory (Kahneman & Miller, 1986) and Westheimer and Kahne's three types of citizen (2004), among other key literature in the field, this study examined the experiences and opinions that shaped the participating adolescents' civic identities, including race and socioeconomic status. The findings suggest that… [Direct]
(2021). Two Worlds: A Black Woman Scholar at a Diverse Historically Black College. Diversity in Higher Education This chapter is a reflection of this author's experiences as an unapologetically black woman, scholar, professor, mentor, HBCU advocate, wife, and mother while navigating the tenure and promotion process. The author also discusses how she often grapples with how to creatively and directly speak out against intentional and unintentional racism that is a commonplace in society and reflected on campus. The author recognizes that there are a certain political and social games played in academia, and she also recognizes sometimes the rules differ for black women, even at an HBCU. [For the complete volume, "The Beauty and the Burden of Being a Black Professor. Diversity in Higher Education. Volume 24," see ED614149.]… [Direct]
(2020). Learning Racial Literacy While Navigating White Social Studies. Social Studies, v111 n4 p174-181. How do children develop racial literacy? How do they make sense of and respond to the master narratives of race and racism? What role does elementary social studies education play in children's racial literacy development? I explored these questions as a parent-researcher, inquiring how my child, an Asian American elementary student, develops racial literacy as she learns U.S. history at school. In the following, I first situate my inquiry within the literature on social studies education from a critical race perspective. Next, I delineate my positionality as a critical race motherscholar and the rationale for studying my own child. Last, I present the findings from my inquiry and discuss its implications for elementary social studies education…. [Direct]
(2022). Unsung Heroes on Campus: Minority Veterans' Transition Experiences by Race. Journal of Higher Education, v93 n5 p769-791. This study explored the impact of race on the higher education transition experiences of three groups of male student veterans: Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian. Grounded in the premise of Critical Race Theory, especially Cabrera's Hegemonic Whiteness and Yosso's Cultural Capital, we collected and analyzed 17 student veterans' in-depth interviews centering the voices of the participants marginalized due to race, age, and veteran status. Findings confirm that student veterans of color face acute cultural alienation and racism on college campuses and enact various cultural capitals and strands of resiliency to cope, while also ascribing to beliefs of meritocracy and colorblindness inherited from their military service. Future research on student veterans should continue to examine the heterogeneity among student veterans, especially those located at the intersection of multiple marginalities, to provide an anti-racist portrayal of student veterans as a diverse population…. [Direct]
(2021). From First to First: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color First-Generation Faculty and Administrator Narratives of Intersectional Marginality and Mattering as Communal Praxis. Education Sciences, v11 Article 773. While the education of first-generation students (FGS) has garnered the attention of scholars, educators, and policy makers, there is limited dialogue on how first-generation faculty and administrators (FGF/A)–that is, first-generation students who went on to become faculty and/or administrators–experience higher education and are engaged in enhancing equity, inclusion, and justice. Intersectional approaches, which illuminate the nexus of race, gender, and class in education, are necessary for appreciating the complexity of FGF/A experiences and liberatory practices taking shape in higher education. Narrative analysis examining nine Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) FGF/A oral histories reveal how stories of mattering and intersectional marginality are sites of communal praxis that aim to dislodge systems of power, including racism, classism, and patriarchy. This praxis involves validating the complexity of students' academic and social lives and engaging vulnerability…. [PDF]
(2021). Interrogating the Special Education Identification Process for Black Indigenous Students of Color. Multiple Voices: Disability, Race, and Language Intersections in Special Education, v21 n1 p78-92 Spr-Sum. The initial special education identification process (SPED IDP) determines which students have disabilities and corresponding rights to IDEA supports. However, the disproportionate identification of Black, Indigenous Students of Color (BISOC) as emotionally disturbed necessitates the problematizing of special education structures within the SPED IDP. This critical analysis of current norms of practice within SPED IDP structures discusses hidden ideologies of Whiteness, ableism, and racism. I apply DisCrit and Whiteness Studies frameworks to interrogate power within three SPED IDP structures (a) multidisciplinary team (MDT) decision-making, (b) social-emotional-behavioral (SEB) assessments and data collection, and (c) categorical identification of emotional disturbance (ED). I include critical reflection on my professional practice in elementary schools, consider my complicity as a member of MDTs, and offer critical questions for practitioners…. [Direct]
(2024). A Phenomenological Exploration of Double Consciousness: Two-Ness in Black Women Educational Leaders. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Tennessee State University. Black women leaders in higher education grapple with their double identities in the workplace which leads to unique challenges and obstacles. Black women leaders in higher education face situations and circumstances in leadership different than their white male and women counterparts and Black men. Dealing with both racism and sexism, Black women leaders experience a range of difficulties causing them to face discrimination and mistreatment. Despite these occurrences, Black women continue to donate their labor to and encourage ways higher education can be better for Black women. This phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences and perspectives of Black women leaders in higher education. Nine Black women in leadership were interviewed who worked in leadership a minimum of two years at their institutions. The theory utilized for this study was double consciousness and focusing specifically on its aspect of two-ness. Double consciousness (Du Bois, 1903) suggests that… [Direct]
(2024). Achieving Equal Educational Opportunity for Students of Color: Disrupting Structural Racism–An American Imperative. Multicultural Education Series. Teachers College Press Valencia presents the most comprehensive, theory-based analysis to date on how society and schools are structurally organized and maintained to impede the optimal academic achievement of low-SES, marginalized K-12 Black and Latino/Latina students–compared to their privileged White counterparts. The book interrogates how society contributes to educational inequality as seen in racialized patterns in income, wealth, housing, and health, and how public schools create significant obstacles for students of color as observed in reduced access to opportunities (e.g., little access to high-status curricula knowledge). Valencia offers suggestions for achieving equal education (e.g., implementing fairness of school funding, improving teacher quality, and providing students of color access to multicultural education) by disrupting structural racism. Considering the rapid aging of the White population and the sharp decline of White youth–coupled with the explosive population growth of people… [Direct]
(2021). Lessons Learned from Men of Color Programs: A Roadmap to Guide Program Development and Beyond. Pullias Center for Higher Education The collegiate experiences of men of color–Black, Latino, multiracial, Native American, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander men–are influenced by a wide variety of factors that determine if and how they persist to reach college graduation. Subtle and overt acts of racism and microaggressions from peers and faculty often shape experiences in college classrooms and are two examples of the many hurdles that prevent a smooth transition into campus-based resources for men of color. This roadmap aims to present areas of engagement for all stakeholders–internal and external–to create environments for men of color to succeed through the specific development, design, and implementation of both men of color programs and systems of support in higher education…. [PDF]
(2020). Multiracial Identities and Monoracism: Examining the Influence of Oppression. Journal of College Student Development, v61 n1 p18-33 Jan-Feb. We explored how notions of oppression manifest in the identities of 16 multiracial college students. We were guided by two research questions: (a) How does racial oppression affect multiracial students' identities? and (b) Is that racial oppression tied to traditional manifestations of racism, monoracism, or both? Findings demonstrate that racial oppression is influential, yet there are difficulties in identifying racial oppression that targets multiracial people. This study highlights the need for more education on monoracism as a unique and connected form of oppression and on racial asymmetries within multiraciality…. [Direct] [Direct]
(2023). Aya: The Enduring Spirit of Black Women in Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. "Aya: The Enduring Spirit of Black Women in Higher Education" is a research study that sought out to better understand the experiences of Black women inside of higher education. Building off of two previous unpublished research studies that focused on the resources that enable Black women to stay in their programs, this study took a more in-depth look at the protective factors and risk factors that make some Black women stay in their programs as well as the factors that make some Black women leave. I gathered this data through an initial survey and an autoethnographic self study that invited all Black identified women who attended the University of Minnesota for their PhD program to talk about their experiences, which included the extent that they experienced double consciousness, academic mammying, gendered racism, and spirit murder in their programs. From this study, I saw several themes emerge that articulated Black women's experiences in higher education and concluded… [Direct]
(2023). "Why Should I Bother if the School Didn't Bother with Me?": Navigating the Effects of Subtractive Schooling in an Alternative Learning Program. Journal of Latinos and Education, v22 n4 p1761-1775. Subtractive schooling can have lasting effects on Latinx learners' lives that go beyond missed opportunities to develop academic literacies in English. Subtractive schooling itself can be a significant source of trauma for Latinx youth, complicating efforts to repair harm done to young people through the school-based remedies of culturally-responsive or trauma-informed pedagogies. Through analysis of narratives shared by a participant, Mariana, a high school student in the "second-chance" Conexi√≥nes program, this study builds knowledge on one student's sense of who she is in the multiple schooling spaces of her K-12 education. Specifically, this study documents shifts in Mariana's figured world of schooling. With support, Mariana worked to navigate the social positionings of school itself, which are subtractive in nature and reflect broader discourses of ethnocentrism, racism, colorism, and class bias. Analysis of narratives shared by Mariana, an 18-year-old about to… [Direct]
(2023). Contextualizing DEIA in the German Language Classroom: Terminology and History, DDGC and Recent Developments, and Practices and Resources. Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, v56 n2 p157-172 Fall. This paper takes a closer look at diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the context of German Studies and the language classroom in the United States. The first part of the article examines the terminology, provides a general history of DEI/DEIA in higher education in the United States, and traces the development of DEI practices and language to include accessibility, belonging, and anti-racism. The second part of the article focuses on the scholarly collective Diversity, Decolonization, and the German Curriculum and its self-reflective and self-critical stance toward our field, solidarity efforts to create networks of tangible support and empowerment, and its foregrounding of activism. This leads to a discussion of the intersections between current political events and classroom practices. Finally, the last section details three DEIA practices in the classroom–positionality, social justice framework, and antiracism–as well as resources for their implementation…. [Direct]
(2020). The Case for Black Studies Coursework in General Education. Journal of General Education, v69 n1-2 p1-4. This article explores the function and value of considering Black Studies coursework as part of the general education curriculum. In the current cultural antiracist moment, it is important to consider the role academia plays not only in historicizing its own complicity in institutions of racism but also in offering contemporary solutions to such. Thinking of Black Studies as central to the mission of higher education centers the institution as a method of social justice and an avenue toward increasing the importance of marginalized American communities. General education curricula implies an inherent value of certain specific academic material ubiquitously applied to every student's educational experience. Positioning Black Studies coursework in that existent paradigm acknowledges a current void in systemic higher education and works to equalize previously imbalanced notions of just cultural education…. [Direct]