Browsing by Subject "Social justice"
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Item Addressing the "Elephant" in the room: exploring race and social justice in the early childhood years(2016-08) Holmes, Kathlene Alysia; Brown, Anthony L. (Associate professor); Brown, Keffrelyn D.; Salinas, Cinthia; Adair, Jennifer K; Price-Dennis, DetraThis critical case study examined young elementary students’ understandings of race as they participated in an interdisciplinary Social Studies and English Language Arts unit in two kindergarten classrooms and one first grade classroom in two urban regions of the United States. The study utilized the principles of Critical Race Theory, Social Education, and Social Justice to analyze the young elementary-aged students’ thought-processes on race. By implementing an interdisciplinary unit on counter-narrative stories about the past and present experiences of communities of color, the students were also able to examine the impact of race through multiple perspectives. There were distinct differences in classroom teachers’ years of experience, their comfort level in addressing contentious topics such as race and racism, as well as their approaches to deconstructing complex information to their young students. This study also included an in-depth review of the teachers’ thoughts on race and their rationale for teaching their students about it. While the curriculum, lessons, and materials presented in each of the classrooms were slightly different, the common theme of developing a strong sense of community emerged in all three classrooms. Each teacher discussed that, as a result of presenting the students with lessons focused on all different communities of color and their historical fight for equity, a stronger bond formed in their kindergarten or first grade classroom. Considering the curriculum, lessons, and materials all addressed how race and racism impacts different communities, this study presents the conversations that could occur when teachers begin to hold explicit conversations about race with young elementary-aged children.Item Conversation with an Apple : play development as movement-building against mass incarceration(2015-05) Goodnow, Natalie Marlena; Gutierrez, Laura G., 1968-; Alrutz, Megan; Jones, Omi Osun Joni L.This reflective practitioner research project explores if and how viewing and responding to drafts of my original solo play in development, "Conversation with an Apple," contributes to efforts to build a movement against mass incarceration, with a particular focus on dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. I draw upon Michelle Alexander's theorization of mass incarceration in the United States, social movement theory elaborated and archived by contemporary activists, and theories in performance and affect studies to contextualize my investigation. I describe how I utilized Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process to elicit audience responses to staged readings of "Conversation with an Apple," and also how I employed modified grounded theory techniques to analyze those responses. I then explain how insights gained through these methodologies informed revisions of the "Conversation with an Apple" script and my plans for future post-show workshops. I conclude with an evaluation of the usefulness of these play development and research methodologies in my artistic practice. I find that both Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process and the modified grounded theory analysis I utilized, along with a return to my guiding theoretical frameworks, contributed meaningfully to my reflective practice, yielding several key insights. First, I discovered that the play does seem to have the potential to raise consciousness among audience members regarding multiple manifestations of mass incarceration as it affects young people, although I decided that a few key mechanisms of mass incarceration might be more fully elaborated through script revisions. Second, I found that when audiences responded to the play, the shared experience of viewing the performance functioned as a springboard for conversation about other shared experiences in their lives, thus building a sense of community in at least a small way. I also theorize that the act of transmitting heightened affect together while viewing this play built community. Finally, my analyses revealed that although some audience members felt outraged at the realities of mass incarceration and inspired to make a change, many felt hopeless after viewing the play. These analyses informed my most significant revisions to the "Conversation with an Apple" script and plans for post-show workshops.Item Essential practices for early childhood educators who value multicultural perspectives(2014-05) Lee, Sunmin, active 2014; Adair, Jennifer KeysThis report addresses the importance of multicultural education in early childhood classrooms as well as three essential practices for early childhood educators who value multicultural perspectives. The early childhood classroom is the first place in which children develop their identities and recognize cultural differences. Multicultural education can offer opportunities for children to value and understand cultural diversity as they have more experiences outside of their homes and neighborhoods. While there are many kinds of practices that support a multicultural perspective, this paper focuses on three multicultural practices that early childhood educators can incorporate in their classrooms in order to create authentic multicultural classrooms and to promote multiculturalism. The three practices are 1) integrating culturally relevant pedagogy/culturally responsive teaching, 2) understanding multicultural families, and 3) pursuing social justice. These practices can help early childhood educators better understand multicultural students and families and have more meaningful interactions and partnership opportunities with them.Item Feminist performance pedagogy : theatre for youth and social justice(2013-05) Freeman, Emily Rachael; Alrutz, MeganThis thesis describes the use of feminist performance pedagogy in working toward a Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) practice that engages youth in social justice. Drawing on feminist and pedagogical theories, this document explores the processes of writing, rehearsing, and touring a new social justice play for youth called 'And Then Came Tango.' The qualitative study outlined in this MFA thesis uses feminist research methodologies to analyze the engagement of the playwright, the artistic team working on the production of 'And Then Came Tango,' and the second and third grade audiences that participated in the touring production and post-show workshops. The author weaves personal story throughout the document in order to create new meaning around the research experiences as well as to illustrate the personal dimensions of engaging in the struggle around LGBTQ injustice. The discussion invites future artists, educators, and activists to imagine how theory, aesthetics, artists, and communities collaborate in order to work toward socially just and interactive TYA.Item La identidad y la practica ‘entrelazadas’ : towards a humanizing pedagogy(2014-12) Chávez, Guadalupe Domínguez; Salinas, Cinthia; Fránquiz, María E.The purpose of this dissertation study was two-fold. First, the study explored how personal and professional experiences shaped three Latina bilingual Maestras’ identities. Secondly, this qualitative study further explored how histories framed a meaning of pedagogy for the Maestras. Presented in case studies, there were four themes that emerged across the three case studies: First, taking on the role of advocate; second, becoming a leader through professional development; third, developing critical thinkers using relevant classroom practices; and fourth, reflexivity for critical consciousness. Data were manually coded, themed and analyzed to answer the following research questions: Theoretical lenses framing this dissertation study include figured worlds and situated identities, critical race theory/Latina critical theory and sociocultural theory to analyze the data gathered through interviews, narratives, classroom and field observations, classroom and teacher artifacts, lessons and informal conversations collected over nine months of study as this dissertation study attempted to understand the findings as complex componentes entrelazados (interwoven components). The data were gathered in the classrooms and school campuses of three elementary schools across two school districts in two South Central Texas cities. The results provided six findings and they are 1) Tracing the positioning of Maestras, 2) Identifying opportunities of autoring self, 3) ¿Qué es ser maestra? What does it mean to be a maestra?, 4) Identity, culture and language: Racialized notions, 5) Taking on the role of advocate and finally, 6) Learning from lived experiences. The research revealed how Maestras’ positionings challenged structures of oppression in school and education in general and how opportunities for critical dialogue can support development of a more critical concientización (consciousness) and perspective, viewed through a social justice lens.Item Literature circles : Latina/o students' daily experiences as part of the classroom curriculum(2013-12) Martínez, Manuel, active 2013; Urrieta, LuisAfter the Mexican-American war, the educational experience of Mexican and Mexican -American students was one of segregation, discrimination, and inequalities. Latina/o histories and funds of knowledge have not been historically part of the classroom curriculum. Although scholars, educators, and social movements have challenged such inequalities, they still persist. Students became objects of the educational process. New theories and educational practices, such as critical pedagogy, have helped empowered students to become aware of their situation and encouraged students to become social agents of change. Literature circles, an educational practice of critical pedagogy, enable educators to provide students with an educational experience where they become the Subjects of their own learning; thus, transforming their educational experiences.Item Live stream micro-media activism in the occupy movement : mediatized co-presence, autonomy, and the ambivalent face(2012-05) Thomas, Judith A.; Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962-; Straubhaar, Joseph D.With camera, smart phone, and wireless connection to a worldwide distribution source on a single device that fits in your pocket, now billions of citizens are able to become sousveillant micro-media activist – in real time. This case study investigates purposive texts in detail from over 50 hours of live and archived streaming video webcasts taken from geographically diverse sites. The goal is to explore how this tool is being used by videographers in a complex 21st century social movement. My sample video texts were gathered in late February and early March 2012 as the Occupy Movement stirred to life after a relatively quiet winter (from the corporate media’s point-of-view). In this project, I examine how Occupy’s use of live-streaming video combines “mediated co-presence” (Giddens 1984; Ito 2005) with “networked autonomy” (Castells 2011) to represent the ambivalent face of a complex, postmodern movement for social justice.Item Moments of realization : the experiences, development, motivations and actions of student social justice allies(2010-12) Owney, Catherine Sanders; Reddick, Richard, 1972-; Reagins-Lilly, Soncia; Rudrappa, Sharmila; Somers, Patricia A.; Vincent, Gregory J.Social justice allies make important contributions to fighting oppression in campus environments and in their communities after college. However, knowledge of how one becomes a social justice ally is limited. This qualitative, phenomenological study was designed in an effort to better understand the social justice ally development process and advances the pioneering work of Broido (1997, 2000). Examination of student’s understanding of her/his formative and college experiences helped determine how each alone and in combination with other factors or experiences, contributed to her/his ally development process. The role of student affairs professionals and programs in this process was also examined. This study was conducted at The University of Texas at Austin, which was selected because of the historical context, institutional environment and diversity-related initiatives implemented over the past 10 years. Review of the literature on ally development reveals that a majority of the existing research focuses on allies who take action against heterosexism or sexism. Through this research project I addressed this gap by including student allies who focus on other areas of privilege/oppression including classism and citizenship status. This study also expands the analysis of social justice allies by including examination of the influence of gender on the development, motivations and actions of allies.Item “Peace to kids and listen to them!” a case study in a summer art program for teens(2015-12) Kay, Ariel Emily; Bain, Christina; Bolin, PaulThis case study investigates how teens in a low-income community center summer art program expressed their perspectives on their identities and their communities. Constructivist and advocacy paradigms guided the research methodology. The summer art program utilized an emergent asset-based curriculum grounded in social justice art education. Through the mediums of spray-paint stenciling and zine making, students addressed how to improve their communities. Through their stencil designs, the teens tackled complex topics such as immigration and bullying. They then synthesized their ideas of how to create positive community change. Within the summer art program, students expressed their perspectives across fifteen main themes including: immigration, bullying, voice, youth identity, soccer, geographic place, ethnicity, family, friends, the apartments, extracurricular activities, school, respect, perception of self, and economic status. The findings of this study demonstrate and support the integration of youth voice and choice in art education.Item Planchando consciousness : public accountability, call-out culture, and a praxis sketch in queer activist scenes(2016-05) Venegas, Mario; Young, Michael P.; Gonzales, AlfonsoI investigate the ideological mechanisms that enable a defeatist and neoliberal conception of social justice that inform what queer activists describe as “call-out” culture. From a Gramscian point of view, I argue that the call-out, a means for correcting problems in consciousness and behavior, loses its constructive potential and becomes a punitive practice under the vocabulary of postmodern identity politics. This process creates a Foucauldian Ostrich subject who must police contradictions to sustain a static notion of safe space. I rely on in-depth interviews with queer activists in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Texas and in Oakland, CA and Seattle, WA. From these interviews, call-outs carry a key function within queer activist scenes. One, they shape political consciousness insofar as they address egregious acts like corruption or sexual harassment, and two, they sharpen one’s political position to the extent that they provide a practical means beyond prognosis of the problem. Empirically, these consciousness shaping call-outs form part of Gramsci’s Philosophy of Praxis, of working with contradictions and ironing out consciousness and political practice as a means to unify them. However, under a postmodern social justice model that displaces questions of strategy, call-outs become tools to police identities and demand loyalty, thus impeding any coalition building that weaves across different identities. Foucauldian Ostriches mobilize the call-out to create gatekeeping within activists and to impede any practical coalition building. As such, their practice aligns with neoliberal common sense in that they prescribe individual solutions to structural problems and circumscribe the terrain of struggle within cultural consumption. I then follow with theoretical tools from Gramsci such as common sense and the Philosophy of Praxis to develop call-outs that address the everyday indignities from the level of common sense, reconceptualize the call-out as a means to sift through contradictions so as to develop good sense. Finally, I provide conceptual tools from Gramsci and queer of color theoretical work to begin to develop a more historical materialist conception of queer politics.Item A quantitative analysis of the production, selection, and career paths of Texas public school administrators(2012-08) Davis, Bradley Walter; Gooden, Mark A.; Cantu, Norma V; Feng, Li; O'Doherty, Ann; Powers, Daniel A; Young, Michelle D; Reyes, PedroUsing state-wide, longitudinal data on Texas public school educators employed between the 1991-1991 and 2010-2011 school years, this study explores the disproportionate selection of campus leaders based on ethnicity and gender. Through a combination of descriptive and inferential techniques, this study illustrates how trends in the production, selection, and career paths of administratively-certified educators at the various intersections of ethnicity and gender have changed over time. Controlling for a variety of individual work history and campus characteristics, this study also explores how an administratively-certified educator’s ethnicity and gender affect their probability of procuring a campus leadership position.Item Realizing inclusive social justice leadership : two principals narrate their transformative journeys(2015-05) Cole, Heather Ann; Pazey, Barbara Lynn, 1951-; O'Reilly, Mark; Schaller, James; Reddick, Richard; Gooden, Mark; Vasquez Heilig, JulianThis interpretive biographical case study relies on the personal narratives of two successful public school principals to explore and build upon current theory of inclusive social justice leadership in the pursuit of understanding not just the characteristics of such leadership but its actual implementation. Using transformative learning as its theoretical framework, it seeks to create a theory of action for inclusive social justice leadership. Delving into the life journeys of two educational leaders, the study looks at how their backgrounds as special education teachers and their experiences in childhood, as young adults and as professionals shaped their perspectives on full inclusion of students with disabilities as well as larger concepts of fairness and social justice. The study seeks to answer the overarching research question: How do two former special education teachers and experienced public school principals who have successfully implemented a full inclusion model describe and understand their commitment to and implementation of inclusive social justice leadership? Additional sub-questions are also asked: How has this developed over time? What, if any, events in their lives do they see as significant to their evolution as inclusive social justice leaders? What role does their current leadership position play in their social justice journey? A comprehensive literature review of inclusion, social justice leadership, and inclusive social justice leadership in theory and in connection to student success and school reform is provided. The methodology of interpretive biography is explained. Findings illuminate the individual journeys of each participant as they come to realize inequities in education and their personal struggles to address them first on small and then larger scales. Cross-comparative analysis brings to light corresponding themes with existing theory including advocacy, collaboration, intersectionality and inclusive practice but adds new action-oriented dimensions of the impact of fear and failure as an asset. Conclusions are drawn about the impact of these future leaders on the persistent inequities of public education today and recommendations are made for the training and professional development from within the education profession for more inclusive social justice leaders.Item Searching for social justice : an ethnographic study of a historically black university's PETE classroom(2014-12) Clark, Langston David; Harrison, Louis, 1955-Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played and continue to play an important role in uplifting African Americans through education. Most of these institutions began as normal schools designed to prepare teachers who would train and educate students of color— a population that has been historically marginalized and oppressed. Scholarly conversations regarding teaching and teacher education for social justice omit the contributions of HBCUs. Likewise, scholarship about social justice within the field of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) has been minimal. These trends including the current overemphasis on the training of a monolithic White female middle class teaching force served to justify the ethnographic study in an historically Black PETE program. Rooted in situated learning theory, this study used ethnographic methods and methodology to explore the manifestations of social justice and (physical education) teacher education at Jackie Robinson University— an HBCU. This study uncovered several cultural manifestations of social justice within JRU using interviews, artifact analyses, and observations of several cultural manifestations about social justice and teacher educating for social justice were uncovered. One of the most prominent manifestations is “The Gap”, a theme that can be seen throughout the historical and contemporary culture of JRU. In one sense, “The Gap” represents the void filled by the university as it provides opportunities for education for students with limited educational options. In another sense, “The Gap” represents tensions within the institution. These tensions exist as gaps among students, faculty, administration, and the university as a whole. Despite “The Gap”, Teacher Education for social justice exists in the culture of JRU as forms of care and culturally relevant pedagogy. While these cultural manifestations were located within specific classrooms, they represent the ethos of the university as a whole. The findings of this study offer both theoretical and practical value. From a theoretical perspective, the findings shed insight into the meaning of social justice and (physical education) teacher education for social justice in an ethnically diverse context. In a practical sense, the strategies utilized by (physical education) teacher educators at JRU foster a classroom culture of holistic education.Item Social violence, social healing : the merging of the political and the spiritual in Chicano/a literary production(2012-05) Lopez, Christina Garcia; Cordova, Cary, 1970-; Limón, José Eduardo; Lieu, Nhi; Perez, Domino; Cox, JamesThis dissertation argues that spiritual and religious worldviews (i.e. Mexican Catholicism, indigenous spiritualities, and popular religion) have historically intersected with social and political realities in the development of Mexican origin communities of the United States. More specifically, as creative writers from these communities have endeavored to express and represent Mexican American experience, they have consistently engaged these intersections of the spiritual and the material. While Chicano/a criticism has often overlooked, and in some ways dismissed, the significant role which spiritual and religious discourses have played in the political development of Mexican American communities, I examine how the works of creative writers pose important questions about the role of religious faith and spirituality in healing the wounds of social violence. By placing literary texts in conversation with scholarship from multiple disciplines, this project links literary narratives to their historical, social, and political frameworks, and ultimately endeavors to situate literary production as an expressive cultural product. Historical and regional in approach, the dissertation examines diverse literary narratives penned by writers of Mexican descent between the 1930s and the current decade. Selected textual pairings recall pivotal moments and relations in the history of Mexico, America, and their shared geographical borderlands. Through the lens of religion and spirituality, a broad array of social discourses emerges, including: gender and sexuality, landscape and memory, nation-formation, race and ethnicity, popular traditions, and material culture.Item Testimonies of change : experiences in social justice activism in Austin, TX and London, UK(2011-05) Mott, Michelle Lea; Carrington, Ben, 1972-; Richardson, MatthewIn this thesis, the author draws upon data collected through in-depth interviews with twelve social justice activists and organizers in London, UK and Austin, TX to look at contemporary practices of feminist antiracist social justice work. Informed by the Civil Rights, feminist and antiracist social movements of 1960s and 70s, activists and organizers in the United States continue to build upon theoretical understandings of intersecting systems of oppression to build new practices of community and racial justice.Item Towards a psychology of recognition : a critical analysis of contemporary multicultural counseling competency models(2011-08) Beaulieu, Gregory René; Sherry, Alissa René; Adams, Mark; Aguilar, Jemel; Cokley, Kevin; Richardson, Frank; Rude, StephanieSince the 1970s multiculturalism has emerged as an important area of scholarship within both academic and applied psychology. Scholars have offered a range of theories to assist psychologists in understanding the ways cultural context impacts psychological development and well-being with the aim of moving the field towards an affirming position on psychological differences that depart from the Eurocentric mainstream. One prominent example is the Multiple Dimensions of Counseling Competency (MDCC) by D. W. Sue (2001) which enjoins psychologists and counselors to acquire knowledge, awareness, and skills (KA&S) for five different racial and ethnic groups to promote culturally affirming work in a variety of professional and societal contexts. KA&S approaches like the MDCC remain the primary mode for conceptualizing multicultural competence today. This dissertation begins with a critical analysis of the extant multicultural competency literature which yields three important areas of concern. First, theorists face a dilemma regarding the definition of culture itself. Race and ethnicity receive stronger emphasis in the multicultural discourse which marginalizes other oppressed voices and perpetuates the invisibility of their unique struggles. In turn, attempts to expand the definition of culture to a non-hierarchical approach to all social identities and contexts draws attention away from race, an area already too easily avoided. Currently, no solution has balanced these two poles in the treatment of the word culture. Second, current models draw no limits to cultural relativism leaving questions of intragroup oppression unanswered. Third, models inadequately conceptualize the multiple social and cultural identities within the same person and offer insufficient guidance to professionals when intrapersonal identities conflict. Each of these three concerns is addressed by drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in anthropology, political philosophy, and social psychology. These answers yield a new model for work with diverse social identities, Recognition Competency Theory (RCT). This new approach to competency with diverse populations has implications for the ways the psychology of oppression is conceptualized, taught, and treated as a focus of professional policy. Strengths of this new model, its relationship to the MDCC, its limitations, and implications for future research are discussed.Item Troubling social justice in a single-sex public school : an ethnography of an emerging school culture(2011-05) Mansfield, Katherine Cumings; Gooden, Mark A., 1971-This ethno-historical undertaking captures the story of the implementation of one major US city's first and only single-sex public school and the consequent shaping of the school culture according to its unique context. A comprehensive literature review demonstrates race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, and other contextual factors are important considerations when probing educational access and achievement and the development of school cultures. Moreover, principals -- their individual attributes and the cultures they create -- are key to understanding and interrogating equitable practices in schools. Findings substantiate the complex interface between historical, political, and socio-cultural contexts, stakeholder decision making in the ethnographic present, and the enactment and negotiation school culture vis-à-vis the intersectionalities of student identities. Findings suggest the conditions that facilitated the high achievement of the students in this study might be transferred under the right conditions including: a balance of strong leadership and principal and teacher autonomy; the enduring belief that any student can and will learn; a rigorous, non-segregated, college prep program, and; an informal curriculum that prepares students for academic and professional cultures. Findings also bring to the fore important considerations that must be addressed by practitioners and policymakers alike; specifically, students' difficulties concerning the "burden of acting white" and the "burden of acting straight." Finally, findings from this study suggest single-sex public options can be done legitimately and effectively but additional safeguards must be implemented by the US Department of Education to ensure both male and female students' civil rights are protected. Additionally, while some magnet schools such as the one studied are local sites of resistance that play a liberatory role for those distinctively involved, one cannot surmise that such local efforts -- which may be viewed by some as a site of relative privilege -- can alone overcome the serious striations that exist in the greater society.Item Understanding the faculty experience in teaching social justice through service learning instruction(2011-08) Baumgart, Glen E.; Schallert, Diane L.; Svinicki, Marilla D.; Emmer, Edmund T.; Reddick, Richard J.; Chen, GeThis study explored the motivations of college faculty who teach social justice lessons through their service learning courses. In recent decades, universities have begun to respond to calls for a renewal in their civic missions, and educating students on civic responsibility and social justice issues (Boyer, 1994; Boyte & Hollander, 1999; Ehrlich, 2000). Faculty have been shown to be the critical facilitators in brining social justice topics to the curriculum through the use of service learning instruction (Buchanan, 1998; Ward, 2003). Given the emphasis in higher education today on social justice learning outcomes and the importance of the role of faculty, there is surprisingly no previous research on faculty motivation to teach social justice lessons through service learning. For this study, there were two guiding research questions: (1) what aspects of the faculty’s individual backgrounds influence their teaching of social justice topics? (2) What are faculty’s perceptions of the impact that service learning has on student learning? The setting of the study was a large research university in the southwest. Data were collected from 11 faculty through individual interviews and supplemented by course-related artifacts. Data were analyzed using coding procedures suggested by Strauss and Corbin (2008) from a grounded theory qualitative approach. Results indicated that faculty motivation to use service learning to teach social justice lessons was based on several core themes. These themes included: 1) the faculty’s personal background; 2) individual identity and role as faculty; 3) faculty’s perceived desired student outcomes; and 4) faculty reflection of observed student outcomes. In addition to the key themes, results showed that faculty did enjoy their teaching approach, an enjoyment that reinforced their motivation to continue to teach. Faculty in lecturer positions indicated that they believed they were adding special student experiences through social justice lessons that were void in other aspects of their education. Faculty with tenure indicated that although they were providing social experiences for students, they also tended to combine their social justice instruction with their research work. A model of faculty motivation for teaching social justice topics was presented. Implications for research and practice are discussed.