Taking the Teachers to School! Critical Consciousness Emerging: A Qualitative Exploration of Mexican American Youth’s Social Justice Orientation Development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel F. Gómez ◽  
Julio Cammarota
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Social Justice Orientation ◽  
Qualitative Exploration

The Centrality of Critical Agency: How Asian American College Students Develop Commitments to Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Samuel D. Museus
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Asian American Students ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
American Students ◽  
Asian American College Students

Context Systemic oppression is one of the most pressing problems in U.S. society. However, relatively little is known about the process by which college students become committed to social justice agendas. In addition, systematic empirical inquiries that examine how Asian American students, in particular, develop such commitments are difficult to find. Purpose/Research Question This inquiry was focused on understanding the process by which Asian American college students develop commitments to social justice. The following overarching research question guided the inquiry: How do Asian American college students cultivate a commitment to social justice? Research Design Using a qualitative approach grounded in a critical paradigm, individual interviews were conducted with Asian American college students involved in social justice activism and advocacy. Data Collection and Analysis A single, semistructured 60-minute face-to-face individual interview was conducted with each participant. The data were analyzed in three phases, using line-by-line, focused, and axial coding. Memos were also used throughout the data analysis process to capture thoughts, make comparisons, and clarify connections across data points. Findings The analysis shows how environmental threats that create a sense of urgency, sources of knowledge that foster collective critical consciousness, and models of critical agency contribute to students developing their own critical agency, which ultimately leads to social justice commitments. Conclusions/Recommendations The current study extends prior knowledge by demonstrating that critical agency is salient in Asian American students developing commitments to engage in social justice agendas. The findings also contribute to existing research by offering some evidence that ongoing opportunities to cultivate critical consciousness and connections to agents who model social justice interact and converge with key environmental threats to shape critical agency. The study also provides some initial evidence that Asian American parents can catalyze students’ critical agency and social justice commitments through serving as sources of knowledge that increase students’ awareness about social injustices and modeling how to contribute to a more just world, while college curricula across diverse disciplines and peer networks that center social injustices also help foster critical consciousness that leads to social justice commitments among some Asian American students.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing from the Inside: Advantages, Complications, and Demands on Insider Positionality

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
American Family ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Mexican American Family ◽  
Insider Research

The debate on insider/outsider positionality has raised issues about the methodological advantages and liabilities between the two, yet no clear account exists for what insider scholars can expect when they enter the field. First, I conceptualize how insider positionality can dually benefit and disadvantage the insider. Using a partial review of insider studies, including my study of my multigenerational Mexican American family, I also present a practical discussion on specific insider advantages and complications. In conclusion, I present a new approach to training novice insider scholars that will help them mediate between insider perspective and researcher position, an approach that promises greater rigor to insider research that will serve the goals of qualitative research for social justice in minority and indigenous communities.

Supporting Teacher Candidates as Social Justice Change-Makers

2021 ◽  
pp. 398-421
Author(s):  
Anne Homza ◽  
Tiffeni J. Fontno
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Future Work

Critical consciousness, teacher agency, intellectual freedom, and equity-informed practices are vital aspects of a collaboration between a faculty member and an educational librarian, whose shared goal is to support teacher candidates' capacity to use diverse children's literature to teach for social justice. In this chapter, teacher educator Homza and head librarian Fontno share ways to help teacher candidates use diverse children's literature to develop their own critical consciousness, explore issues of equity, and teach for social justice in their future classrooms. Grounding their work in conceptual frameworks, the authors discuss their positionalities, how the literature collection is built, and course activities that use diverse children's literature. Teacher candidates' reflections suggest that these efforts have an impact on their critical consciousness and capacity to engage in the challenging work of transformative pedagogy. The authors share implications for other teacher educators and librarians and questions to explore in future work.

Just Eat!

2021 ◽  
pp. 546-558
Author(s):  
Kristen N. Dickens
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Counseling Competencies ◽  
Rich Description ◽  
Counseling Approach

This chapter explores the application of the 2015 Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) in conjunction with an eclectic family systems when counseling a Latin@ family. The Martinez family was referred to family counseling due to concerns of one of the children's school counselors, regarding a possible eating disorder diagnosis. The case study includes a rich description of the first session with the Mexican-American Martinez family, and examines family dynamics around the identified client, Javier. The Martinez family includes the following members: (1) Mañuel, Javier's 41 year-old father who owns his own construction business; (2) Camila, Javier's 38 year-old stay-at-home mother; (3) Alejandro, Javier's 17-year-old brother; and (4) Isabella, Javier's 12 year-old sister. A discussion of the author's cultural background, counseling approach, and use of the MSJCC lens when working with the Martinez family is also included. Initial goals and prognosis for treatment are considered.

scholarly journals Democratizing politics and politicizing education: Critical pedagogy for active citizenship in the Taiwanese Sunflower Movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 174619792091560
Author(s):  
Spyros Themelis ◽  
Tao-Chen Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Civic Responsibility ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Relationship

This article is the first to employ a Freirean framework to discuss the Taiwanese Sunflower Student Movement and its political, pedagogical and social significance. We analyse lecturers’ and students’ perspectives and experiences of civic responsibility in order to explore the relationship between critical pedagogy and student participation in the movement. The latter is an important development in politics and student activism, as it touched the lives of an entire generation of young Taiwanese and highlighted the value of active citizenship in the fight to improve democracy as praxis for social justice. This article makes a threefold contribution: first, it adds to our understanding of the processes through which movement participants cultivate their critical consciousness; second, it offers a new angle on a politically significant moment in Taiwanese history; and third, it uses this movement to illuminate forms of oppression that exist in society and education and ways to transform it.

Marketing Inclusion: A Social Justice Project for Diversity Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya A. Grier
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Diversity Education ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Social Justice Orientation ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Long Course ◽  
The Impact

Challenges related to marketplace diversity present an opportunity to prepare students to successfully engage with diversity through innovative curricular approaches. The present research develops a semester-long course project designed to enhance students’ awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion issues from a social justice perspective. We discuss the context of diversity issues in business schools and identify key issues affecting marketing educators. Our review of the pedagogical literature on diversity highlights the importance of a social justice orientation. Social cognitive theory is used as a conceptual framework to guide the design of a problem-based experiential project. We detail project implementation and assess evidence regarding the impact of the project. Findings suggest an experiential, problem-based class project can support students understanding of diversity from a social justice perspective. We discuss the project benefits and challenges and highlight pedagogical issues for educators who want to integrate diversity content into a broad array of marketing courses.

Just Eat!

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-43
Author(s):  
Kristen N. Dickens
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
School Counselors ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Counseling Competencies ◽  
Rich Description ◽  
Counseling Approach

This chapter explores the application of the 2015 Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) in conjunction with an eclectic family systems when counseling a Latin@ family. The Martinez family was referred to family counseling due to concerns of one of the children's school counselors, regarding a possible eating disorder diagnosis. The case study includes a rich description of the first session with the Mexican-American Martinez family, and examines family dynamics around the identified client, Javier. The Martinez family includes the following members: (1) Mañuel, Javier's 41 year-old father who owns his own construction business; (2) Camila, Javier's 38 year-old stay-at-home mother; (3) Alejandro, Javier's 17-year-old brother; and (4) Isabella, Javier's 12 year-old sister. A discussion of the author's cultural background, counseling approach, and use of the MSJCC lens when working with the Martinez family is also included. Initial goals and prognosis for treatment are considered.

Embodying justice: Situating college student articulations of social justice in critical consciousness

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Alexander Harris Jones
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
College Student ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Affective Domain ◽  
Christian College ◽  
Adverse Impact ◽  
Consciousness Development

Many American evangelical college students today enter into college with a new awareness of justice-related issues. However, situating student commitments to justice in a larger discourse on critical-consciousness development is necessary for educators to assist students in their justice development. This article reviews the literature on critical-consciousness development and places it in conversation with Deleuzian affect theory, suggesting that extant theory does not take into account the affective domain of critical-consciousness growth. This article also demonstrates common ways Christian college students might portray themselves as critically aware through distinctly Christian tropes that express their passion for and commitment to justice. These tropes, which commonly include human trafficking, diverse friend groups, and being globally-minded, actually have an adverse impact on social justice. By better understanding these tropes as masquerading critical consciousness and by understanding how students become critically aware through affect theory, educators and mentors can more adequately guide students in their attempts to seek justice.

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