Multiculturalism and Social Justice

Author(s):  
Patricia S. Campbell ◽  
J. Christopher Roberts

Social justice, with its emphasis on identifying and rectifying inequalities that exist in society, is a concept that in many ways parallels multiculturalism. This chapter argues that multiculturalizing the curriculum is an essential means by which to move toward more socially just educational experiences. It turns to the work of pioneering educationist James Banks, applying his Levels of Curriculum Reform to learning experiences in music education. These tiered levels—contributions, additive, transformative, and social action—provide a sequential pathway by which educators unversed in working with multicultural content can create curricula that lead to a more multicultural and socially just educational enterprise.

Author(s):  
Thomas C. Berg

By now, it is a commonplace of the American religious scene that the majority of the nation's white Protestant Christians are split into “two parties.” The ideological dividing line runs between “mainline” denominations—Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians—and a bevy of conservative denominations and groups, but it also cuts through the mainline itself, which contains a substantial contingent of conservatives.Among the two parties' numerous disagreements, theological and political, few have run deeper and longer than their difference over the meaning and importance of evangelism, the activity of “proclaiming the gospel” to those outside the Christian community. Is the church's prime call in this regard to seek conversions to the Christian faith, or is it to show the love of Christ by working for charitable goals and social justice? A well-known 1973 study of Presbyterian clergy found that the greatest polarization between self-described “conservatives” and “liberals” came over the relative priority of evangelism and social action. Indeed, the fight over these goals was an important (though by no means the only) factor precipitating the “split” early in this century.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8414
Author(s):  
Martín Bascopé ◽  
Kristina Reiss

This article analyzes STEM projects conducted in eight schools with children from 4 to 10 years old in southern Chile. The main purpose of the study was to describe and analyze how these projects can affect students’ and educators’ attitudes and create community capacities to tackle local socioecological challenges. We used an ethnographic design with an intentioned coding process of interviews and participant observations to summarize one year of collaborative and transdisciplinary project building. The results describe the main attitudinal changes of teachers and students and give evidence on how these projects create new links and foster collaborations with local actors and organizations that are usually sidelined from educational experiences. Examples of meaningful learning experiences to tackle sustainability challenges were systematized and shared, to inspire new initiatives, raise new voices, and promote active participation of the new generations to foster socioecological resilience.


2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Karikan ◽  
Anitha Ramsuran

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna C. Ashton

Focusing on the activist exhibition The Mothers of Tiananmen (2019), this article examines my methodology of curating for social action and justice using international collaboration and participatory arts-as-research. The exhibition responded to the ongoing campaign for justice for the victims and survivors of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, as well as sought to support women’s creative resistance and voice. The Mothers of Tiananmen was co-created with artist Mei Yuk Wong, the 64 Museum (Hong Kong), and artists participating in the Centre for International Women Artists (Manchester). The context for the exhibition is the city of Manchester, which has one of the highest Chinese populations in England, along with a diverse international demographic with over 200 languages spoken. Through this case study, curating is presented as a creative and critical tool by which to respond to the range of justice and activist concerns of international and diasporic communities.


Author(s):  
Cathy Benedict

This book challenges and reframes traditional ways of addressing many of the topics we have come to think of as social justice. Offering practical suggestions for helping both teachers and students think philosophically (and thus critically) about the world around them, each chapter engages with important themes through music making and learning as it presents scenarios, examples of dialogue with students, unit ideas, and lesson plans geared toward elementary students (ages 6–14). Taken-for-granted subjects often considered sacrosanct or beyond the understanding of elementary students, such as friendship, racism, poverty, religion, and class, are addressed and interrogated in a way that honors the voice and critical thinking of the elementary student. Suggestions are given that help both teachers and students to pause, reflect, and redirect dialogue with questions that uncover bias, misinformation, and misunderstandings that too often stand in the way of coming to know and embracing difference. Guiding questions, which anchor many curricular mandates, are used throughout in order to scaffold critical and reflective thinking beginning in the earliest grades of elementary music education. Where does social justice reside? Whose voice is being heard, and whose is being silenced? How do we come to think of and construct poverty? How is it that musics become used the way they are used? What happens to songs initially intended for socially driven purposes when their significance is undermined? These questions and more are explored, encouraging music teachers to embrace a path toward socially just engagements at the elementary level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Hancock ◽  
Ayana Allen-Handy ◽  
John A. Williams ◽  
Bettie Ray Butler ◽  
Alysha Meloche ◽  
...  

Background/Context Teaching to empower requires a critical focus on the unique challenges and opportunities of teaching in socially unjust educational environments. Effective teaching happens in an environment that engages students and teachers in critical investigation of content, knowledge, and activities. Critical learning environments simultaneously nurture the development of multiple perspectives and challenge the status quo. Establishing a critical learning environment is imperative in an educational system that is plagued with academic and social injustices. Therefore, teaching to empower necessitates that teachers, with the help of students, dismantle injustices through culturally responsive teaching, the development of agency and activism, the growth of multiple perspectives, and the capacity to challenge the status quo. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this chapter, a conceptual paper, is to lay the foundation for a framework of social justice action projects, which we differentiate from social action projects on the basis that social justice action projects are enveloped in critical race theory. Three educator vignettes are shared to illustrate how this framework functions in practice. We provide an example of a classroom teacher, a teacher educator, and a research perspective. Research Design This chapter, a conceptual paper, examines four components that we believe are essential for transforming social action projects into social justice action projects. Through personal narratives, we illuminate the challenges and successes of social justice action projects as they relate to learning, students, educators, and the community. Four of the authors, who are also researchers and educators, share autoethnographic experiences of their participation in social justice action projects in education. Data Collection and Analysis This chapter is a conceptual paper that seeks to illustrate the conceptual framework presented in the introduction of the chapter with three practical examples told from the point of view of the author teachers. Findings/Results When critical race theory acts as a framework for social action projects, these become social justice action projects, which, when properly applied, avoid many of the pitfalls that are common when social action projects do not serve the priorities of their community partners. For students, critical race-based pedagogies can serve to develop critical consciousness. Meanwhile, critical methods provide means by which students and community partners develop agency and activism. Conclusions/Recommendations Teaching through social justice action projects engages both students and teachers in critical dialogues that support empowered, action-oriented learning. While many effective teaching methods and strategies exist, the use of social justice action projects provides knowledge production, dialogue, and thinking beyond the whitewashed curriculum to create a world in which students, teachers, and community partners are empowered to make positive differences.


Author(s):  
Kathy Bussert-Webb ◽  
Karin Lewis

The authors explore children's and mothers' perceptions and experiences regarding school and an after-school tutorial agency. The latter serves a South Texas colonia, an unincorporated Southwestern settlement lacking basic services. They asked, “What are participants' perceptions and experiences regarding this agency and school?” Latinx participants, who spoke Spanish as a mother tongue, included 19 children, their eight mothers, two agency staff, and 15 teacher candidates (TCs). TCs were Bussert-Webb's university students who tutored the children and used iPads for multimodal, multilingual experiences. Using Third Space and social justice frameworks and qualitative analysis, these themes emerged: power, engagement, and diversity; participants described traditional educational experiences at school and nontraditional ones at the agency. Implications connect to hybridity and power redistributions in and out of schools to affirm and extend the languages, cultures, and modalities of nondominant children and families.


Author(s):  
Richard E. Riedl ◽  
Terry McClannon ◽  
Amelia W. Cheney

The traditional classroom has been considered the ‘ideal’ setting for teaching and learning, and innovations which challenge that structure are under a great deal of scrutiny. As the tools for online learning become more sophisticated, as in the case of 3D immersive worlds, it is time to stop using the brick-and-mortar classroom experience as the litmus by which all educational experiences are measured. This chapter will discuss some significant differences between face-to-face and online learning experiences, as well as some unique affordances provided by virtual worlds for constructivist learning experiences.


Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Sánchez ◽  
Karla V. Kingsley ◽  
Amy Sweet ◽  
Eileen Waldschmidt ◽  
Carlos A. LópezLeiva ◽  
...  

The Teacher Education Collaborative in Language Diversity and Arts Integration (TECLA) initiative prepares elementary teachers at a Southwest majority-minority university. TECLA emerged from a social justice commitment to prepare teachers to work in linguistically and culturally diverse schools. The program integrates interdisciplinary arts-based approaches and culturally sustaining language acquisition strategies throughout the teacher education experience. TECLA conceptualizes social justice through a sociohistorical lens. Social justice is experienced when all people have equitable access to meaningful opportunities to participate in and (re)shape the social structures in which they live and work. TECLA relies on an expanded definition of social justice that includes building on students' home cultures, languages, and experiences to design rigorous educational experiences.


Author(s):  
Elisabeth Spinner

English teachers' use of reading and writing instruction in a social justice-focused curriculum can include social action projects that encourage students to get involved in activism and also promotes social and emotional learning. This chapter outlines the research behind and steps towards using reading and writing in ways that encourage students to get involved in activism. The assignments and lessons suggested also include social and emotional learning competencies. Two specific texts are used to provide readers with concrete examples of implementing the ideas presented in classrooms.


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