scholarly journals The ouroboros of rubrics: A conundrum, a case, and a call

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-338
Author(s):  
Anita Bright

In this think piece, the author explores a conundrum and tension related to using rubrics to evaluate doctoral work. She ponders whether the use of rubrics provides beneficial ways for students to “crack the code” of academia, and/or whether the use of rubrics is perhaps a tool to engender conformity. With these competing ideas in mind, the author considers in what ways one might press for means to provide this on-ramp of access for students to the existing power structures, while at the same time seeking to change academia, to more equitably provide spaces for a range in ways of knowing, growing, expressing, framing, and presenting research. How might scholars support their students in engaging in what Rochelle Gutiérrez describes as simultaneously “playing the game” while also “changing the game?” Invoking challenges to existing power structures, such as those voiced in critical race theory and decolonizing epistemologies, this essay speaks to the tensions within the sacred spaces in academia which have been established by those with the greatest historical power.

Author(s):  
Ganiva Reyes

Latinx curriculum theorizing is a constellation of curriculum scholarship rooted in the histories, knowledges, and everyday lives of peoples from across the Latin American diaspora. It is a framework that pushes back against demonizing stereotypes, caricatures, and colonial generalizations of an entire diaspora. Born out of resistance and liberation, it comes from the histories and practices of Latinx peoples in creating counternarratives, education reform, and activism. Specifically, Latinx curriculum theorizing includes the following: (a) Latinidad as a collective point of entry, (b) Latinx as a term, (c) history and circumstance as curricular knowledge, (d) counternarratives and testimonio as curriculum theorizing, (e) cultural knowledges of Latinx students and community as theory, (f) cultural knowledges of Latinx teachers, and (g) Latinx communities generating critical pedagogies and education initiatives. Latinx curriculum theorizing draws from a variety of Latinx philosophical traditions, including critical race theory, Latina feminist philosophy, Latinx and Chicanx studies, and various strands of Latin American, Continental, Caribbean, and Africana philosophy. While scholars who do Latinx curriculum theorizing are trained in theories such as critical race theory, feminist theory, and post- and decolonial theories, because of the subject matter and the people, this framework is the next step up in putting such foundational theories into conversation with one another. It is therefore a newly emerging framework, in the early 21st century, because it draws upon all these perspectives to account for a very transitionary, contradictory, and messy Latinx experience. What makes something distinctly Latinx curriculum is an engagement with a state of transition and liminal spaces, both pedagogically and epistemologically, with the varied and multilayered trajectories of Latin American-origin realities. Far from being a monolithic and static framework, Latinx curriculum theorizing is itself malleable, contested, and in transition. Just as Latinx itself is a contested term within academic and activist spaces, Latinx curriculum theorizing is a point of contestation that makes it a framework with porous boundaries that can explain and even redefine the Latinx educational experience. As such, Latinx curriculum lends itself to nuanced analysis and praxis for issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, language, migration, racial hierarchies, and colonial legacies. This type of curriculum theorizing also points to power structures from multiple social locations and offers pathways for social change and liberation.


Author(s):  
Lee E. Ross

Critical race theory (CRT) concerns the study and transformation of relationships among race, (ethnicity), racism, and power. For many scholars, CRT is a theoretical and interpretative lens that analyzes the appearance of race and racism within institutions and across literature, film, art, and other forms of social media. Unlike traditional civil rights approaches that embraced incrementalism and systematic progress, CRT questioned the very foundations of the legal order. Since the 1980s, various disciplines have relied on this theory—most notably the fields of education, history, legal studies, feminist studies, political science, psychology, sociology, and criminal justice—to address the dynamics and challenges of racism in American society. While earlier narratives may have exclusively characterized the plight of African Americans against institutional power structures, later research has advocated the importance of understanding and highlighting the narratives of all people of color. Moreover, the theoretical lenses of CRT have broadened its spectrum to include frameworks that capture the struggles and experiences of Latinx, Asian, and Native Americans as well. Taken collectively, these can be regarded as critical race studies. Each framework relies heavily on certain principles of CRT, exposing the easily obscured and often racialized power structures of American society. Included among these principles (and related tenets) is white supremacy, white privilege, interest convergence, legal indeterminacy, intersectionality, and storytelling, among others. An examination of each framework reveals its remarkable potential to inform and facilitate an understanding of racialized practices within and across American power structures and institutions, including education, employment, the legal system, housing, and health care.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Nik Cristobal

The effects of colonization on Kanaka 'Ōiwi, the Indigenous people of Hawai'i, have led to the systematic distancing of Kanaka 'Ōiwi from their cultural ways of knowing, replacing it, instead with eurocentric standards of education that adversely impact Kanaka 'Ōiwi wellbeing. In this article, I provide an overview of the history of colonization of Kanaka 'Ōiwi through a critical race lens. Critical Race Theory and TribalCrit are reviewed in relation to their theoretical relevance to Kanaka 'Ōiwi epistemologies. A synthesis model of an adapted CRT and TribalCrit framework called, Kanaka'ŌiwiCrit is presented and discussed within the context of education as a space for resistance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 027112142199083
Author(s):  
Hailey R. Love ◽  
Margaret R. Beneke

Multiple scholars have argued that early childhood inclusive education research and practice has often retained racialized, ableist notions of normal development, which can undermine efforts to advance justice and contribute to biased educational processes and practices. Racism and ableism intersect through the positioning of young children of Color as “at risk,” the use of normalizing practices to “fix” disability, and the exclusion of multiply marginalized young children from educational spaces and opportunities. Justice-driven inclusive education research is necessary to challenge such assumptions and reduce exclusionary practices. Disability Critical Race Theory extends inclusive education research by facilitating examinations of the ways racism and ableism interdependently uphold notions of normalcy and centering the perspectives of multiply marginalized children and families. We discuss constructions of normalcy in early childhood, define justice-driven inclusive education research and its potential contributions, and discuss DisCrit’s affordances for justice-driven inclusive education research with and for multiply marginalized young children and families.


Author(s):  
Britney Johnson ◽  
Ben Rydal Shapiro ◽  
Betsy DiSalvo ◽  
Annabel Rothschild ◽  
Carl DiSalvo

Author(s):  
Ihudiya Finda Ogbonnaya-Ogburu ◽  
Angela D.R. Smith ◽  
Alexandra To ◽  
Kentaro Toyama

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document