Is Complicity in Oppression a Privilege? Toward Social Justice Education as Mutual Aid

2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-361
Author(s):  
NICOLAS TANCHUK ◽  
TOMAS ROCHA ◽  
MARC KRUSE

The concept of privilege is widely used in social justice education to denote unearned advantages accrued by members of dominant groups through the oppression of subordinate groups. In this conceptual essay, Nicolas Tanchuk, Tomas Rocha, and Marc Kruse argue that an atomistic conception of advantage implicit in the discourse of privilege supports persistent inequity between groups contrary to the intentions of social justice educators. To solve this “problem of privilege,” the authors draw on themes in Black feminist and Indigenous thought to advance a reframing of the way educators teach advantage that is based in foundational relational responsibilities. This new frame, social justice education as mutual aid, retains the power to describe oppressive relations between groups while portraying oppression as disadvantageous to all.

Author(s):  
Brianne N. Kramer

This chapter focuses on one teacher educator's experience teaching an undergraduate Social Foundations of Education course in Utah. The author chronicles life experiences that led her to be a social justice educator and how she structures her course to fit her definition of social justice education. She defines the ‘Utah Bubble' phenomenon seen within the state and the effect it has on pre-service teachers' knowledge of diversity and privilege. A discussion about the course curriculum showcases the way aspects of social justice education have been carefully constructed to examine identity, socialization, and privilege. Attention is paid to new understandings students created during the semester-long course and forms of resistance students exhibited during a study conducted by the author.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Ribeiro ◽  
Teresita Alvarez-Cortez ◽  
Christopher Hughbanks ◽  
Eric Alexander

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace S. Kim ◽  
Vali D. Kahn ◽  
John Tawa ◽  
Karen L. Suyemoto

Social justice education aims to develop critical thinking about social inequities and social responsibility to increase civic engagement in high school youth. While high schools increasingly recognize the importance of social justice education, teachers are often initially under-prepared to teach this material, particularly about managing challenging emotions, and working with a group- processes as students work with social justice content and process. Psychologists are often asked to be diversity consultants or instructors, creating opportunities to contribute to social justice education. Drawing from implementation science, this paper describes a model of collaboration between university-based psychologists and high-school educators in providing a social justice course to high school students. Our education model enabled a multi-layered collaborative network that maximized the contributions of collaborators (i.e., Students, High School Teachers, Consultants, and Mentor) and enabled sustainability within the high school.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Sandra Acker ◽  
Michelle K McGinn

Heightened pressures to publish prolifically and secure external funding stand in stark contrast with the slow scholarship movement. This article explores ways in which research funding expectations permeate the “figured worlds” of 16 mid-career academics in education, social work, sociology, and geography in 7 universities in Ontario, Canada. Participants demonstrated a steady record of research accomplishment and a commitment to social justice in their work. The analysis identified four themes related to the competing pressures these academics described in their day-to-day lives: getting funded; life gets in the way; work gets in the way; and being a fast professor. Participants spoke about their research funding achievements and struggles. In some cases, they explained how their positioning, including gender and race, might have affected their research production, compared to colleagues positioned differently. Their social justice research is funded, but some suspect at a lower level than colleagues studying conventional topics. In aiming for the impossible standards of a continuously successful research record, these individuals worked “all the time.” Advocates claim that slow scholarship is not really about going slower, but about maintaining quality and caring in one’s work, yet participants’ accounts suggest they have few options other than to perform as “fast professors.” At mid-career, they question whether and how they can keep up this pace for 20 or more years.


Author(s):  
Evra Trought-Pitters

The current educational system upholds principles and practices that covertly support institutionalized oppression while affirming and legitimizing privilege and entitlement for students, teachers, and administrators who emulate the cultural capital of the dominant Western culture. This systematic literature review, explored ways in which Black leaders have enacted social justice education in Ontario elementary schools from 1970 to 2017. I have searched six academic databases, peer reviewed journals, the media, academic and professional articles and used close reading and textual analysis to critique Social Justice Leadership discourses. Barriers still exist to Black students’ progress. More research is needed for meaningful social change


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