Desecuritisation, deradicalisation, and national identity in Afghanistan: Higher education and desecuritisation processes

This article assesses the processes and trends of desecuritisation through the deradicalisation of identity politics within the higher education sector in Afghanistan. It examines the desecuritisation of radicalisation through efforts directed at deradicalisation in the context of a securitised conflict environment. The article draws on the data generated through interviews and discussions with actors engaged with higher education. Higher education, while manipulated by numerous actors for ideo-political purposes, can function as a ‘desecuritisation’ and ‘deradicalisation’ mechanism by supplementing the statebuilding efforts, and more subtly, by providing a venue for critical teaching and learning processes. This article highlights that while the sector is typically a very low reconstruction priority, if addressed strategically, it has the potential to contribute to the desecuritisation of ethnic politics through the deradicalisation of ethnic grievances and hence function as a catalyst for effective and sustainable postwar recovery.

Portuguese School Libraries

In this paper we propose to present and analyse the School Libraries Self-Evaluation Model created for Portuguese Schools. We focus on its principles and steps leading to implementation. The self-evaluation model is based on four domains which represent essential areas to the accomplishment of school libraries’ teaching and learning objectives. Some of the features are characteristic of the Portuguese reality, but they are all directed towards critical teaching and learning dimensions of school libraries.

Connected literacies of anti-racist youth organizers

Purpose This article aims to share findings from a youth-informed study with interracial anti-racist youth activist groups in two urban high schools. Design/methodology/approach The study used mostly critical ethnographic methods. Findings The findings showed that the agency of youth activists amplified their literacies of love and resistance, organizing, critical teaching, and knowledge. More research is needed in English education related to youth organizing activities across contexts as youth organizing work is largely unknown or underused by educators and schools. Originality/value Overall, this research supports humanizing collectives that amplify the literacies of youth and position youth-centered education for liberation.

Critical teaching in classrooms of healing: Struggles and testimonios

Using testimonio methodology, this article describes the testimonio and struggle of two Chicanx activist social studies teachers teaching in a large urban high school serving socio-economically poor Latinx students. Both teach critically working to develop their students’ understanding of how their ethnic and community histories contrast with larger historical narratives. Both teach the racism, misogyny, and homophobia rampant in American history by connecting it to the present. They also engage a culturally sustaining pedagogy to give students strength from their cultural inheritance. Each approached this differently, one developing an ethnic studies course, and the second developing a circulo de hombres, and embedding a youth participation action research. Each teacher tackled critical teaching and healing simultaneously from different perspectives yielding a variety of accompanying struggles.