This project explores the connections between the worlds we hope for and the worlds we help create. Over the course of several months, I conducted three sets of narrative interviews with three anti-oppression education facilitators, and a self-study with myself. Using narrative inquiry through a specifically anti-colonial lens as my method of analysis, I worked in partnership with my interview participants to draw meaning out of our interviews. Growing from these discussions, this thesis explores the work that discourses of hope do in our practices as facilitators of education for change. How do the things that we learn to hope for inform the way we teach, and the possibilities that are allowed in, or locked out, of our classrooms? In problematizing certain functions of certain discourses of hope, this study also explores the possibilities of anti-colonial hopings as a process of generating decolonizing dreams through education for change.

This project explores the connections between the worlds we hope for and the worlds we help create. Over the course of several months, I conducted three sets of narrative interviews with three anti-oppression education facilitators, and a self-study with myself. Using narrative inquiry through a specifically anti-colonial lens as my method of analysis, I worked in partnership with my interview participants to draw meaning out of our interviews. Growing from these discussions, this thesis explores the work that discourses of hope do in our practices as facilitators of education for change. How do the things that we learn to hope for inform the way we teach, and the possibilities that are allowed in, or locked out, of our classrooms? In problematizing certain functions of certain discourses of hope, this study also explores the possibilities of anti-colonial hopings as a process of generating decolonizing dreams through education for change.

This project examines the work of four elementary music educators who strive to challenge the dominant paradigm of music education. I employed the methodology of a multiple case study (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2009) to consider the discourses, practices, and philosophies of these four educators. I observed in each school for an eight-week period for two full days each week, conducting semi-structured interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of each observation process. At each school, I followed an observation protocol, in addition to completing three interviews, and keeping a journal. In this work, I mobilize a tri-faceted lens that combines the theoretical frameworks of anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and anti-racist feminism toward counterhegemonic goals. The teachers' diverse practices include critically engaging with issues of social justice, studying a broad range of musics, introducing multiple musical epistemologies, creating space for students to own the means of cultural production, contextualizing musics, considering differential privilege, and subverting hegemonic practices. In many ways, these four individuals interrupt the traditional Eurocentric focus on Western classical music to explore different possibilities with their students. However, within this work to subvert, there were moments in each classroom where the dominant paradigm was reinscribed. These subversions and reinscriptions are instructive to music education and carry broader implications for the discipline. Ultimately, this thesis argues that a truly radical music education involves shifting from a liberal to a critical paradigm. Many values and strategies traditionally found in liberal education can be reread radically, and doing so puts forward tenets of a radical music education. Within these four classrooms, there were myriad examples of this shift from a liberal to a critical orientation. However, this work also raises questions of positionality and asks explicitly which bodies are able to do radical anti-oppressive work in music education, acknowledging that it is possible to unintentionally reinscribe dominant power relations while working to subvert them.

This project examines the work of four elementary music educators who strive to challenge the dominant paradigm of music education. I employed the methodology of a multiple case study (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2009) to consider the discourses, practices, and philosophies of these four educators. I observed in each school for an eight-week period for two full days each week, conducting semi-structured interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of each observation process. At each school, I followed an observation protocol, in addition to completing three interviews, and keeping a journal. In this work, I mobilize a tri-faceted lens that combines the theoretical frameworks of anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and anti-racist feminism toward counterhegemonic goals. The teachers' diverse practices include critically engaging with issues of social justice, studying a broad range of musics, introducing multiple musical epistemologies, creating space for students to own the means of cultural production, contextualizing musics, considering differential privilege, and subverting hegemonic practices. In many ways, these four individuals interrupt the traditional Eurocentric focus on Western classical music to explore different possibilities with their students. However, within this work to subvert, there were moments in each classroom where the dominant paradigm was reinscribed. These subversions and reinscriptions are instructive to music education and carry broader implications for the discipline. Ultimately, this thesis argues that a truly radical music education involves shifting from a liberal to a critical paradigm. Many values and strategies traditionally found in liberal education can be reread radically, and doing so puts forward tenets of a radical music education. Within these four classrooms, there were myriad examples of this shift from a liberal to a critical orientation. However, this work also raises questions of positionality and asks explicitly which bodies are able to do radical anti-oppressive work in music education, acknowledging that it is possible to unintentionally reinscribe dominant power relations while working to subvert them.

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline V. Lerner / Young people identifying as Black, Latino/a/x, Hispanic, Asian, and other races and ethnicities that are minoritized and marginalized have constrained opportunities for positive development in the United States due to oppression grounded in white supremacy (NASEM, 2019). Importantly, youth of color engage in critical consciousness: interrogating and dismantling systems of oppression (Freire, 1970/2016). My aim was to illuminate the variation within youth of color in their development of critical consciousness, and to consider the implications for their overall development as viewed from a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2015). Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and two variables measuring youths’ perceptions of their school context were examined. Using latent profile transition analysis, I explored variation among a sample of youth of color (n = 335) in cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioral processes of critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2016; Watts et al., 2011) over a short longitudinal period. The mean age was fourteen at time 1 (which took place in 2016) and fifteen at time 2. Group-differential patterns in critical consciousness development were related to contribution—supporting the development of self and giving back to community; engagement in risk and problem behaviors; and emotional problems. Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and (1) classroom discussions about social justice and (2) open classroom climate were estimated. Multiple patterns of engagement with critical consciousness were identified. Some youth shifted in their patterns of critical consciousness over time. Many participants reported a pattern of low engagement in multiple components of critical consciousness across both time points; higher classroom discussions about social justice were associated with a lower likelihood of youth following this pattern. These youth concurrently reported low contribution. Young people who sustained high levels across all dimensions of critical consciousness had high levels of emotional problems and risk and problem behaviors. Findings indicate broad involvement in critical consciousness can be associated with negative outcomes. Nevertheless, young people who were participating less in critical consciousness may struggle to promote positive development within themselves and their contexts through contribution. Implications for supporting the thriving of youth of color are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Anti-bullying campaigns and legislation are on the rise, and school districts are fighting in favor of and against various forms of support for gay and sexually diverse (GSD) students, creating very distinct experienced ethoses in their prospective schools. At times, these ethoses stand in direct opposition of the aspirational ethoses of those same schools. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand how schools interact with the educational policies in place to create a balanced ethos. This study uses Charmaz*s (2014) constructivist approach to grounded theory methods to answer the following questions: How, if at all, does the aspirational ethos balance with the experienced ethos in high schools for GSD students, and, how, if at all, are schools creating positive high school ethoses for GSD students? Two themes emerged from this study. The first theme, don*t ask, don*t tell, showed that GSD students are often expected to be silent about themselves and their issues. The second theme, policy is just a beginning, revealed that inclusive policy alone is not enough, administration must interact with these policies and GSD students. The findings of this study indicate that for schools to provide a balanced aspirational and experienced ethos for GSD students, these students must be included in the policies, actions, and interactions of the high school. Schools create a positive ethos for GSD students when the balance is achieved. This study has practical and theoretical implications for anti-oppressive educational practices and discourse regarding GSD students.

This essay focuses on the pedagogical benefits of using fantasy literature in the classroom as it relates to the Swedish school’s democratic values of anti-racism and working for a just society. It examines the representations of racial prejudice, discrimination, and othering among wizards and muggles which are explicitly or implicitly present throughout the Harry Potter series as well as what the representations of inequality can offer in terms of inculcating democratic values and critical thinking in a Swedish upper secondary classroom. This essay also argues for the use of Harry Potter in the EFL classroom since the novel’s complexity and popularity can work as an incentive for students to analyze the ways that the fantasy world relates to our own society. Since the focus of this essay is racial discrimination, prejudice, and otherness the critical lens is Critical Race Theory and anti-oppressive education theory.

À partir du milieu des années 2010 s’observe, dans les milieux festifs de la scène musicale montréalaise, l’émergence d’initiatives pour faire face aux oppressions multiples qui ont cours dans ses espaces. La lutte contre les violences sexuelles, les discriminations et les micro-agressions sexistes, racistes, homophobes, transphobes et capacitistes devient le cheval de bataille d’activistes impliqué·es dans la scène. Cette thèse s’attèle à expliquer l’apparition et étudier la mise en œuvre de nouvelles pratiques dites anti-oppressives dans la scène musicale montréalaise à partir de deux points de vue : celui de la scène alternative de musique électronique dansante, comportant les espaces clandestins de la scène rave et les petits festivals de niche, et celui de la scène commerciale incluant les grands festivals de renom montréalais. C’est à partir de la littérature sur la sociologie des mouvements sociaux, qui offre des approches analytiques nous informant sur l’émergence de l’action collective, que je propose une étude détaillée de l’activisme sur la scène musicale. Cette étude a été rendue possible grâce à une collecte de données qualitative par entrevues auprès d’une trentaine d’acteurs et d’actrices de la scène (artistes, promoteur·rices, directeurs d’entreprises, travailleur·euses communautaires et employé·es). Dans la scène alternative, l’émergence des initiatives repose sur une alliance entre son éthos discursivement construit, ses pratiques culturelles spécifiques et la politisation radicale de quelques initié·es activistes. Ces dernier·ères souhaitent mettre en pratique leurs idéaux d’espace plus sûr (safer space) à travers une implication formelle dans deux organisations, le Collectif d’intervention contre les oppressions (CICLOP) et l’Association pour la réduction des risques (ARéR). Ces militant·es développent des savoirs qu’iels diffusent sur la scène à l’aide de techniques pédagogiques qui sont étudiées dans la thèse. Dans la scène commerciale, l’émergence des pratiques s’explique par une structure d’opportunités politiques favorable, dynamisée par le mouvement #MoiAussi et ses corollaires, conjuguée à des efforts de diffusion par des passeurs individuels, institutionnels et politiques. / Since mid-2010, we can observe on the Montreal nightlife and music scene the emergence of initiatives trying to break multiple oppressions going on in its spaces. The struggle against sexual violence, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and ableist discriminations and microaggressions has become the key issue of activists acting in those spaces. This thesis wishes to explain the emergence and implementation of new anti-oppressive practices on the Montreal music scene from two perspectives: one from the alternative electronic dance music scene, including niche festivals and rave scene’s underground spaces; the other from the mainstream scene, including big festivals. The literature concerning social movements sociology, offering analytical models that inform on the emergence of collective action, helped me propose a detailed study of activism on the music scene, being possible due to a qualitative data collection with about thirty scene actors (artists, promoters, business directors, community workers, and employees). The results indicate that, on the alternative scene, initiatives’ emergence is explained by the alliance between its discursively constructed ethos, its specific cultural practices and some insiders radical politization processes. Those insiders wish to put into practice their safer space ideals through their participation into two formal organizations: Collectif d’intervention contre les oppressions (CICLOP), and Association pour la réduction des risques (ARéR). These activists develop knowledge that they diffuse on the scene through diverse pedagogical technics. On the mainstream scene, practices’ emergence is explained by a favourable political opportunities’ structure, dynamized by the #MeToo movement and its corollaries, combined with the diffusion efforts carried by individual, institutional et political brokers whose roles are closely studied in the thesis.

This thesis is an occasion to examine how normalcy – as a phenomenon constructed in society and so not natural but human-made – is reproduced as a hegemonic ideal through oppressive portrayals of disability in literature. Many of the fictional texts I analyze reproduce the privileging of normalcy. I therefore work to disturb normalcyʼs hold through critical analysis of a wide variety of currently popular fiction for youth and adults. Combining interpretive inquiry and personal narrative, I bring forward new understandings of normalcy, disability and culture. Along with showing how normalcyʼs supremacy is upheld within the book industry, and critiquing texts that do disability as usual (through both survey and close analysis approaches), I discuss at length several literary works that write disability in anti-oppressive, anti-ableist ways. To close this thesis, I discuss my own transformation as an author and scholar through disability studies.

This thesis is an occasion to examine how normalcy – as a phenomenon constructed in society and so not natural but human-made – is reproduced as a hegemonic ideal through oppressive portrayals of disability in literature. Many of the fictional texts I analyze reproduce the privileging of normalcy. I therefore work to disturb normalcyʼs hold through critical analysis of a wide variety of currently popular fiction for youth and adults. Combining interpretive inquiry and personal narrative, I bring forward new understandings of normalcy, disability and culture. Along with showing how normalcyʼs supremacy is upheld within the book industry, and critiquing texts that do disability as usual (through both survey and close analysis approaches), I discuss at length several literary works that write disability in anti-oppressive, anti-ableist ways. To close this thesis, I discuss my own transformation as an author and scholar through disability studies.