The novel Bifocal, a fictional young adult novel that examines the racist backlash that occurs at a high school after a male Muslim student is arrested on terrorism charges, was published in 2007 and has received wide critical acclaim for its portrayal of issues of racism. Working from an anti-racist framework, this research interviews two teachers who have used the novel in their classrooms, and considers the value and limitations of the book as an anti-racist teaching tool. Through discussions about specific themes in the novel and its overall presentation of racism, I argue that, while Bifocal presents some useful interventions, it also reflects a simplistic and individualistic perspective on racism and how racism can be addressed. I also examine the ways that Bifocal – and young adult literature in general – can be read in order to encourage more critical discussions about systems of racism and privilege.

The novel Bifocal, a fictional young adult novel that examines the racist backlash that occurs at a high school after a male Muslim student is arrested on terrorism charges, was published in 2007 and has received wide critical acclaim for its portrayal of issues of racism. Working from an anti-racist framework, this research interviews two teachers who have used the novel in their classrooms, and considers the value and limitations of the book as an anti-racist teaching tool. Through discussions about specific themes in the novel and its overall presentation of racism, I argue that, while Bifocal presents some useful interventions, it also reflects a simplistic and individualistic perspective on racism and how racism can be addressed. I also examine the ways that Bifocal – and young adult literature in general – can be read in order to encourage more critical discussions about systems of racism and privilege.

Race and racism inform our subjective realities and structure unequal material relations in contemporary society. While researchers have developed substantive theories to explain racism as systemically pervading institutions within society and permeating our consciousness, studies must also examine how people with privilege deny or admit the existence of racism within their institutions in different environments. Studies of how educators understand racism have been emerging; however, there remains a paucity of scholarship addressing this topic in the Canadian Prairies. In this thesis I use discourse analysis to investigate how prairie teachers negotiated the troubling topic of racism in their schools. The data was collected through open-ended surveys and focus-groups exploring teachers understanding of racism and anti-racism within two mid-sized prairie city high schools. First, exploring survey responses, I use text-based discursive analysis techniques to analyze how participants minimize the unsettling presence of racism in the school. In their responses, teachers used techniques of individualization, blaming the victim, displacement, and situating racism as a student problem to avoid implicating themselves or their school within racism. Teachers preserved the colour-blind image of education, maintaining the benevolence of the educational institution and its employees. However, different images of education emerged from focus-group discussions with educators interested in exploring anti-racism in the school. Focus group participants shifted from minimizing racism to problematizing privilege and power within the building. Multicultural, psychological, and institutional approaches to anti-racism emerged, emphasizing the need to engage individuals, cultures, and institutional structures. Exploring how teachers articulated different versions of the school environment, the identities of students, and their own identities within and between these different anti-racist discourses exposed how versions of each approach could be constructed to situate racism as external to education, and how critical conceptualizations of the school opened opportunities for individual, cultural, and institutional change within education. This research develops the understanding of race in the Canadian Prairies, discourse analysis within geography, anti-racist education, the geography of how teachers situate racism, and how teachers construct the relationship between school, teacher identity, and racism.

Race and racism inform our subjective realities and structure unequal material relations in contemporary society. While researchers have developed substantive theories to explain racism as systemically pervading institutions within society and permeating our consciousness, studies must also examine how people with privilege deny or admit the existence of racism within their institutions in different environments. Studies of how educators understand racism have been emerging; however, there remains a paucity of scholarship addressing this topic in the Canadian Prairies. In this thesis I use discourse analysis to investigate how prairie teachers negotiated the troubling topic of racism in their schools. The data was collected through open-ended surveys and focus-groups exploring teachers understanding of racism and anti-racism within two mid-sized prairie city high schools. First, exploring survey responses, I use text-based discursive analysis techniques to analyze how participants minimize the unsettling presence of racism in the school. In their responses, teachers used techniques of individualization, blaming the victim, displacement, and situating racism as a student problem to avoid implicating themselves or their school within racism. Teachers preserved the colour-blind image of education, maintaining the benevolence of the educational institution and its employees. However, different images of education emerged from focus-group discussions with educators interested in exploring anti-racism in the school. Focus group participants shifted from minimizing racism to problematizing privilege and power within the building. Multicultural, psychological, and institutional approaches to anti-racism emerged, emphasizing the need to engage individuals, cultures, and institutional structures. Exploring how teachers articulated different versions of the school environment, the identities of students, and their own identities within and between these different anti-racist discourses exposed how versions of each approach could be constructed to situate racism as external to education, and how critical conceptualizations of the school opened opportunities for individual, cultural, and institutional change within education. This research develops the understanding of race in the Canadian Prairies, discourse analysis within geography, anti-racist education, the geography of how teachers situate racism, and how teachers construct the relationship between school, teacher identity, and racism.

Submitted by Marlene Oliveira de Brito Fernandes null (moliveira4856@bol.com.br) on 2017-05-30T03:49:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_MESTR_MARLENE OLIVEIRA DE BRITO.pdf: 2900763 bytes, checksum: 31740cb47f56ab8411dd7dea3cae7ccd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-05-31T17:05:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 brito_mo_me_bauru.pdf: 2900763 bytes, checksum: 31740cb47f56ab8411dd7dea3cae7ccd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-31T17:05:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 brito_mo_me_bauru.pdf: 2900763 bytes, checksum: 31740cb47f56ab8411dd7dea3cae7ccd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-31 / O presente estudo teve por objetivo desenvolver uma proposta de planejamento intercultural, por meio de uma sequência didática direcionada ao quinto ano do ensino fundamental. Trata-se de um plano de ação como meio de potencializar a resistência à discriminação planejada, presente no currículo oficial das escolas públicas estaduais paulistas para os anos iniciais. A intenção é dotar a atuação docente de capacidade de respostas, tanto à engenharia de controle curricular exercido pelas agencias estaduais, quanto aos grupos excluídos pela tradição seletiva do currículo oficial. A proposta é de inspiração freireana aliada às reflexões dos estudos decoloniais, em virtude da sintonia que apresentam na crítica epistemológica à modernidade e seus valores eurocêntricos. / This study aimed to develop a proposal for intercultural planning through a didactic sequence directed to the fifth grade of elementary school. This is a plan for action as a means of enhancing the resistance to planned discrimination in the official curriculum of the São Paulo state public schools for the early years. The intention is to provide responses, both the curriculum of control engineering exercised by state agencies, the was groups excluded by the selective tradition of the official curriculum. The proposal is Freire's inspiration combined with the reflections of decolonial studies, because of the line presenting the epistemological critique of modernity and its Eurocentric values.

This qualitative study explored the potential for decolonizing the secondary English Language Arts classroom. An interdisciplinary approach was used to explore contemporary theories of literary criticism relevant to the study of Aboriginal literature, including an approach through colonial and post-colonial discourse and the growing body of theory and criticism written by North American Aboriginals; to incorporate literary theory and pedagogical knowledge of content into the development of Aboriginal literature units FOR secondary school classrooms; and to incorporate these new interpretive and pedagogical understandings into the practices of two secondary English teachers using North American Aboriginal literature in their classrooms.<p>A document was prepared that explored the interpretive potentials of postcolonial and Aboriginal literary theories and given to the two participating teachers who were able to use this information to develop instructional units for their literature classes. Action research framed the approach used to implement, revise, and evaluate the units of study in the two grade twelve classrooms. <p>The participating teachers found that the critical lenses enabled them to approach Aboriginal literature with more confidence and insight. They also found that their classroom use of Aboriginal literature disclosed the misconceptions their students held concerning Aboriginal peoples. The teachers were frustrated by the systemic racism evident in their classrooms. They were also frustrated by the resistance shown by their teaching peers toward incorporating Aboriginal literature and anti-racist methodologies into their instruction.<p>The findings of this study suggest that more exposure to critical literary theories and minority literatures in the context of teachers pre-service and in-service education may help to decolonize Canadian classrooms.

This qualitative study explored the potential for decolonizing the secondary English Language Arts classroom. An interdisciplinary approach was used to explore contemporary theories of literary criticism relevant to the study of Aboriginal literature, including an approach through colonial and post-colonial discourse and the growing body of theory and criticism written by North American Aboriginals; to incorporate literary theory and pedagogical knowledge of content into the development of Aboriginal literature units FOR secondary school classrooms; and to incorporate these new interpretive and pedagogical understandings into the practices of two secondary English teachers using North American Aboriginal literature in their classrooms.<p>A document was prepared that explored the interpretive potentials of postcolonial and Aboriginal literary theories and given to the two participating teachers who were able to use this information to develop instructional units for their literature classes. Action research framed the approach used to implement, revise, and evaluate the units of study in the two grade twelve classrooms. <p>The participating teachers found that the critical lenses enabled them to approach Aboriginal literature with more confidence and insight. They also found that their classroom use of Aboriginal literature disclosed the misconceptions their students held concerning Aboriginal peoples. The teachers were frustrated by the systemic racism evident in their classrooms. They were also frustrated by the resistance shown by their teaching peers toward incorporating Aboriginal literature and anti-racist methodologies into their instruction.<p>The findings of this study suggest that more exposure to critical literary theories and minority literatures in the context of teachers pre-service and in-service education may help to decolonize Canadian classrooms.

Student Number : 8708508W - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / As the title implies, this research concerned the convergence of race and culture in school settings. How the two categories are related is a complex matter, especially in the context of South Africa where race has played, and continues to play, a critical role in the formation of culture. The study aimed to investigate the dynamics of teaching and learning in racially diverse classrooms in three historically white former Model C Schools in Ekhuruleni East District of Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). To this end I conducted a multiple case study with Grade 8 pupils and their teachers, with a primary intention of illuminating the challenges, attitudes and emotions experienced by teachers and pupils, as well as the dynamics between teachers and pupils, and among pupils. Eight questions guided the data collection through extended on-site observation and interviews: (i) What are the experiences and challenges of teachers and pupils in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (ii) How do teachers and pupils respond to these experiences and challenges? (iii) What preparation if any, have teachers had in order to face these challenges in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (iv) How do teachers and pupils and pupils and pupils from diverse race groups interact? (v) What are teachers and pupils opinions about racially diverse classrooms?(vi) What is the significance of race to pupils at the three schools? (vii) How is race conceptualised and lived at school? (viii) What is the impact of the discourse of race on the lives of black pupils? The theoretical framework of this research is situated in the field of teaching and cultural diversity. In order to place the research questions and findings in the context of international and local research and debate on cultural diversity in education, I consulted a wide range of both international and local literature. The thesis presents the main research findings, in terms of four broad themes that cut across the research questions: Change, Subjective Reality and Assimilation; Discourse of Blame and Cultural Deficit Discourse; Home Culture versus School Culture; Perceived Racism or Racism as a Consequence of Change. The analysed data revealed that teachers’ were frustrated and it was evident from their subjective reality that they were not dealing well with change. Pupils preferred homogeneous groups rather than integrated groups thus there was little interaction between racial groups. Hostility was evident and in some cases resulted in fights between black and white pupils. Black pupils perceived the presence of racism among some white teachers and pupils This study could, despite its limitations, pave the way for far more elaborate studies to be conducted.. Since statutory racial integration in South Africa is only ten years old the discourse of racial diversity needs to be illuminated through extensive and intensive research. Teachers need to address both social and educational aims simultaneously as the findings suggest that unless teachers acknowledge and understand diversity in their classrooms and understands the backgrounds of their pupils; these pupils are likely to remain marginalised and desegregated schools run the risk of not contributing to social change.

O presente estudo visa contribuir para o ensino da cultura e da história africana e afro-brasileira tendo como centro de sua reflexão e problematização a figura emblemática de Exu e suas representações em canções brasileiras. O estudo procura desconstruir a associação desse orixá/mediador com o demônio cristão, associação primeiro realizada pela Igreja Católica e hoje reapropriada por algumas Igrejas Neopentecostais ao tornar o Exu alvo preferencial de abjeção, valendo-se de sua figura para difundir intolerância e perseguição às religiões de matriz africana, manifestação do que hoje é conceituado como racismo religioso. Tornar acessível a todos a riqueza das culturas afro-brasileiras mediante as canções populares que falam do Exu, afastando dele a demonização e o preconceito, nos parece pedagogia estratégica para cumprir e estar de acordo com as Leis 10.639/03 e 11.645/08 e com o Parecer CNE nº 03/2004, que tratam das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Étnico Racial e o Ensino da História e da Cultura Afro-brasileira e Africana. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, investigamos os entrelaçamentos da trajetória do símbolo de Exu e suas múltiplas representações com a trajetória histórica e sócio cultural do negro no Brasil. Partindo do levantamento realizado por Reginaldo Prandi (2005) e ampliando-o, elencamos canções brasileiras que tratam de Exu, compostas entre os anos de 1912 e 2018. Destacamos, entre elas, uma para cada representação de Exu que consideramos significativas, capazes de serem desenvolvidas em projetos pedagógicos, tais como Exu e o poder feminino ou Exu e a representação do malandro, realizando observações sobre aspectos textuais e musicais das mesmas. A escolha das canções como núcleos de reflexões sobre Exu se deu pelo reconhecimento da força mobilizadora da canção e por representar, cada uma delas, um aspecto diferente desse orixá no imaginário social. Os estudos de Silva (2000; 2007; 2012; 2015), Ortiz (1999), Pordeus Jr. (1993; 2000) e Lagos (2007) foram essenciais para o entendimento do símbolo Exu e suas interpretações no Brasil, bem como para as análises dos conteúdos dos textos das canções, produtos artísticos que espelham os contextos históricos e culturais em que surgiram, assim como os interesses mercadológicos enquanto produtos fonográficos. Tais análises foram feitas buscando identificar os indícios sociais e históricos capazes de detectar, na estrutura poética e musical das canções, as múltiplas faces assumidas por Exu. Dessa forma, apontamos Exu como elemento essencial na construção de uma efetiva educação antirracista, intercultural e decolonial e as canções como instrumento facilitador de sua concretização. / The present study aims to contribute to the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian culture and history taking the emblematic figure of Exu represented in Brazilian songs as the center of this reflections and problematization. This study aims to deconstruct the association of this orixá with the Christian devil, association originaly made by Catholic Church. Today, this concept is reappropriated by some neopentecostal churches making Exu a particular target of abjection, using its figure to disseminate intolerance and persecution of African matrices religions, an expression that is considered today as religious racism. To offer wide accessibility to the richness of Afro-Brazilian cultures through popular songs that speak about Exu, pushing demonization and prejudice away, seems to be an strategic pedagogy to comply with Laws 10.639/03 e 11.645/08 and Legal Advice CNE n.º 03/2004, regarding the Curricular Guidelines to Racial and Etnical Education and Afro-Brazilian and African Culture and History Teaching. Through bibliography research, we could explore the historical intertwining of the trajectory of Exus symbol and its multiple representations with the historical and social cultural trajectory of black people in Brazil. Starting from the data collection made by Reginaldo Prandi (2005) and expanding it, we could list Brazilian songs that refer to Exu composed over the years of 1912 and 2018. We chose, among them all, one for each representation of Exu that we consider significant and able to be developed in pedagogic projects such as Exu and the feminine power and the representations of the malandro, making observations about the textual and musical aspects of these songs. The selection of these songs as nuclei of reflections about Exu was due to the recognition of the driving force of the song and the representations, made by each one of them, of a different aspect of the orixá in social imaginary. The studies of Silva (2000; 2007; 2012; 2015), Ortiz (1999), Pordeus Jr. (1993; 2000) and Lagos (2007) were essential to the understanding of Exus symbols and its interpretations in Brazil, as well as the analyses of the contents of songs lyrics, artistic elements that reflect historical and cultural contexts in which they arose, as well the market interests as phonographic products. Such evaluations were made in order to identify social and historical evidences capable of detecting, in the musical and poetical structure of these songs, Exus multiple faces. Therefore, we consider Exu as essential element in the construction of an effective anti-racist, intercultural and decolonial education, and the songs as facilitator instrument in its concretization.

O presente estudo visa contribuir para o ensino da cultura e da história africana e afro-brasileira tendo como centro de sua reflexão e problematização a figura emblemática de Exu e suas representações em canções brasileiras. O estudo procura desconstruir a associação desse orixá/mediador com o demônio cristão, associação primeiro realizada pela Igreja Católica e hoje reapropriada por algumas Igrejas Neopentecostais ao tornar o Exu alvo preferencial de abjeção, valendo-se de sua figura para difundir intolerância e perseguição às religiões de matriz africana, manifestação do que hoje é conceituado como racismo religioso. Tornar acessível a todos a riqueza das culturas afro-brasileiras mediante as canções populares que falam do Exu, afastando dele a demonização e o preconceito, nos parece pedagogia estratégica para cumprir e estar de acordo com as Leis 10.639/03 e 11.645/08 e com o Parecer CNE nº 03/2004, que tratam das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Étnico Racial e o Ensino da História e da Cultura Afro-brasileira e Africana. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, investigamos os entrelaçamentos da trajetória do símbolo de Exu e suas múltiplas representações com a trajetória histórica e sócio cultural do negro no Brasil. Partindo do levantamento realizado por Reginaldo Prandi (2005) e ampliando-o, elencamos canções brasileiras que tratam de Exu, compostas entre os anos de 1912 e 2018. Destacamos, entre elas, uma para cada representação de Exu que consideramos significativas, capazes de serem desenvolvidas em projetos pedagógicos, tais como Exu e o poder feminino ou Exu e a representação do malandro, realizando observações sobre aspectos textuais e musicais das mesmas. A escolha das canções como núcleos de reflexões sobre Exu se deu pelo reconhecimento da força mobilizadora da canção e por representar, cada uma delas, um aspecto diferente desse orixá no imaginário social. Os estudos de Silva (2000; 2007; 2012; 2015), Ortiz (1999), Pordeus Jr. (1993; 2000) e Lagos (2007) foram essenciais para o entendimento do símbolo Exu e suas interpretações no Brasil, bem como para as análises dos conteúdos dos textos das canções, produtos artísticos que espelham os contextos históricos e culturais em que surgiram, assim como os interesses mercadológicos enquanto produtos fonográficos. Tais análises foram feitas buscando identificar os indícios sociais e históricos capazes de detectar, na estrutura poética e musical das canções, as múltiplas faces assumidas por Exu. Dessa forma, apontamos Exu como elemento essencial na construção de uma efetiva educação antirracista, intercultural e decolonial e as canções como instrumento facilitador de sua concretização. / The present study aims to contribute to the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian culture and history taking the emblematic figure of Exu represented in Brazilian songs as the center of this reflections and problematization. This study aims to deconstruct the association of this orixá with the Christian devil, association originaly made by Catholic Church. Today, this concept is reappropriated by some neopentecostal churches making Exu a particular target of abjection, using its figure to disseminate intolerance and persecution of African matrices religions, an expression that is considered today as religious racism. To offer wide accessibility to the richness of Afro-Brazilian cultures through popular songs that speak about Exu, pushing demonization and prejudice away, seems to be an strategic pedagogy to comply with Laws 10.639/03 e 11.645/08 and Legal Advice CNE n.º 03/2004, regarding the Curricular Guidelines to Racial and Etnical Education and Afro-Brazilian and African Culture and History Teaching. Through bibliography research, we could explore the historical intertwining of the trajectory of Exus symbol and its multiple representations with the historical and social cultural trajectory of black people in Brazil. Starting from the data collection made by Reginaldo Prandi (2005) and expanding it, we could list Brazilian songs that refer to Exu composed over the years of 1912 and 2018. We chose, among them all, one for each representation of Exu that we consider significant and able to be developed in pedagogic projects such as Exu and the feminine power and the representations of the malandro, making observations about the textual and musical aspects of these songs. The selection of these songs as nuclei of reflections about Exu was due to the recognition of the driving force of the song and the representations, made by each one of them, of a different aspect of the orixá in social imaginary. The studies of Silva (2000; 2007; 2012; 2015), Ortiz (1999), Pordeus Jr. (1993; 2000) and Lagos (2007) were essential to the understanding of Exus symbols and its interpretations in Brazil, as well as the analyses of the contents of songs lyrics, artistic elements that reflect historical and cultural contexts in which they arose, as well the market interests as phonographic products. Such evaluations were made in order to identify social and historical evidences capable of detecting, in the musical and poetical structure of these songs, Exus multiple faces. Therefore, we consider Exu as essential element in the construction of an effective anti-racist, intercultural and decolonial education, and the songs as facilitator instrument in its concretization.