This research uses an antiracism theoretical framework, arising from Stanley’s (2011, 2014) anti-essentialist antiracism and Dei’s (1996) anti-racism praxis, to focus on the four documents that comprised the Ontario Ministry of Education’s 1993 Antiracism and Ethnocultural Equity initiative (the initiative). The initiative required school boards to develop and implement policies to identify and eliminate racisms within their systems and schools. I used a methodology of constructivist grounded theory to trace the origins and content of the initiative through the lens of my 44-years of lived experience, during which I was a teacher, principal, superintendent, associate director of education, and ministry education officer. This thesis poses the overarching question: What happened to antiracism and ethnocultural equity? I find that although the initiative was a genuine antiracism project, it was destined to fail due to certain deficiencies. I conclude it had two critical deficiencies. First, it did not consider the four discrete cultures located in school boards (made up of supervisory officers, trustees, principals and teachers). Second, it did not provide these cultures with suitable pressures and supports to generate the individual and organizational changes envisioned. Finally I consider what the Ministry would need to do for such an antiracism reform to succeed? I argue systemic policy reform must be based on what I call strategic antiracist education. It would provide the members of the culture of supervisory officers with the necessary knowledge, authority, resources and supports, including professional development, to enable them to lead the members of the other school cultures in antiracist educational reform.

No description available.

This thesis asks two central questions. First, what is the range of racialised discourses that constitute the subjectivities of some Pakeha ('white'/European) women? Second, can an examination of racialised discourses be useful for present social justice and antiracist pedagogy? The research examines and analyses a range of discourses of Whiteness that contribute to the constitution of contemporary Pakeha women as racialised subjects. Central to the thesis is an analysis of dominant discourses and the contemporary challenges that analyses of racism and aspects of identification present in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study is qualitative and draws on insights from discourse analysis theory, critical Whiteness theory and feminist approaches to theories on racism and 'white' supremacy. The analysis is located in the historicised context of contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand where a Treaty, Te Tiriti O Waitangi, which was signed by some hapu, the tangata whenua of Aotearoa, and representatives of the British Crown in 1840, underpins current socio-cultural politics of biculturalism. The thesis argues/contends that racialised discourses, in particular various discourses of Whiteness are available to contemporary Pakeha women. The analysis is grounded in both a preliminary focus group and individual interviews of 28 Pakeha women ranging in age from 24 to 86 years, the majority of whom were aged between 40 and 55 years. With few exceptions, participants revealed that they were constituted within discourses of Whiteness through their communication choices and discursive strategies in the interviews in two distinct ways: firstly in their perceptions expressed in their narratives and recollections, and secondly in the discursive forms used in participants' interactions during the focus group and interviews. These 28 women, some of whom had participated in antiracist education such as Treaty of Waitangi workshops, utilised discourses that exposed the pervasiveness and significance of racialised discourses as they attempted express how they learned to be 'white'. Participants maintained and reproduced discourses of Whiteness that had gendered and some class influences contained in their perceptions, talk and significantly in their silences. The analysis shows how remnants of essentialist ideologies of 'race' based in the nineteenth century imperialism are constantly reworked and are seemingly invisible to those constituted within these racialised discourses, apparently giving these outdated representations no chance to fade away. Based on the analysis, critical pedagogies of Whiteness in education that incorporate an epistemic approach are suggested, which have the potential to facilitate Pakeha women's ability to conceptualise their racialised discursive location. As an outcome of this understanding, the thesis maintains that Pakeha will have the capability to strategically reconceptualise their discursive constitution in order to address the complex forms of identity, understanding of difference and representation. Furthermore, these reconceptualisations have the potential to reveal the central relationship between dominant discursive formulations and social norms and structures, a vital constituent in contemporary social justice education.

Approximately 1 in 11 births in the United States are preterm (gestation). Within the United States, there are huge racial disparities for risk of preterm birth, an issue understudied and rarely addressed by research in the field. There is a wealth of biological knowledge surrounding pregnancy and labor, but causes for preterm birth are poorly understood. A genetic factor that has been shown to play a key role in many biological processes crucial to a healthy pregnancy and timely labor is microRNA (miRNA). MiRNA have an active role in the regulation of various tissues, especially developing tissues like those found in the placenta and uterus. Additionally, oxidative stress has been shown essential to placental development and the initiation of labor. Here, a study is proposed that aims to address the effect of oxidative stress on myometrial miRNA expression, specifically the miR-200 family and miR-199/214 cluster. This work also underscores the importance of addressing racial disparities with regards to preterm labor during research, while bringing up ethical considerations for conducting such research. The thesis will conclude with an outline of the many considerations vital for discussing the research and analysis of preterm birth disparities using a feminist, antiracist, queer self-reflexive analysis.

In this thesis, I invite readers to accompany me as I build a bridge that links my learning as a Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major in an elite private college back to the educational settings I grew up in. Here, I present a curriculum for middle school students in a private summer school I attended and worked at in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I chose to create a curriculum as a case study and a launching off point to learn how to bring feminist theory and critical social justice pedagogy back to my home and into my work. I hope to take intersectional feminist lenses and epistemologies forward into a career in K-8 teaching.

Thesis advisor: Diana Pullin / In recent years, critical race theory (CRT) has garnered much attention in education scholarship as a way to examine the racialized practices that persist in U.S. schooling. This study was a grassroots attempt at using CRT as the theoretical framework to engage a group of administrators and teacher leaders at one urban school in inquiry-based discourse that focused on raising the educators' race consciousness and co-constructing an antiracist pedagogy. A combined method of action research and critical case study was used as the research methodology. This dissertation reports on three notable findings that surfaced from the study. One, the participants largely perceived racism an individual pathology, not as a system of privilege. Because the participants regarded themselves as educators who were committed to social justice, they were often deceived by their activism to recognize their own complicity in the perpetuation of racist ideologies in their practice. Two, despite the overwhelming criticisms against NCLB in scholarly literature, the participants at this low-income, racially-diverse, urban school were passionately in favor of the goals behind the statute. With the recent push toward the development of common core content standards through the Race to the Top program, increased dialogue regarding what knowledge should be considered "common" and "core" needs to occur in order to breach the impasse between the divergent curricular viewpoints held by all stakeholders. Three, although culturally relevant pedagogy is widely espoused and utilized in educational research and practice, it is often not commonly understood as a conceptual framework that advocates the three-pronged elements of academic success, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness. Findings revealed wide misconceptions and misuse of the theory that stemmed from teachers' cultural bias, the nature of racism in school settings, and the lack of support to adequately implement theories into practice. ` All of these findings revealed issues of power, positionality, and privilege that were deeply entrenched in the policies and practices of the school, which suggested that greater collaboration between scholars and practitioners was necessary in order to engender ongoing critical self-reflection and reconceptualization of theories as viable pedagogical tools to begin the work of antiracism. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

This study contains qualitative portraits based on the stories of three white university professors who are nominated by their students as white allies. Through the thick description of setting and context, white privilege is named as the researcher's experience and that of each of the participants. The researcher examines ways in which each participant strives to disrupt racism. Using a lens of critical theory applied through critical pedagogy and critical whiteness philosophies, the researcher highlights the following themes as they emerge: education, exposure, empathy, and engagement. This study contributes to the literature by providing examples of white professors challenging racism in a university setting.

Thesis advisor: Hosffman . Ospino / Catholic theological education in the United States of America in the year 2019 (and beyond) must confront the realities of racism and ethnocentrism, and understand how racist and ethnocentric epistemologies intrude into the classroom. These epistemologies interfere with the ways that theological educators are able to teach about and through an anthropology of the imago Dei that demands an equitable valuation of people of color, both socially and theologically. Yet a history of a “white savior complex” pervades Catholic theological education in the U.S. and stands in the way of cherishing the theological agency and contributions of people of color. Such a complex can be addressed through the use of antiracist and intercultural pedagogies that allows the scholarship and experiences of people of color, both students and academics, to achieve equitable impact in theological education and that leads all students to reflect on the development of their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. The use of four distinct antiracist and intercultural pedagogical pillars are developed and illustrated through vignettes pulled from the experiences of theological educators teaching about racism and ethnocentrism in Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

No description available.

The CAR (confront, address, replace) Strategy is an antiracist pedagogy aiming to drive out exclusionary terminology in engineering education. “Master-slave” terminology is still commonplace in engineering education and industry. However, questions have been raised about the negative impacts of such language. Usage of exclusionary terminology such as “master-slave” in academia can make students—especially those who identify as women and/or Black/African-American—feel uncomfortable, potentially evoking Stereotype Threat (Danowitz, 2020) and/or Curriculum Trauma (Buul, 2020). Indeed, prior research shows that students from a number of backgrounds find non-inclusive terminologies such as “master-slave” to be a major problem (Danowitz, 2020). Currently, women-identifying and gender nonbinary students are underrepresented in the engineering industry (ASEE, 2020) while Black/African-American students are underrepresented in the entire higher education system, including engineering fields (NSF, 2019). The CAR Strategy, introduced here, stands for: 1) confront; 2) address; 3) replace and aims to provide a framework for driving out iniquitous terminologies in engineering education such as “master-slave.” The first step is to confront the historical significance of the terminology in question. The second step is to address the technical inaccuracies of the legacy terminology. Lastly, replace the problematic terminology with an optional but recommended replacement. This thesis reports on student perceptions and the effectiveness of The CAR Strategy piloted as a teaching framework in the computer engineering department of Cal Poly. Of 64 students surveyed: 70% either agree or strongly agree that The CAR Strategy is an effective framework for driving out exclusionary terminologies. Amman Asfaw first presented certain portions of this thesis at the virtual 2021 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition. The original publication’s copyright is held by ASEE (Asfaw, 2021); secondary authors included Storm Randolph, Victoria Siaumau, Yumi Aguilar, Emily Flores, Dr. Jane Lehr, and Dr. Andrew Danowitz.