Data shows that there is an overall dearth of Asian Americans in the role of the principalship in K-12 public schools. According to the Department of Education (2019), Asian Americans made up 5% of the national student population, but less than two percent of all K-12 public school principals identified as Asian. This mixed methods study is designed to provide insight into why there is an underrepresentation of Asian Americans in roles of the principalship in K-12 public schools. Through the theoretical framework, Asian Critical Race Theory, the aim of this dissertation study is to a) examine the factors that may hinder or encourage Asian Americans from embarking on the journey towards the principalship and b) make recommendations and observations on how to break through the existing barriers that may inhibit Asian Americans from pursuing the role. The dissertation studied 92 principals and assistant principals in K-12 public schools and utilized a quantitative methodology with a questionnaire and a qualitative methodology with semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and field notes as data sources. Findings indicate that it is still difficult to be viewed as a competent, Asian American principal. Additionally, women experienced an added layer of challenges related to their gender; and first- and second-generation participants experienced greater difficulty in navigating the system. The findings hope to be the catalyst for promoting more Asian American principals in ways that their voices and stories may be heard. Moreover, this emancipatory research can serve as a liberating experience and contribute to the greater Asian American community, specifically our students. As we continue to make strides towards a more equitable and diverse society, we must prioritize our efforts to truly diversify our educational systems, which include understanding biases and breaking through the bamboo ceiling.

This critical hermeneutic phenomenological study investigates the lived experiences of Asian American women leaders in higher music education, in order to address their historic and ongoing underrepresentation in leadership roles. Asian Americans comprise a large percentage of students in schools of music and are represented at higher numbers among music faculty than their other minority counterparts, although they are still not at parity with the number of Asian American students. Despite their success as performers and teachers, Asian American faculty and students are subject to typecasting, racialized experiences, and xenophobic attitudes that are often ignored or unchallenged in higher music education institutions. These experiences, along with prevalent gender biases surrounding women leaders, have contributed to the "shockingly small" representation of Asian American women in leadership and administrative positions in music. The purpose of this research is to discover essential factors that impact Asian American women's leadership opportunities by learning about their racialized and gendered experiences in higher music education. A hermeneutic phenomenological study is especially suited for incorporating the researcher’s reflexivity while exploring nuances of the phenomenon and discovering commonalities between lived experiences. The study utilized Asian Critical Theory as the main conceptual framework. Lifeworld existentials, such as the lived space, lived body, lived time, and lived human relations of Asian American women, served as additional frameworks for data analysis and hermeneutic reflection. Data was collected from six Asian American women leaders in higher music education in the form of conversational hermeneutic interviews and focus groups, then analyzed to detect larger phenomenological themes. Findings indicate that Asian American women leaders experience dual conflicts in the workplace due to internal cultural influences and external influences of dominant male White ideals of leadership. They experience discrimination as members of the privileged oppressed, and their rich lived experiences are central to their development of community-based leadership values—among them, empathy, resilience, representing marginalized voices, and pragmatism. Asian American women leaders are driven by their missions to create space for belonging and inclusion in schools of music, and are committed to social justice around all forms of oppression.

The segregation of Roma minors in Slovak education system is an enduring and widespread phenomenon, despite its formal legal prohibition. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse Slovak education laws and policy developments relating to this issue, and closely examine how the problem is framed and represented in the selected legal measures. By extension, I aim to investigate deeply entrenched societal assumptions from which problem representations derive, their limitations, produced effects, as well as the role of racism and systemic discrimination in the course of its creation. To this end, Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem Represented to be?’ methodological approach combined with Critical Race Theory was used. Key findings of this study showed, that deeply entrenched prejudicial and racist assumptions underpin the policy-making processes, creating stigmatized category of Roma pupils. Additionally, the issue of segregation is addressed and problematized only vaguely, hampering possible desegregation efforts. And lastly, the focus on Roma children’s placement into mainstream education fails to account for complex problems that Roma face in regular schools.

This study examines the burden placed on racialized students to address race-related issues within social work education, highlighting that social work education is not meant for racialized students. Utilizing Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework, this research employs focus groups and interviews to understand the experiences of these students and to provide insights into what changes need to be made. Findings revealed that the responsibility for promoting racial justice often falls disproportionately on racialized students, while essential concepts to racial justice, such as solidarity, unity, and collectivization are largely absent from the curriculum. Furthermore, the findings highlighted that race pedagogy is shaped by whiteness. This study emphasizes the need for change in race pedagogy and social work education, one that is committed to deconstructing whiteness and the colonial agenda. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This dissertation critically examines the entrenched Western classical music paradigm in K-12 and higher education music programs and its impact on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. Utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefanic, 2017) and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) (Ladson-Billings, 2022), the study explores how this dominance leads to epistemological and ontological imprisonment, marginalizing non-Western musical traditions and perpetuating cultural hegemony and systemic racism. Through qualitative peer research interviews with BIPOC university music education students, faculty members including the curriculum director, the research uncovers significant themes, including normalizing and cultural hegemony of Western classical music, the pressure to conform, resistance to pedagogical shifts, and structural barriers to implementing culturally sustaining pedagogies. Additionally, it highlights the duality and dialectical tension educators and students face navigating the dominant Western paradigm while striving to integrate diverse musical epistemologies. The dissertation passionately advocates for new possibilities in practice through transformative approaches to music education that honor students’ cultural backgrounds and challenge dominant narratives. The text suggests the need for changes in the curriculum, policies, and inclusive educational practices to better represent the diverse cultural backgrounds of all students. It offers practical recommendations for educators and institutions to create a fairer and

Latina community college students face significant barriers in achieving their educational goals, particularly transferring to 4-year institutions. Despite comprising a large and growing demographic within community colleges, their unique needs and experiences often remain unaddressed. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of Latina community college students in Los Angeles County aiming to transfer to 4-year universities I sought to understand their challenges, needs, and supports as community college students. Employing a counter- storytelling approach, the study utilizes Platicas methodology and method, informed by Latina/o Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) (Huber, 2010) and Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) frameworks (Yosso, 2005). Data collection involved in-depth Platicas with Latina students to capture their experiences navigating community college. Two research questions guided this research: How do Latina students reflect and describe their experiences navigating community college, particularly in relation to transferring to a 4-year institution? What do Latina students identify as their needs, challenges, and supports within their respective community colleges to facilitate successful transfer? Understanding the lived experiences of Latina students is crucial for developing student-centered policies and practices that promote their success in transferring to 4-year institutions. This research aimed to contribute to a more equitable and inclusive educational journey for Latina students pursuing higher education.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines the relationship between law and justice. Firstly, it is argued that the concept of justice tends to be defined too narrowly as distributive justice or as a mechanism to maintain social order. It is argued that Jacques Derrida's understanding of justice not only gives a richer and broader understanding of the concept, but also on its complex relationship with the law. Lastly, some of the possible implications for jurisprudence (with specific reference to Critical Legal Studies, Critical Race Theory and Drucilla Cornell) are examined. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die verhouding tussen geregtigheid en die reg. Daar word eerstens geargumenteer dat geregtigheid te maklik gedefinieer word as distributiewe geregtigheid of as In meganisme om sosiale orde te bewerkstellig. Daar word geargumenteer dat Jacques Derrida se verstaan van die konsep nie aileen 'n breer en ryker verstaan moontlik maak nie, maar dat dit ook fokus op die komplekse verhouding met die reg. Laastens word sommige van die moontlike implikasies vir regsfilosofie (met spesifieke verwysing na Critical Legal Studies, Critical Race Theory en Drucilla Cornell) ondesoek,

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Kay Ann Taylor / This study explored Islamophobia and Muslims’ religious experiences in the Midwest. Its purpose was to propose a new theory named Critical Muslim Theory. The research methodology was autoethnography (me, the researcher) in concert with discovering in-depth experiences and narratives of nine Muslim participants (five Muslim females and four Muslim males) in dealing with Islamophobia. Religion became the centrality of Critical Muslim Theory in replacing race (as in Critical Race Theory) while centralizing other oppressions Muslims experience through intersections with religion and law, religion and gender, and religion and race. Critical Muslim Theory represents six basic tenets, namely: (a) Islamophobia is endemic and pervasive, (b) Critical Muslim Theory is critical towards how the dominant society views Islam and Muslims, (c) Islamophobia is a social construction, (d) Legal basis, (e) Intersectionality, and (f) Storytelling and counterstories reveal the oppression and pain of Muslims. An historical context was established for Muslims in the United States of America, although more research needs to be contributed to this area. Instances of interest convergence also were present, however, more research in this area is needed. One recommendation from this research suggests combating ignorance through education and establishing a pure relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims through dialogue for understanding. This study further proposes Muslim Double Consciousness as an area for future research. This topic was of interest due to proposing the theory, its further research and development, and the potential for Critical Muslim Theory to stand on its own as a methodology.

This study investigated teachers' perceptions of African- American principals' leadership and the extent to which those perceptions varied according to their race, gender, years of teaching experience, and years working with the principal. The results of this exploratory study are intended to enhance the empirical data reflecting the leadership characteristics of the African-American principal and to contribute to the research on leadership in general. The participants in this study consisted of 32 African-American principals and 164 teachers in schools representing 12 states during the 2004-2005 school year. Each teacher participant completed either an electronic or paper version of the Leadership and Management of Schools Survey Instrument (LMSS) which addressed the leadership and management traits of the principal and the demographic data on the teachers. The findings indicated that African-American principals are perceived as using high levels of transformational and transactional leadership. Additionally, results indicated that race influences the leadership credibility of the African-American principal. There did not appear to be a significant relationship between teachers' perceptions and gender of a teacher, gender of the principal, or both, and no relationship was found between the years of teachers' experience and their perceptions of the African- American principals. However, teachers' perceptions of African- American principals' leadership and management qualities increased positively with the number of years of experience working with the principal. Indications from these findings can be useful to universities, colleges, and school districts in making informed decisions concerning the training, recruitment, and placement of African-American principals.

Our criminal justice system works very hard to prevent criminals from harming other individuals; however, unfortunately mistakes happen. One wrongful conviction is one too many. There are multiple factors that can be assumed to be the cause of wrongful convictions. However, due to the lack of directly related research, the determents are not well established. The following research addresses wrongful convictions as a result of public defender representation. Through the process of theory construction, the research uses critical race theory and social disorganization theory to show the relationship between court appointed representation and wrongful convictions. A new theory is also established that is referred to as the partial load reduction theory. This theory establishes the relationship that exists between wrongful convictions and public defender representation and provides solutions as well as new avenues for future research.