Theory and Research in Social Education (TRSE) is arguably considered the flagship journal of research in social studies education. TRSE has been published on an uninterrupted basis for more than 40 years, dating back to its first publication in October of 1973. Given the longevity of TRSE and its status within the social studies field, the journal has given considerable attention to the cause of citizenship and citizenship education, a cause the social studies field agreeably prides as its governing rationale and source of academic responsibility. According to its mission statement, TRSE serves to "foster the creation and exchange of ideas and research findings that will expand knowledge and understanding of the purpose, conditions, and effects of schooling and education about society and social relations"(NCSS, 2012, para. 1). As such, this dissertation study examines the creation and exchange of ideas concerning citizenship within TRSE over a 40-year period (1973-2013). Utilizing a multiple methods approach (both content and discourse analysis) this study identifies nine citizenship discourse categories emergent from the TRSE anthology that are situated within four Perspectives (Practical, Critical, Connected, and Technical) that locate each discourse category within a larger contextual frame. Additionally, the discursive formations that ultimately bind each discourse category across time are identified along with intertextual chains, interdiscursive attempts, and fields most commonly visited within each discourse category. This study sheds light on a systemic shift concerning the citizenship discourse within TRSE, one that, over time, is increasingly informed by a critical epistemological assumption or stance with regards to what may be considered the status quo of American political and civic life; the implications of which are discussed further. / Ph. D.

This dissertation is a critical ethnographic study of a participatory research project in which a group of eight adults labeled mentally retarded, with the assistance of two nondisabled adults, created and performed a musical theater production called Special. Special was produced as part of a participatory research process in which group members also interviewed friends, advocates of disabled people, and former residents of a local institution for people labeled retarded, in order to find out how ex-residents were treated once they were placed in community living situations. The information from these interviews, as well as accounts from group members' own lives, comprised the content of Special. This study consists of two main parts--an interpretive section (Chapters 5 and 6), including emic and etic interpretations of group members' experiences, and a critical section (Chapter 7), in which an internalized oppression framework is invoked to examine group members' experiences. Three main findings of the study were: (1) that group members expressed a chronic problem orientation; (2) that group members exhibited a justice orientation; and (3) that group members were largely motivated by the drive to visibility, or the need to be seen, understood and accepted for who they really are. Another major finding of the study was that group members' drive to visibility was not only a major motivation for doing the play, but was also a key to understanding much of their behavior--that when they felt visible, they "acted up," or became positive and productive, and that when they felt invisible, they "acted out," or became destructive, and even violent, evidence of internalized oppression in group members. Group members' drive to visibility, coupled with their resistance to an identity of mental impairment, raises two important questions regarding the issue of social identity with people labeled retarded: (1) Are there reasons to believe that people labeled retarded can feel a sense of pride in who they are, both as individuals and as members of a social group? (2) If people labeled retarded cannot feel a sense of pride, what are their prospects of overcoming internalized oppression, and of working with one another as a group with an identity, a purpose, and a right to have power like all other groups?

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning college women make from their television viewing experiences. The goals were to: (1) present a meaningful work; (2) contribute to the existing research on women and their subjective experiences with television viewing; (3) help bring women's voices into the center of educational and social science theory and research; (4) inspire other female researchers to examine women's experiences; and (5) encourage self-discovery and empowerment on the part of the participants and readers. Phenomenological in-depth interviewing and a demographic questionnaire were used to collect the data. Twelve female college students attending a state university participated in the study. Six participants were 18-23 years old and six participants were 30-45 years old. This study was motivated by the often negative portrayals of women on television, the lack of women's voices in research, and the need for new research methods in relationship to women's experiences. The data show that the participants were angry that women are negatively portrayed on television. Television viewing was linked to the formation and maintenance of negative attitudes and beliefs, especially those related to gender issues and self esteem. Television viewing was positively linked to social learning in relation to television women who served as role models. Television viewing was positively associated with influencing and shaping expectations and beliefs about the world. Television viewing was linked to adopting a view that reflects the violence found on television and to overeating. The participants were critical of the television media and believed that television media focused on the sensational and negative, did not respect people's privacy, negatively affected legal cases and was too powerful in shaping public opinion. The older participants felt that they could control their viewing by shutting off the television, changing the channel, canceling cable subscriptions and encouraging other viewers to take an active stand against negative images. Television viewing increased learning when the participants identified with the television content. Television viewing displaced reading and study time and was linked to loss of creativity and imagination.

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This qualitative multiple case study focused on how three African American women social studies teachers conceptualized and taught notions of citizenship. By using a Black feminist conceptual framework, the author explored how the multiple intersections of the teachers’ identities impacted how they understood and taught notions of citizenship. As a result of their lived experiences and situated knowledge, the participants rejected the dominant narrative of citizenship because it was not inclusive of diverse perspectives or histories. Instead, the participants taught a notion of citizenship that centered on valuing notions of community and working towards racial and community uplift. This study hopes to shed light on how African American women teachers’ alternative notions of citizenship may provide a framework by which reconceptualized views of American citizenship may be presented. / text

This qualitative multiple case study conducted from an interpretive epistemological stance, focused on three novice social studies teachers decision making practices in regards to the use critical historical thinking. In seeking to understand teacher’s decision making practices, this research explored the bodies of knowledge that influence social studies teachers’ use of historical thinking in more critical ways. The theoretical framework guiding this research centered around three major frames: (1) the roots of teacher knowledge, including such things as teacher beliefs, teacher education experiences, and teacher content knowledge, (2) the bodies of teacher knowledge informed by these roots including official knowledge, and emancipatory or counter knowledge, and (3) how these bodies of knowledge lead to curricular enactment of critical historical thinking. Data analysis revealed four results that shaped teachers’ decisions and ability to use critical historical thinking in their classroom. The first three results highlight the bodies of knowledge teachers’ utilized in their decision-making practices, including their experiential knowledge, such as their familial and K-16 schooling experiences, content knowledge, both their knowledge of official and subjugated narratives, and pedagogical content knowledge. The final result explores how these bodies of knowledge interact with teachers’ schooling contexts. Findings suggest that historical positionality shapes not only the learning process, but the teaching process as well. A teachers’ historical positionality influences the way they are able to engage students in more critical renditions of the past. Teachers’ personal experiences inform their historical positionality, including their rationale and commitment to choose particular curriculum and pedagogical practices that address issues of race, class, and gender. Additionally, teachers’ critical content consciousness or the degree to which they are able negotiate the distance between their academic content knowledge and their beliefs about the past also shape their decisions to use critical historical thinking as a regular pedagogical practice. Finally, the last finding highlights the complex process teachers’ engage in as they navigate the external factors that press in on their daily teaching practice in ways that are critically ambitious. As such, the findings from this study have implications for both preservice and inservice teacher preparation. / text

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to develop an enriched understanding of the visions that guide a select group of organizational and social change practitioners, and (2) to develop an enriched understanding of the strategies they employ to enact those visions. The following cases were explored in this study: Case #1: Bailey W. Jackson and Rita Hardiman--Multicultural Organizational Development. Case #2: Frederick A. Miller, Judith H. Katz and Catherine S. Buntaine--Creating High Performing Inclusive Organizations$\sp{\rm SM}$. Case #3: Elsie Y. Cross--Managing Diversity. The six participants in this study are pioneers in their field. Their work consists of the synthesis of a specific organizational change methodology--a total systems change approach--with a social change agenda. Their intent is to challenge institutionalized oppression and to create healthy socially diverse and non-oppressive organizations. Their efforts are helping to advance the production of theory and the development of a practice for utilizing a total systems change approach to address social diversity and social justice issues in organizations. The data collected for this study was drawn from qualitative methodologies. The source of data collection included elite, open-ended, in-depth interviews, observation of the participants and review of pertinent documents. An interview guide was utilized to outline topic areas that were covered in each interview. The basis for data analysis was a thematic approach. The outcomes of this study reflect the four themes that emerged during data analysis: (1) A profile of this select group of practitioners, (2) Their perceptions of the emerging practice of working with social diversity and social justice issues in organizations, (3) The shared qualities of the visions that guide their work, and (4) Descriptions of the total systems change strategies that they employ to create organizational and social change.

In response to the current educational reform movement that has ensued as a result of the publication of A Nation at Risk (1983), the Massachusetts legislature passed the Educational Reform Act in 1993. From this Act, an educational reform plan was developed for all public schools, and curriculum frameworks were written for the major academic areas. The frameworks recommend what should be taught, and they encourage teachers to align their curriculum with the frameworks. This dissertation describes a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 15 teachers throughout the state of Massachusetts, from the fall of 1999 through the fall of 2001. The study investigated the experiences these teachers had with the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum framework . The teachers who were interviewed represent a cross-section of teachers diverse in geographic location, number of years teaching, gender, ethnicity, and experience with curriculum development. The extensive responses to the interviews were analyzed in light of the research questions in this study. Through the literature review, documents, and the interviews, I was able to analyze teachers' experiences working specifically with the history and social science framework, and to assess the impact that the framework was having on their teaching, curriculum development, and student learning. This analysis revealed consistent patterns and themes. These included teachers' common school experiences of not having an organized school curriculum prior to the framework; their perception of the lack of multiculturalism in the framework; and their concerns about the exclusion of teachers from the framework process. The information analyzed from the interviews can be used to guide school systems in the development of educational policies, as well as in the creation of curriculum. This study has the potential to assist those interested in both professional development and teacher education.

Contemporary Hip-Hop scholarship has revealed that Hip-Hop is a racially diverse, youth-driven culture, that is intimately connected to prior as well as on-going social justice movements (Chang, 2004; Kitwana, 2002). This study explores its Afro-Diasporic and activist origins, as well as the impact of Hip-Hop culture on the identity development of educators belonging to the Hip-Hop generation(s). This qualitative study also examines how Hip-Hop culture impacts educators' identity politics and personal pedagogy, while seeking to create a new model of Social Justice Hip-Hop Pedagogy. This study was produced through twenty-three in-depth interviews with influential Hip-Hop educators or “elites” (Thomas, 1993; Aberbach & Rockman, 2002; Becker & Meyers, 1974; Zuckerman, 1974) from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations. There are currently limited theoretical and conceptual frameworks in the literature supporting the use of Hip-Hop as Social Justice Pedagogy, yet is currently being used in K-16 educational contexts throughout the United States and abroad (Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008). The results of this study reveal the foundational basis consisting of four primary functions and seven practical tenets, necessary to negotiate and implement a new and innovative model for Social Justice Hip-Hop Pedagogy.