This qualitative study of a migrant self-organisation in Bologna, Italy analyses the power relations between immigrants and supporters within the field of voluntary work in the migration sector. Based on eight semi-structured interviews it explores the perception of power relations of the members of the intercultural association Spazio per tutti. The material was analysed with the help of thematic analysis and a postcolonial and intersectional perspective. In the first part of the discussion, it is demonstrated, along the theory of “strange encounters” of Sara Ahmed (2000), how dominant norms, such as the invisible norm of whiteness, are still present in the association and immigrants are confronted with the paradigm of integration. The second part of the analysis shows instead, with the help of Homi Bhabha’s theory of the third space (1994), how the association creates a space where fixed identities and roles can be challenged and negotiated. By taking the intersectional approach into account, it gets further clear that the internal power relations are more complex for being grasped along binary categories (e.g. immigrants and non-immigrants), as they for example do not reflect the special subject position of Black women. In a nutshell, the present case study demonstrates the need to draw the attention to the political dimension of social work with immigrants and to create more awareness for intersectional justice, also within organisations that already follow an empowerment approach.

The school has an anti-racist mission where teachers, especially social studies teachers, have a central role. Previous research shows, however, that the school often lacks in counteracting racism, which raises questions about how teachers see racism as a phenomenon and school as an anti-racist place. There is a lack of knowledge about how social studies teachers perceive the anti-racist work and whether and, in such cases, how they implement anti-racism within the framework of social science teaching. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate social studies teachers' perceptions of and implementation of an anti-racist mission in upper secondary school. This was done through five semi-structured interviews which were analyzed with Michael Lipsky's (2010) theory of grassroots bureaucracy which is supplemented by Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson's (2015) theory of cultural and structural factors, Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill & Brian Turners (2006) definitions of individual and structural racism and Emma Arnebacks (2012) identified courses of action against racism. The results show that no teacher has an explicit anti-racist attitude, but they perceive the task as aimed at counteracting students 'tendencies to express "problematic" thoughts or opinions, which is a description of purpose that is influenced by teachers' understanding of racism as an individual phenomenon. The attitude to the assignment is positive, but it is perceived to be fraught with challenges that arise partly because of a perceived limited scope for action, and partly because of the teachers believing that there is a measure of anti-racism in the teaching. The teachers also perceive the social studies teacher's special role in an anti-racist assignment partly negatively as it is described as becoming a workload. Criticism is directed at a deficient teacher education that structurally limits the anti-racist work as they feel that it has to a low degree equipped them with competence in racism despite the subject's special relevance, and partly because the entire teacher education was not characterized by this which could even the workload. The teachers believe that they implement the anti-racist mission, and the courses of action are mediating, democratizing, and partly relationally characterized where concrete strategies in social studies are to provide knowledge and practice critical reflection in the students. Important knowledge is mainly about democracy and human rights, and an important skill is critical thinking. The study's conclusions are that social studies teachers do not perceive the school as an explicit anti-racist place, but rather in an implicit way. The fact that the mission is not explicitly carried out can mean that anti-racism is lacking when knowledge of racism is limited, especially when a structural reflexivity is lacking. Although teachers may neglect different expressions of racism in school, the implementation is still often consistent with the curricula's formulations of the anti-racist mission.

The aim of the study is to make visible through a qualitative method if and how the program works to educate social workers through for example anti-colonial education. The relevance of the study is shown in the importance of knowledge about social and human rights, ethical perspective and diversity perspective in social work. The intuition for social work at Linnaeus University has the task of helping sociology students to meet the goals in the study plan but: Do students really achieve the education-specific goals? What does the department do to get the students there? What impact does right-wing populism have on the education?

In the years since the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, American art museums have increased attempts to address the racial inequities that persist in the field. These inequities impact all aspects of museum work, not least of which education. Because museum educators are often seen as the conduit between museum collections and audiences, the work of implementing anti-racist programming often falls to them. However, the museum education field is majority White, and while there is a rich body of literature treating the adverse impacts of Whiteness on classroom teaching practices, very little exists on how Whiteness might manifest in gallery teaching practices specifically for White museum educators. Utilizing participatory action research, practitioner inquiry, and a White affinity group model, this qualitative study explores aspects of Whiteness that impact the gallery teaching practices of four White museum educators. Our research questions seek to understand better how Whiteness manifests in our teaching specifically in the context of single visit field trips, how those impacts might shift depending on the racial demographics of the groups we are teaching, what questions come for us as a White practitioner-researcher group dedicated to undermining Whiteness in our teaching, and how, if at all, does participation in such a study impact how we think about and implement anti-racist teaching in our practice. As per the research traditions guiding this study, I treated myself as a participant alongside three other White museum educators, and together as a practitioner inquiry group we co-generated our research questions and agreed to our research methods. These included the formation of a digital space in which we could communicate with each other, observations of our teaching, reflective writing responding to the observations, and conversations in the digital space based on these writings. This period of data generation was followed by interviews between myself and each participant as well as a focus group with all of us. Findings surfaced various avoidance techniques we each employed in our teaching to avoid race talk or push our anti-racist teaching more deeply. Our avoidance pointed to perceived tensions we felt between our trainings and the demands of anti-racist teaching, as well as the limitations of the single visit field trip model. Findings also surfaced anxiety when discussing Blackness in particular, as well as problematic assumptions about both White students and students of color we work with. Analysis of these findings provide insights into the ways art museum pedagogies in addition to critical emotional pedagogies might be deployed towards anti-racist teaching, as well as the emotional qualities of naming and dismantling Whiteness as White practitioners. While the findings are limited to the four museum educator participants and the specific contexts in which we work, this study points to ways we might begin to develop deeper understandings of how Whiteness might impact gallery teaching practices. More importantly, in the tradition of practitioner inquiry, this study raises important questions around how visitors of color experience Whiteness in museum education programs, how professional development might be reimagined for museum educators, as well as ways to rethink the traditional single visit field trip model to better accommodate anti-racist learning goals.

Swedish libraries can be said to have entered a new phase characterized by librarians deliberately reflecting both on their libraries’ relation to society and on their own work procedures in libraries. One sign of this phase has been the campaign Bibliotek mot rasism (Libraries against racism). In this thesis, Bibliotek mot rasism together with three other instances of anti-racist actions on the part of librarians are investigated. These include the removal from libraries of children’s books featuring the character Lilla Hjärtat, the refusal to buy the book Massutmaning about the cost of immigration, and library associations not wanting to attend the Gothenburg Book Fair in 2017 because the racist newspaper Nya Tider was invited to attend the fair. The aim of the thesis is to illustrate the above mentioned new phase in library work. In order to do this, different texts in which the librarians explain their actions are studied. The questions asked are: How have the librarians reasoned? How have they looked upon their own role? Based on what contentions have they taken a stand? The results show different reasonings relevant to the different actions. When it comes to how the librarians have looked upon their own role and what arguments they have used to support their actions however, there are similarities between some of the librarians. The most frequently occuring roles are the willingness to show that the libraries are accessible for everyone and to stop the normalization of racism. When it comes to how the librarians argue to support their actions all of them refer to regulatory documents to do so. A statement referred to by several of the librarians is the equal value of everyone as regulated in the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Another regulatory document referred to by several of the librarians is the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

In teacher education, critical civic education and anti-racist education are often disconnected in practice, despite increasing overlap in theorizing and goals: to resist and dismantle the settler colonial realities of education, to promote working for social justice, and to challenge racist and White supremacist structures. This comparative case study examined how White teacher candidates’ civic, social justice, and anti-racist knowledge development during Bachelor of Education foundations courses affected their pedagogical growth. Through surveys, co- researcher observations, and focus groups conducted at research sites in Saskatchewan and Ontario, the study examined how teacher candidates understood their positionalities within societal structures, and how their understandings of structural injustice affected their pedagogical choices. Building from a postcolonial global citizenship education conceptual framework, the study engaged with Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies in order to situate the findings in White settler colonial contexts. Findings indicate that the degree to which teacher candidates were aware of their own positionality influenced their understandings of structural injustice, and their confidence (or not) with anti-racist pedagogy. In the areas of civic engagement, racism, and Whiteness, the re-inscription of individualistic discourses and rejection of structural discourses was pervasive, and teacher candidates resisted self-implication in historical and ongoing settler colonialism and White supremacy. However, access to alternative conceptual frameworks for understanding the social construction of identities and structural determinism were somewhat effective at tackling meritocratic discourses. The study affirms the need for scaffolded anti-racist/anti-oppressive education in teacher education programs and discusses the necessity for teacher candidates to understand their own positionalities in context.

Despite evidence highlighting the crucial role of principals in driving school change and creating equitable learning environments, there remains a need for more robust research and operational guidance concerning principal anti-racist leadership development and practice. Recent studies have indicated Principals were not only unprepared to lead in schools with predominantly minoritized students and unable to articulate meaningful discourse around racial equity and implement policy that would respond to racial issues, but they also had not received anti-racist leadership preparation and support. (Gooden & O’Doherty, 2015; Khalifa et al., 2016; Miller, 2021; Young et al., 2010). Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study is to partly address this issue and contribute to the existing body of research on principal anti-racist leadership development and practice. I posed the following questions to guide my research: 1. How do urban secondary school principals say they have been prepared and supported to be anti-racist leaders? 2. How, if at all, do these principals say they implemented anti-racist practices in their schools? 3. How, if at all, do these principals say it is having impact on reducing racial disparities in their schools? This study examines principal perceptions and experiences receiving preparation and support to be anti-racist leaders, and the extent to which it may be used to inform practice and pedagogy for reducing racial disparities in schools. Specifically, as six principals attempt to enact anti-racist leadership in low-income urban secondary school settings serving a majority of students of color, this study utilizes insights from Welton et al. (2018) and draws upon a significant body of literature to examine their journey, reflecting on their anti-racist leadership development, practice, and impact. This study draws on the essential nature of anti-racist leadership, which involves recognizing the significance of race within educational settings, elevating racial awareness, and actively working towards dismantling racial disparities (Aveling, 2007; Brooks & Watson, 2019; Diem & Welton, 2020; Lewis et al., 2023). It examines racial identity development and self-reflection as integral components of anti-racist leadership preparation and development, and classifies participants’ interview data according to Cross’ (1995) The Psychology of Becoming Black" (Tatum, 1997) racial identity model and Helm’s (1995) White racial identity model. The study further explores the extent to which participants engage in anti-racist leadership practices and how they say it is having impact on reducing racial disparities in schools, by referencing Welton et al.'s (2018) anti-racist leadership conceptual framework. This framework, encompassing both individual and systemic levels - attitudes, beliefs, policies, and practices - guided my investigation into informing anti-racist principal practice for reducing racial disparities in schools. The study concludes by theorizing how its findings can be used to better understand the intersection between principals’ anti-racist leadership development, practice, and impact. This study is significant because it contributes towards operationalizing Welton et al.’s (2018) anti-racist leadership conceptual framework, elucidating principal anti-racist preparation, development, and practice, and methods to accomplish it. By investigating the extent to which participants engage in anti-racist leadership practices and their impact on reducing racial disparities within schools, this research offers practical insights for advancing racial equity in predominantly Black and Brown secondary schools. Such contributions not only provide valuable guidance for current principal anti-racist leadership practices, but may also spark new thinking and approaches for further research and ongoing efforts towards systemic improvement in anti-racist educational leadership.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:33:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vera Balbino da Silva Ignacio.pdf: 454857 bytes, checksum: f53868e0f52591345fd4dc8f1dbaeca4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-06 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This research s aim is to study, from the pedagogical coordinator teacher s point of view, the teaching of African-Brazilian History and Culture subject, recently included in the curriculum of the state primary and secondary public schools Law 10.639/03 , which modifies the LDBN 9.394/06 Law of Guidelines and Bases of the National Education Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. The main objective was to verify the pedagogical coordinator s comprehension towards the legal statements of the Law 10.639/03, that is, the ethnic-racial debate in the school context. Therefore, we intended to relate the coordinator s view about the possibilities and limits in the pedagogical treatment of the African matrix teaching, referring to the fulfillment of this legal mechanism. It is exploratory research that took place in a regional teaching directorship in the city of São Paulo. The data was collected from the anti-racism federal educational law and by means of questionnaire referring to African-Brazilians demands, culture and history answered by ten coordinators who had agreed to take part in the research. In order to analyze the articulation between the educational laws, pedagogical practices and racial relationships, concepts from the Critical Theory were chosen as theoretical reference, especially in relation to the analysis of prejudice, which aroused during the research procedures. After the data collection, we realized there was no straight relation between the coordinator s speech and practice because we could notice on their speech an apparent harmony that did not fit the subtle prejudice which does not allow them to break the barrier of invisibility before important aspects that characterize the multicultural education. This conclusion indicates that the possibilities brought by the educational law must be accompanied by social, educational, and individual conditions that are being built / O objetivo, neste trabalho, é estudar o ensino da História e Cultura Afro-Brasileira sob a óptica do professor coordenador. Deve-se destacar que a inserção da História da Cultura Afro-Brasileira é uma medida relativamente recente, pois passou a compor o currículo das escolas públicas estaduais de ensino fundamental e médio pela Lei nº 10.639/03, que altera a LDBN 9.394/06 Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. O objetivo principal foi verificar a compreensão do professor coordenador no que preconiza a Lei nº 10.639/03, isto é, o debate étnico-racial no contexto escolar. Portanto, pretendeu-se relacionar a visão do professor coordenador acerca de suas possibilidades e limites no trato pedagógico do ensino de matriz africana, no que se refere ao cumprimento deste dispositivo legal. Trata-se de uma pesquisa exploratória, realizada em uma Diretoria Regional de Ensino da cidade de São Paulo. Os dados foram obtidos por meio da legislação educacional federal anti-racismo e de um questionário referente às reivindicações, à cultura e à história do negro no Brasil, aplicado a dez professores coordenadores que se predispuseram a participar da pesquisa respondendo ao questionário. Para analisar a articulação entre a legislação educacional, práticas pedagógicas e relações raciais foram utilizados conceitos da teoria crítica, especialmente no que tange à análise do preconceito, que ganhou relevo durante a pesquisa. Após coleta de dados, constatou-se que não existe uma correlação direta entre os discursos dos professores coordenadores e a prática, pois na fala deste profissional percebe-se uma aparente harmonia que não condiz com o preconceito sutil que os impede de quebrar a invisibilidade diante de aspectos importantes que caracterizam a educação multicultural. Estas conclusões indicam que as possibilidades trazidas pela legislação educacional devem ser acompanhadas de condições sociais, educacionais e individuais que ainda estão por ser construídas

This dissertation demonstrates that a group of western women connected to May Maxwell through ties of faith and friendship exemplified a distinct form of early twentieth-century feminism in their adoption and promotion of the transplanted Bahá’í Faith. In actualizing their doctrinal principles, they worked to inaugurate a millennial new World Order predicated on the spiritual and social equality of women. This group championed a unique organizational structure and transnational perspective that propelled them to female leadership, both as inspirational models and agents of practical change. By examining how Bahá’í doctrines shaped the beliefs, mythologies, relationships and reform goals of women, this dissertation broadens understandings of the ways in which religion can act as a vehicle for female empowerment and transformative identity. Together, western early Bahá’í women built individual and collective capacity, challenging gender prescriptions and social norms. Their millennial worldview advocated a key role for women in shaping nascent Bahá’í culture, and initiating personal, institutional, and societal change. Their inclusive collaborative organizational style, non-western origins and leadership, diverse membership, and global locus of activity, made them one of the first groups to establish and sustain a transnational feminist reform network. Although in some respects this group resembled other religious, feminist, and reform-oriented women, identifiably “Bahá’í” features of their ideology, methodologies, and reform activities made them distinctive. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of women in the creation of modern religious and social mythologies and paradigms. A study of Bahá’í millennial religious feminism also expands current conceptions of the boundaries, diversities, and intersections of early twentieth-century western millennial, feminist, religious, and transnational reform movements.

The city of Toronto is one of most racially diverse places in the world, with almost half of its population identifying as being a “visible minority” (Statistics Canada, 2010). As a result, the field of education faces the question of how to meet the needs of their transforming student demographics. Numerous researchers and institutional policies have responded to these changes by endorsing the hiring of a teaching staff that is reflective of the racially diversifying student population (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009; Ryan, Pollock, & Antonelli, 2009; Solomon, & Levine-Rasky, 2003). The assumption, however, that racialized educators will automatically be effective teachers or role models for racialized students homogenizes their social differences and reduces the multiplicity of their identities to the colour of their skin (Martino, & Rezai-Rashti, 2012). What is urgently lacking from these dominant discourses are the voices of racialized individuals, whose inside perspectives and lived experiences can provide valuable insights about the roles of equity and race in education. Using an anti-racist theoretical framework to guide my research methodology, this study examines how racialized teachers understand their classroom practices, school relationships, and institutional policies with respect to race, equity, and the expectations that are cast to them as “visible minority” educators. A document analysis of educational statements that discuss race, equity, and anti-racism reveals that while policy has progressed, the presentation of these issues remains largely superficial and does not provide enough information or transparency to adequately communicate their importance. Nevertheless, the power of these dominant discourses has been vastly significant in shaping the lived experiences and feelings of racialized teachers, 21 of whom were individually interviewed using a qualitative, semi-structured method. The inside perspectives of these teachers demonstrate the complexity of race and its inadvertent impact on their roles as educators; their feelings and reactions illustrate the ongoing gap between policy and practice, the ignorance that is embedded in notions of racial matching between teachers-students, and the persevering call for a professional community where individual differences are viewed as opportunities to learn rather than obstacles that need to be overcome.