Fri, 18 May 2012 20:34:12 -0800WeeblySun, 17 Oct 2010 03:44:13 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/vassar-college.html News and Events You are here: Home / News / 2010-2011

Women's Studies Program will co-sponsor lecture by Rinku Sen - Monday, October 11, 5:30pm. Rockefeller Hall 300 This event will support the "Banned Ethnic Studies Week" events of October 1 -7 where schools across the nation will hold public teach-ins about Arizona's immigration law SB1070 and efforts to ban the teaching of ethnic studies in public schools in Texas and Arizona.

Rinku Sen is the Executive Director of the Applied Research Center, the Publisher of Colorlines Magazine, and a leading figure in the racial justice movement. She is the author of "The Accidental American" and "Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing," and has significant expertise in race, feminism, immigration and economic justice. On Oct 11th, she will be discussing principles of racial justice and equity as they relate to journalism, media, community organizing and the current immigration debate.

Co-Sponsors:  Political Science, Sociology, Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Poder Latino, MECHa, and Urban Studies



Posted Monday, October 11, 2010

]]>Tue, 12 Oct 2010 05:52:40 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/annaheim-ca.html 2010

• October 12th, 2010 6:02 am PT

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The first Ethnic Studies Week was initiated on October 1-7 by a group of 210 educators from 27 stateswho “dedicate themselves to expanding not banning ethnic studies.”

Endorsed by over 50 national and local organizations including the National Association of Ethnic Studies, the National Council of Black Scholars, College Progressives (A National Student Organization) and dozens of university departments, schools, unions and activist organizations, Ethnic Studies Week was inspired by opposition to Arizona’s House Bill 2281 banning ethnic studies in that state’s public schools.

Passed in the wake of the equally controversial anti-immigrant bill SB1070, the education bill specifically targeted the Mexican American Studies Department of the Tucson Unified School District.

During Ethnic Studies Week, hundreds of students across the country, from K-12 to college, listened to speakers, watched films and paused to reflect on the importance of ethnic studies amidst the growing “crisis for multicultural education.”

“Multicultural education and the discussion of the histories of all peoples of the United States should be encouraged rather than banned and censored,” said Larry Shinigawa, a board member of the National Association for Ethnic Studies. “I am glad that we are seeing a broad-based coalition of educators and education activists who believe in taking a stand against reactionism and nativist jingoism.”

Ethnic Studies in Orange County
In southern California, Ethnic Studies Week events were held in Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach. Although the week was not officially commemorated in Orange County, ethnic studies remain an important part of their curricula, according to college educators here.

"We are pleased that Santiago Canyon College recognizes the importance, significance and value of the diverse people who have been instrumental in the formation and growth of the United States,” said Dr. Aracely Mora, Interim Vice President Academic Affairs, Santiago Canyon College. “Our college offers coursework that allows students to study and explore the historical and cultural contributions of ethnic groups.”

Orange Coast College has two full time faculty members teaching a total of 8 classes in ethnic studies, including “Contemporary Ethnic America,” “Ethnic Groups in the U.S.,” and “The Ethnic Family.”

 More information about Ethnic Studies Week.
]]>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:44:58 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/campus-progress.htmlPrinceton's African American Studies chair argues that ethnic studies programs are a crucial part of comprehensive education, and that young people can act to preserve ethnic studies.

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I recently spoke with Eddie S. Glaude, the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. Glaude is also the chair of Princeton’s Center for African American Studies. We talked about Ethnic Studies Week, an effort put together by educators protesting Arizona’s recent ban on ethnic studies and the revisions to Texas’s public school curriculum. Glaude argues that ethnic studies programs are a crucial part of comprehensive education, and that young people can act to preserve ethnic studies.



[Note: Shani Hilton worked in Princeton University’s Office of Communications for several years.]

Transcript:

SHANI HILTON: Hello and welcome to Five Minutes With...a podcast where we at Campus Progress take a few minutes to talk to newsmakers and experts on subjects that are important to young people. My name is Shani Hilton and I'm the associate editor of Campus Progress.org. And today I'm talking to Eddie Glaude, the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. Dr. Glaude is also the chair of Princeton's Center for African American Studies.

Thank you for agreeing to talk to me today, Dr. Glaude. How are you?

EDDIE GLAUDE: Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

HILTON: So, I'm just going to jump right into the questions.

GLAUDE: Sure.

HILTON: So to start, Ethnic Studies Week which will run from October 4th until October 7th was created in response to the passing of a pair of laws—one in Texas, and one in Arizona —that would eliminate or limit ethnic studies in public schools because they potentially promote resentment or advocate for racial solidarity. What do you think about those fears and do you think there's anything to them?

GLAUDE: The short answer to the last question is no. I don't think there is much to these concerns. But I think these fears speak volumes. There is a sense that among a certain segment of our country those racial and ethnic differences pose a threat. That particular histories, the specific cultures, those histories that are often fraught with violence and contain within them historical moments that call into question our commitment to democracy, for some people, warrant concern and censure. And what that suggests to me is that people don't want to look at the facts of American history squarely in the face…that they want to deodorize our journey up 'til now. And they presume that anyone who enters into the public domain of the US must be evacuated of their specificity and assume, shall we say, or assimilateinto what they consider to be the standard and the best way of being American. So, I think the fears speak volumes about a commitment to a conception of America that we want to challenge daily.

HILTON: Over the past few decades, ethnic studies have often served as a counter to a predominantly white or Western narrative of history and culture. With an increase in multiracial families and growing racial and cultural diversity in the United States, is that purpose still relevant or do you see these programs changing their focus? And if so, to what?

GLAUDE: Well, I want to challenge the premise of the question. I think ethnic studies were—and continue to be—challenges to a dominant Western narrative that violence in some instances, or ignores in other instances the existence, the contribution, the significance of ethnic and racial differences in the formation of the US - and in the importance of the world in which we live. If we only think of our ethnic studies programs or African American studies programs as only our programs as to manage difference and talk about multiculturalism, then we don't understand they're role in how we think about the production of knowledge. So, it cuts even more fundamentally than just simply 'How do we manage difference?' It goes to 'What do we think constitutes knowledge?' 'What do we think stands as a liberal arts education?' And what we believe, what I believe is that ethnic studies program and African American studies programs are essential contributors to a liberal arts education. They make possible a kind of cosmopolitan necessary for a world that is as differentiated and complex as our own. So, I don't know if we need to change our focus because of increasing diversity. I think what we need to do is to continue to challenge the how we think knowledge is produced.

HILTON: To go more specifically to the situation in Texas where the recent curriculum changes from the spring are leading to much more conservative, basically white textbooks. That could have huge effect on the rest of the country, since many textbook producers are located in that state. So, how can academic freedom and the liberal arts education that you’re talking about be sustained under that kind of pressure?

GLAUDE: Well, first of all, that proves the point I was making earlier, right? That when you political constituencies bringing pressure to bear on how we teach subject matters, it can generate particular kinds of outcome. So, we get a sense of how knowledge is produced, of how power, how ideological commitments can put pressure on the truth. So, we have to be diligent and we have to be ready to fight them in this regard. I think we have to understand - I say this with some trepidation. We have to understand that freedom is a practice; its not a possession. So, we have to work hard and diligently to protect academic freedom, such that we can provide an environment for our student, for ourselves, to think carefully and in an open-minded way about a world that's terribly complex. And that can't be easily settled by purported truths that are held by folk who want to seek comfort in their narrow views. I guess the short answer to the question is: those of us who are committed to the life of mind, those of us who are committed to the democratic virtue of free and open inquiry, those of us who are committed to the idea that each of us has a opportunity - or ought to have the opportunity - to grow by being exposed to different idea - we need to mobilize and fight what's going on in Texas with all our heart and energy.

HILTON: Campus Progress is very committed to young people taking action, being knowledgeable, being smart, and knowing how to positively influence their own world. What advice would you give to young people – high school students, college students, people who aren’t in school - who want to preserve ethnic studies and just have a say in their own education?

GLAUDE: First, I think we need to resist the kind of caricature of ethnic studies. The caricature is this: that its only really about particular groups studying themselves and a "feel-good" session. That ethnic studies is much more complicated than that. In fact, I would urge young folk to understand ethnic studies as a crucial component of what is means to be a reasonable human being, of what it means to understand the world. In other words, ethnic studies play a crucial role in a liberal arts education. So, we have to change the terms of the argument. This is not a feel-good session. This is about how we truly understand the formation of our country; how we truly understand the complexity of our world—that's the first thing. And if education signals to our children—and to us—that what we want is narrow, provincial folk who are open to dismissing people who are not like them, who resist ideas that unsettle them, who want to shut themselves off from the world - as if they were still in Plato's cave. Then we understand that the version of education dooms us, in terms of the prospect of our future. I would say young folk need to change the frame of the way we think about ethnic studies. And insist that education is all about who we take ourselves to be as human beings and to insist on education on opening the world to us, expanding our horizons—not shutting us out. And if we hold that view, we will fight with every ounce of energy we have to resist these folks who just want to simply reproduce what I take to be mean-spiritedness in the world.

HILTON: What do you think is motivating people who don't see the value of ethnic studies?

GLAUDE: What's motivating them is a kind of narrow parochialism. We need to make a distinction between parochialism and provincialism. Parochialism is when you choose to be narrow. We can be provincialists by accident, by birth. But parochialism is when you choose to not be open to the grandness an diversity of the world. I think that there's a kind of Faustian bargain at the heart of this sort of thing, right? There's a price that these folks exact from those of us who come from different backgrounds. What I mean by that is that there's a price they exact from us when we enter the public domain. And that is to say that they want evacuate, empty out anything that is distinctive about who we are. This is not just simply identity politics where people are over in the corner patting each other's back saying, 'Hey, whitey!' That's not what its all about. And if people think about it that kind of way, then they really haven't understand what ethnic studies or African American studies is all about.

HILTON: So, is the burden, you think, on young people or people advocating for ethnic studies to help other people understand that it is more than just, as you called it, 'a feel-good session'?

GLAUDE: I think in part it's our burden. I think in part it's our burden to insist that people rightly characterize what we do, and what were studying, and what were reading. And also think that its important for people to understand that the study of Native Americans, the study of Latinos or Hispanic Americans, or the study of African Americans—we can go down the line - are points of entry, reasonable and powerful points of entry to tell a broader story, a more meaningful story about the formation of American life and American democracy.

HILTON: Well, I can just wrap up now. Or if you have anything else to say...

GLAUDE: No, I really appreciate the conversation. I want young people to take the reins, to do this work and this advocacy with passion and with persistence and a commitment that will shake the world absolutely. That will shake the very foundation of these folks.

HILTON: That is what Campus Progress is all about.

GLAUDE: Absolutely.

HILTON: I just want to thank you again for talking with us today...

GLAUDE: 'Preciate ya.

HILTON: And it's been great. And that's it.]]>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:21:42 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/daily-cardinal-madison.htmlAssistant professor returns from work with Latinos affected by Arizona law By Taryn McCormack

Published: Friday, October 8, 2010

Updated: Friday, October 8, 2010 00:10

• 
  

Matt Marheine

UW-Madison assistant professor Carmen Valdez and graduate student Brian Padilla spoke Thursday after returning from working with Latino families in Arizona last week as state congress members there attempt to pass a controversial anti-immigration bill.



 Valdez, an assistant professor of psychology and counseling, and Padilla, a Ph.D. student in counseling and psychology, spoke as part of the nationwide Ethnic Studies Week.



Valdez worked at a clinic through FAST, a resource center in Arizona that helps Latino families cope with hardships because of prejudice.



The clinic held focus groups in response to the proposed bill to talk with Latino families about their experiences due to the immigration legislation and anti-immigrant sentiment.



"It is by far the broadest and the strictest anti-immigration law in history now requiring law enforcement to stop individuals ask them about their legal status and then require proof of their legal status," Valdez said.



Valdez said the repercussions of this law are severely affecting Latinos.



"You can only imagine the effects of these immigration laws on these families, the most obvious being deportation," Valdez said. "If your children are U.S. citizens and the parents have to be deported back to Mexico, what happens to these families?"



Alex Wessel, a student in the Latino and Families and Communities, said the lecture made the struggles of Latinos in Arizona more relatable.



"I think listening to this speaker brought emotion into play and makes things seem much more realistic," Wessel said.



Valdez said she urges UW-Madison students to get involved in Latino student groups and stand up against the bill.



"I would encourage students to get involved in different organizations that advocate for Latino groups; there are several student organizations on campus that are talking about these issues," Valdez said.]]>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:15:52 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/the-daily-cardinal-madison.html

• 
  

Matt Marheine/The Daily Cardinal

Ethnic studies students discussed how the ethnic studies requirement encourages cultural understanding Wednesday night.

UW-Madison students discussed the importance of the ethnic studies requirement in producing an informed student body at a student-run talk Wednesday as part of Ethnic Studies Week.

Students enrolled in Chicano and Latino studies, Afro-American studies, Asian-American studies and American-Indian studies courses attended the discussion.

Freshman Gaochia Sayaovang said the requirement ensures students are informed about different racial topics.

"I think that having a required class to learn about diversity is important. It will only benefit everyone to open up everyone's minds and make note that there's different people in this world," Sayaovang said.

Freshman Hue Vang agrees the requirement is important, especially at a school as large as UW-Madison.

"When I first took an ethnic studies course here, I learned of all these problems happening even twenty or thirty years ago, and to me it's a real eye-opener," Vang said.

Vang said the course he took to fulfill the requirement taught him that ethnicity is a more complicated issue than he once thought.

Students discussed their opinions about diversity trends around campus and the ethnic studies courses they were taking.

Sayaovang said the discussion gave her the opportunity to discuss the diversity of her culture with other students.

"Not every Asian person believes the same thing or has the same culture or lives the same life," Sayaovang said. "Being able to sit around and discuss our own thoughts and feelings about this whole diversity issue was good."

Senior Anjali Misra said she enjoyed hearing other students' ideas and opinions at the discussion.

"I think it's a positive thing, hearing [what student's have to say about ethnic studies] and engaging in these conversations because Ethnic Studies Week made a space for it," Misra said. "I think that talking is a great starting point to get some action and to get stuff done."]]>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:11:46 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/badger-herald.html News: UW-Madison Campus Ida Wells Lecture Share By David Soto
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 9:31 p.m.
Updated Thursday, October 7, 2010 12:19:21 a.m.

0 Vote 0 Votes Ida Wells, journalist and civil rights activist, has been crusading against lynching and injustices in the world for almost 150 years now, through tradition carried on by her family, according to her great-grandson.

Dan Duster, the great-grandson of Wells, spoke to a small group of students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin about the legacy his great-grandmother started long ago. According to Duster, his parents and grandparents were also activists and thought their family history should be shared.

Duster’s lecture was promoted by Ethnic Studies week, which is an event connected with the ethnic studies program at the University of Arizona as well.

A large portion of the lecture by Duster covered the struggles his great-grandmother faced through her life and how they led her to become the legendary activist she is known as.

The oldest of eight, Wells volunteered to care for one of her younger siblings after her parents died of yellow fever when she was 16-years-old.

Wells eventually moved to Memphis, Tenn., from Holly Springs, Miss., to become a teacher. According to Duster, Wells bit a train conductor when he tried to forcibly make her give up her first class seat for a white woman. Duster said three men forcibly removed her from the train while the other passengers cheered on.

“Ida, a small black woman, sued the rail car company and won,” Duster said. A higher court eventually overturned the decision.

Wells became a journalist after she was fired from her job as a teacher for writing an article against deplorable conditions in the schools. As a journalist, Wells began investigating lynching in the south after three friends were lynched. According to Duster, the articles Wells wrote launched her crusade for justice.

“You have to stand up for justice and do the right thing,” Duster said. “If you don’t do anything to stop [injustices], you are a guilty bystander.”

Duster said he believes everyone has to take Wells’ life and actions as an example and do what is moral. If people address the injustices they encounter on a day-to-day basis, the world can be a much more equal place, he said.

“Somebody needs to do something,” Duster said, “You are that somebody.”

At UW, the ethnic studies program was started by students of color who picketed to get them, said Sandy Magaña, director of Chican@ & Latin@ Studies. The students picketed because their stories were not being told, and their ethnicities were not represented by the faculty.

Today ethnic studies are not just seen as a requirement for graduation, Magaña said.

“It’s fine to have an ethnic studies requirement, but that’s not all we are,” she added.

Ethnic Studies week is a collaboration between the Department of African American Studies, the Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program, the Asian American Studies Program, the American Indian Studies Program, the Center for Jewish Studies and the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program.

]]>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:06:37 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/salem-gazette-ma.html John Goff: Happy Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week Zoom Photos Courtesy photo by John Goff Brothers Michael and William Cahill of Ireland returned to Salem’s Pioneer Village in late September. William re-thatched the cottage roofs, finishing the work on Thursday, Sept. 23. The Cahills originally thatched all the roofs almost 25 years ago, and now William does thatching.   By John Goff/ Preservation Perspective Salem Gazette Posted Oct 02, 2010 @ 01:24 PM .fb_ltr { padding-top: 10px; } Salem, Mass. — In past years we have written columns and articles celebrating Massachusetts Archaeology Month in October. This year, October brings both Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week. Due to the multicultural nature of our earliest history, these themes overlap.

Ethnic Studies Week (ESW) is new this year. The website ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org explains: “Ethnic Studies Week, Oct. 1-7, 2010, is a nationally coordinated week of actions to defend ethnic studies and academic freedom. It was inspired by opposition to the May 11 passage of HB 2281 in Arizona banning ethnic studies in the AZ public schools and the May 21 passage of new social studies standards by the influential Texas State Board of Education.”

Lone Star Staters and Arizona residents recently worked to promote a simplified view of American history. Resisting this “dumbing down” of U.S. history, ESW folks explain: “We are a grassroots movement initiated by 185 educators, endorsed by educational and activist organizations around the country, and open to all who want to participate … we are asking students, teachers and community people to do what might amount to civil disobedience in the Arizona public schools: plan and participate in public ethnic studies events and engage in education censored by the Texas State Board of Education.”

America’s ethnic studies programs in colleges and schools since the 1960s have explored how the plurality of cultures in American history has contributed magnificently to the American experience. Ethnic studies celebrates diversity and the clear contributions made by people of many origins and races. Under the collective banner of ethnic studies we often find special and acutely needed special considerations of African-American, Asian-American, Latino and Native American history, literature and culture.

But what do these subjects have to do with Salem, and with Archaeology Month? Massachusetts Archaeology Month was started by the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) in 1997. It was conceived to highlight artifacts and knowledge gained across the state through archaeology. Archaeology refers to the study of anything “archaeo” or old, often excavated from below ground. It is associated with history, historic preservation and the study of ancient cultures.

The pertinence to Salem of both Massachusetts Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week hinges on this: The moment we begin to look at Salem’s mostly untold history before the years 1650, 1630 and 1620, we enter an ecologically beautiful world in which, for thousands of years history was daily made and primarily advanced here by non-whites and by non-English speakers.

This included Nanepashemet’s Naumkeag Native Americans and their trading partners, the Tarratines. Ethnic studies and archaeology provide major beacons critically needed to shine new light on this earliest past here in the northeast that laid the foundation for modern Salem’s maritime economy, commerce, agriculture and architecture as well as roads and infrastructure.

Because October is such an important month for ethnic studies and archaeology, we will write newspaper columns soon to highlight multicultural aspects of Salem’s past. We will continue this work through November, which is Native American Heritage Month.

Our next column will  focus on native words. We will likely also describe new exhibits on Native American subjects to be hosted here in Salem — at the National Park Service Visitor’s Center and at The Art Corner. Also in the series will be a profile of Salem’s “historian doctor,” C. Keith Wilbur, who wrote a finely illustrated book on New England Indians. We may also cover the “other” Salem and America’s Stonehenge, Native American musician Brock Stonefish, living history as archaeology, the archaeology of Pioneer Village, and Native American heritage trails.

 We were reminded of the subject of living history as archaeology last week while watching Irish thatcher William Cahill work his traditional rooftop magic at Pioneer Village. A bearded and ruddy-haired Cahill fixed all the Salem cottage roofs, and the English wigwam at the village after finishing some exceptional and rare thatching work in Virginia at Colonial Jamestown.

William and his brother Michael first voyaged from Ireland to Salem to rescue Pioneer Village from destruction in 1986. William, a master thatcher, has since developed a national thatching company and practice based in Ohio. See roofthatch.com. As described in the Salem Preservationist, he last returned to “top off” the Pioneer Village roofs in the summer of 2006. Watching him work his country craft recalls colonial farm harvests long ago and stepping back centuries in time to an earlier, simpler and more agrarian Salem.

 Happiest October, Ethnic Studies Week and Massachusetts Archaeology Month!

John Goff is the president of Salem Preservation, Inc., a nonprofit organization. He is also the principal of Historic Preservation & Design, a consulting business. E-mail him at jgoff@salempreservation.org.

Copyright 2010 Salem Gazette. Some rights reserved  ]]>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:49:51 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/the-daily-cardinal1.htmlAnti-lynching activist’s great-grandson spreads message of justice By Alicia Goldfine

Published: Thursday, October 7, 2010

Updated: Thursday, October 7, 2010 03:10

• 
  

Danny Marchewka/The Daily Cardinal

Dan Duster, great-grandson of Ida B. Wells, spoke as part of Ethnic Studies Week to continue spreading Wells’ message of standing up for justice.

Dan Duster, the great-grandson of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, discussed the importance of standing up for justice in a lecture Wednesday night at Helen C. White as part of the nationwide Ethnic Studies Week.

Duster said his great-grandmother and her prominent role in the anti-lynching movement influenced him to carry out her legacy and spread her message through his lecture series he calls "Stand Up For Justice and Do the Right Thing."

Duster said it is important to spread information about the problem of injustices. He said today, as in the time of Ida B. Wells, it is crucial to apply the problem to society as a whole.

"[Wells] had the foresight to broaden the problem, and that's what she did constantly," Duster said. "It wasn't just about me and you.  It's about rights.  It's about justice."

Wells began her social activism after speaking out against lynching in her controversial newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech.  From there she began to use her surroundings and ingenuity to aid her cause, according to Duster.

Duster said Wells used boycotts to affect the local economy in order to draw attention to her cause.

"Economics works extremely well with racism because if it's not economically sustainable, folks won't do it," Duster said.

According to Duster, injustices must be addressed in our everyday lives, even if that means making the unpopular move and speaking out.

"And while we don't see lynching today, we still see a lot of injustices," Duster said.

Not simply accepting an injustice, but instead finding the mentality to overcome that injustice is a way to differentiate yourself from a guilty bystander, Duster said.

"The thought process is often like, ‘somebody needs to do something.'  You are that somebody, you can be," said Duster.

Ethnic Studies Week is a national event at many universities with the goal to promote ethnic studies.  During the week, "students, faculty and staff are able to actively engage with people, cultures and ideas they might not otherwise encounter," according to the Ethnic Studies Week website.]]>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:46:23 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/some-assembly-required-blog.html Ethnic Studies Week (Oct. 1-7) at BSU was part of a nation-wide effort to raise our collective profile, as well as draw attention to regressive state legislation in Texas and Arizona, effectively restricting programs like Latino Studies or African-American studies in these states' secondary schools, colleges and universities. (Blog site readers: see the Google map of sites around the country taking place below!)


View Ethnic Studies Week October 1-7 Initiators in a larger map

I jumped at the chance to speak at yesterday's roundtable, "Why Ethnic Studies?" After all, I grew up in Arizona, and got my M.A. in Texas--what was happening in these places I've called home?

You all that are reading this and living in either of these states can answer that far better than I can, of course. But these are not isolated cases--this is a nationwide trend of disavowing difference and diversity (Glenn Beck's co-opting MLK in the name of "unity" is just one loud, pungent example).

In the run-up to this week, I picked up the latest book by bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom (2010), the third and final installment of her "pedagogy trilogy." The chapters are short and sweet--I'm reading them like morning meditations. Today's nugget of practical wisdom, for instance, was on decolonization. On p. 25, hooks writes:

"The most essential lesson for everyone, irrespective of our race, class, or gender, was learning the role education played as a tool of colonization here in the United States."

So part of our ongoing mission as teachers and educators is to consciously push back against (re)colonization of our schools, as part of our effort to consciously push back against (re)colonization of our society.

Taip, mums galima. Posted by Dr. Bjorn Ingvoldstad at 5:37 AM Labels: bell hooks, ethnic studies ]]>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:59:17 -0800http://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/7/post/2010/10/nuestras-voces-latinas.htmlOctober 1st marked the beginning of Ethnic Studies Week and runs through October 7th.  Spearheaded by a broad and vast group of activists and academics from across the nation, Ethnic Studies Week directly challenges and opposes Arizona’s Senate Bill 2281.  With unmitigated restraint SB 2281 bans ethnic studies from Arizona schools.  To promote Ethnic Studies Week the Coalition’s recently issued posting follows below but through this post also underscores SB 2281 as a yet another heinous example of the war over knowledge.  For yet another example reference the “war over knowledge” in Michigan and the subject of earlier posts.

In sum, I also extend mil gracias for the Coalition’s much-appreciated activism against the legislators and school superintendents that are so greatly intent on erasing the nation’s vastly diverse heritage from Arizona schools.

October 1, 2010, First Day of Ethnic Studies Week

Ethnic Studies began about 40 years ago, as a part of the Black, Chicana/o, Puerto Rican, American Indian, and Asian American liberation movements of the 1960s, when students and teachers sat in, fasted, petitioned and protested, demanding a curriculum that reflected their history and experience.  In the last 40 years many college departments and K-12 programs have discovered that the struggle for funding, positions, recognition, classes, is continuous.  The egregious assaults on Ethnic Studies education by Arizona lawmakers and the Texas Board of Education last May, that inspired this movement, are but a reflection of many other struggles, mostly fought on an individual or local level, to defend our right to teach and learn ethnic studies.

This week represents our determination to defend this right on a national level, even as we do so in diverse ways that reflect our local realities.  This week we join thousands of people across the United States in asserting our right to teach and learn the diverse stories that make up the U.S. experience.  We assert our right to act on what we learn to create a more equitable society. This week, in hundreds of individual classrooms, K-12 and college, students will be listening to speakers, watching films and pausing to reflect on the importance of ethnic studies.  In addition, public events are occurring in dozens of venues, in San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, California; Salem, Oregon, Laramie, Wyoming, Tucson, Prescott, Phoenix, and Tempe Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lincoln, Nebraska, Honokaa, Hawaii, Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Cloud, Minnesota, Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, Gary, Indiana, Gainesville, Florida, Middletown, Connecticut, Bridgewater, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Long Island, New City, and more.

This week represents the beginning of a national movement to defend our right to teach and learn ethnic studies, in K-12 and College, in Arizona and everywhere.

For additional information on the Coalition’s efforts go to http:www.ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org.]]>