International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 2012
In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pse... more In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pseudonym), and his experiences of being at school before and after immigrating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Key aspects of the research process are highlighted, whereby pre-interview activities are used to visualize interpretive inquiry as a formal research process. By identifying key findings from my work, I explore how the dynamics of interpretation constitute our very mode of being. I draw on the insights of [1] to suggest that to interpret a text is to come to understand the possibilities of being that are revealed. In order to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant students and their transitions into public school settings, I will elucidate how I have employed interpretive (holistic hermeneutic) modes of inquiry as a formal qualitative research method to attend to modes of being.
This paper investigates the interplay between economic-political and social-cultural theories of ... more This paper investigates the interplay between economic-political and social-cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of reproduction. The paper explores how the dominant neoliberal ideology works, pedagogically, to produce and reproduce social inequalities and how schools and education systems play one of the most (if not the most) important roles in inculcating the dominant ideology and sustaining the system of domination. I invoke Louis Althusser's analysis of ideology and discuss the role of the educational apparatus, Bowles Gintis's "correspondence thesis" and Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron's social-cultural reproduction framework that provides a more complex, yet subtle account of inequality and transference of social stratification. "Above all, we must fight against the power of the dominant neoliberal ideology that keeps on offending and attacking the human nature while reproducing itsel...
In this paper we describe and illustrate the use of an exploratory first interview to refine rese... more In this paper we describe and illustrate the use of an exploratory first interview to refine research questions or interviewing ideas prior to finalizing plans for a study about classroom issues or practices. Three researchers give accounts of their exploratory interviews concerning student “aliteracy,” the school experience of immigrant students, and mathematics teachers’ experience of assessment and grading. The researchers endeavored to acquire an holistic understanding of their participants’ experiences by: using open-ended questions about both the topic and the participants’ lives in general; asking participants to complete pre-interview activities such as drawings or diagrams about either the topic or their lives in general; and framing the guiding data collection question as “How does the participant experience [topic of interest]?” Each of the researchers either revised their research questions or changed their ideas about how to do the interviews based upon what transpired ...
Journal For Critical Education Policy Studies, Apr 1, 2012
This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, undersc... more This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, underscore and examine some of the key challenges and policy barriers that are shaped or hindered by socio-political, ethno-cultural and economic factors that subsequently impede immigrant students' transition and future academic and social success in their new school environments. I begin with an overview of the discourses of hospitality (philoxenia) and xenophobiahow these two notions relate to Greece's responsibility toward the emerging and (in) flux of immigration, and how citizenship education can be instrumental in the fight against xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and related intolerance in Greek public schools. My interest in this research topic has evolved from my own experience as a repatriated immigrant student in the Greek public (state) school system. My personal experience as a child of repatriated immigrants entering a highly homogeneous and exclusionary (to "foreigners" or "xenoi") school environment with few, if any, non-Greek students in the mid-1980s and the lack of support from the public school system and community, has prompted me to further investigate and focus on the learning experiences of immigrant students and the implications for immigration, citizenship policies and school-level policies, at a time where immigration poses challenges that call for immediate policy action to ameliorate the crisis impacting immigrant subjectivities 1. The paper mainly identifies and reviews existing literature documenting prior research activity in this area, but contains no actual data or results at this time, since data collection will begin in the summer of 2012. 1 I argue that immigrants or "immigrant students" are not and cannot be construed as singular, fixed entities and will not be placed in unidimensional, prefigured and uniform categories. Throughout the study, I will interrogate assumptions about the constitution of subjectivities, namely, how immigrant students' subjecthoods actually emerge in specific contexts in intersectional, fluid and heterogeneous ways (see Bao, 2008) in an effort to recognize and legitimize their heterogeneities.
In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pse... more In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pseudonym), and his experiences of being at school before and after immigrating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Key aspects of the research process are highlighted, whereby pre-interview activities are used to visualize interpretive inquiry as a formal research process. By identifying key findings from my work, I explore how the dynamics of interpretation constitute our very mode of being. I draw on the insights of [1] to suggest that to interpret a text is to come to understand the possibilities of being that are revealed. In order to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant students and their transitions into public school settings, I will elucidate how I have employed interpretive (holistic hermeneutic) modes of inquiry as a formal qualitative research method to attend to modes of being.
The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minori... more The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minority group in Eastern Europe. In particular, Romani women and girls have been described by the UN Women, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Office of High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) as “one of the most disempowered groups in Europe.” This paper provides an exploratory investigation of Romani women’s and girls’ lack of educational attainment as it looks at some of policy barriers, practices and the nature of Roma peoples’ reluctance to participate in mainstream public schooling in Greek society. There is an urgent need for effective and focused policies that take into account social inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination of Romani women and girls. However, Romani women are ultimately silenced by the continued lack of quantitative and qualitative data, research and statistics, making them Europe’s most invisible minority. De tous les groupes minoritaires de l’Europe ...
The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 2012
This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, undersc... more This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, underscore and examine some of the key challenges and policy barriers that are shaped or hindered by socio-political, ethno-cultural and economic factors that subsequently impede immigrant students’ transition and future academic and social success in their new school environments. I begin with an overview of the discourses of hospitality (philoxenia) and xenophobia – how these two notions relate to Greece’s responsibility toward the emerging and (in) flux of immigration, and how citizenship education can be instrumental in the fight against xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and related intolerance in Greek public schools. My interest in this research topic has evolved from my own experience as a repatriated immigrant student in the Greek public (state) school system. My personal experience as a child of repatriated immigrants entering a highly homogeneous and exclusionary (to “foreign...
. USD 42.95 Insurrection denotes a rising up against the unbridled forces of capitalism that have... more . USD 42.95 Insurrection denotes a rising up against the unbridled forces of capitalism that have, for centuries, dehumanized humanity by treating human beings as "inert matter that can be swept under the toxic ruins of the world's industrial wasteland" (McLaren, 2015, p. 26). The current, most obscene and ruthless incarnation of capitalism with an inordinately voracious appetite is sucking the life out of humanity, filling people and communities with "a barrage of lies and deceptions" (McLaren, 2015, p. 394); creating unstable, unsustainable, and unjust conditions in so far as history can, never again, be trusted after having been perpetually sanitized, rescripted and subsequently rewritten to complement and exalt the history of capitalist culture. Capitalism favours imperialism and exploitation for maximizing profit margins, mainly at the expense of the poor, powerless, and the highly fragile, rapidly shrinking middle class. Thus, uprisings are an inevitable result of the profound injustices and structural inequalities; the ruthless exploitation and warmongering neoliberal barbarism whose protagonists -who do not remain nameless in this book -bask in the aftermath of their shock doctrines, their artificially induced crises, and their insidiously pervasive ideologies and reforms. Insurrection, itself, evokes a radical global awakening that has the potential to attack today's out-ofcontrol, consumer-driven mutant capitalism and re-establish a new order. In what I consider to be a highly polemical, fearlessly crafted magnum opus directed against the rampant inequalities and injustices of capitalism, internationally renowned Marxist humanist, critical revolutionary scholar, activist and teacher, Peter McLaren, most certainly "rises up" to the occasion with a justifiable sense of rage against a system that locks communities and people in deplorable conditions of poverty and perpetual debt and challenges, head on, what is clearly a ferocious "hydra-headed beast of capital and its razor-toothed companions -racism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism" (McLaren, 2015, p. 385) in his latest and most powerfully provocative and poetically-charged work Pedagogy of Insurrection: From Resurrection to Revolution. Echoing the words of David G. Smith (2014), I not only find myself in full accord with the statement: "Peter McLaren has guts, commitment, and brilliance" (Smith, p. 145), but moreover, wish to extend beyond the interface and proclaim anew that Peter McLaren has "abs of steel," as he not
The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minori... more The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minority group in Eastern Europe. In particular, Romani women and girls have been described by the UN Women, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Office of High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) as " one of the most disempowered groups in Europe. " This paper provides an exploratory investigation of Romani women's and girls' lack of educational attainment as it looks at some of the policy barriers, practices and the nature of Roma peoples' reluctance to participate in mainstream public schooling in Greek society. There is an urgent need for effective and focused policies that take into account social inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination of Romani women and girls. However, Romani women are ultimately silenced by the continued lack of quantitative and qualitative data, research and statistics, making them Europe's most invisible minority. De tous les groupes minoritaires de l'Europe orientale, les Roms sont peut-être le peuple le plus exposé aux discriminations. L'ONU Femmes, le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement et le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme ont notamment décrit les femmes et les filles roms comme « l'un des groupes les moins émancipés de l'Europe ». Cet article présente une étude exploratoire du faible niveau de scolarité des femmes et des filles roms en évoquant quelques obstacles sur le plan politique, certaines pratiques et la nature de la réticence de la part des Roms à s'intégrer dans le système éducatif public en Grèce. Il existe un besoin urgent pour des politiques efficaces, bien ciblées et qui tiennent compte de l'inclusion sociale, l'égalité et la non-discrimination envers les femmes et les filles roms. Pourtant et ultimement, les femmes roms sont réduites au silence par l'absence continue de données quantitatives et qualitatives, de recherche et de statistiques, ce qui fait d'elles la minorité européenne la moins visible.
-cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of... more -cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of reproduction. The paper explores how the dominant neoliberal ideology works, pedagogically, to produce and reproduce social inequalities and how schools and education systems play one of the most (if not the most) important roles in inculcating the dominant ideology and sustaining the system of domination. I invoke Louis Althusser's analysis of ideology and discuss the role of the educational apparatus, Bowles Gintis's "correspondence thesis" and Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron's social-cultural reproduction framework that provides a more complex, yet subtle account of inequality and transference of social stratification.
International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 2012
In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pse... more In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pseudonym), and his experiences of being at school before and after immigrating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Key aspects of the research process are highlighted, whereby pre-interview activities are used to visualize interpretive inquiry as a formal research process. By identifying key findings from my work, I explore how the dynamics of interpretation constitute our very mode of being. I draw on the insights of [1] to suggest that to interpret a text is to come to understand the possibilities of being that are revealed. In order to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant students and their transitions into public school settings, I will elucidate how I have employed interpretive (holistic hermeneutic) modes of inquiry as a formal qualitative research method to attend to modes of being.
This paper investigates the interplay between economic-political and social-cultural theories of ... more This paper investigates the interplay between economic-political and social-cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of reproduction. The paper explores how the dominant neoliberal ideology works, pedagogically, to produce and reproduce social inequalities and how schools and education systems play one of the most (if not the most) important roles in inculcating the dominant ideology and sustaining the system of domination. I invoke Louis Althusser's analysis of ideology and discuss the role of the educational apparatus, Bowles Gintis's "correspondence thesis" and Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron's social-cultural reproduction framework that provides a more complex, yet subtle account of inequality and transference of social stratification. "Above all, we must fight against the power of the dominant neoliberal ideology that keeps on offending and attacking the human nature while reproducing itsel...
In this paper we describe and illustrate the use of an exploratory first interview to refine rese... more In this paper we describe and illustrate the use of an exploratory first interview to refine research questions or interviewing ideas prior to finalizing plans for a study about classroom issues or practices. Three researchers give accounts of their exploratory interviews concerning student “aliteracy,” the school experience of immigrant students, and mathematics teachers’ experience of assessment and grading. The researchers endeavored to acquire an holistic understanding of their participants’ experiences by: using open-ended questions about both the topic and the participants’ lives in general; asking participants to complete pre-interview activities such as drawings or diagrams about either the topic or their lives in general; and framing the guiding data collection question as “How does the participant experience [topic of interest]?” Each of the researchers either revised their research questions or changed their ideas about how to do the interviews based upon what transpired ...
Journal For Critical Education Policy Studies, Apr 1, 2012
This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, undersc... more This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, underscore and examine some of the key challenges and policy barriers that are shaped or hindered by socio-political, ethno-cultural and economic factors that subsequently impede immigrant students' transition and future academic and social success in their new school environments. I begin with an overview of the discourses of hospitality (philoxenia) and xenophobiahow these two notions relate to Greece's responsibility toward the emerging and (in) flux of immigration, and how citizenship education can be instrumental in the fight against xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and related intolerance in Greek public schools. My interest in this research topic has evolved from my own experience as a repatriated immigrant student in the Greek public (state) school system. My personal experience as a child of repatriated immigrants entering a highly homogeneous and exclusionary (to "foreigners" or "xenoi") school environment with few, if any, non-Greek students in the mid-1980s and the lack of support from the public school system and community, has prompted me to further investigate and focus on the learning experiences of immigrant students and the implications for immigration, citizenship policies and school-level policies, at a time where immigration poses challenges that call for immediate policy action to ameliorate the crisis impacting immigrant subjectivities 1. The paper mainly identifies and reviews existing literature documenting prior research activity in this area, but contains no actual data or results at this time, since data collection will begin in the summer of 2012. 1 I argue that immigrants or "immigrant students" are not and cannot be construed as singular, fixed entities and will not be placed in unidimensional, prefigured and uniform categories. Throughout the study, I will interrogate assumptions about the constitution of subjectivities, namely, how immigrant students' subjecthoods actually emerge in specific contexts in intersectional, fluid and heterogeneous ways (see Bao, 2008) in an effort to recognize and legitimize their heterogeneities.
In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pse... more In this paper, I provide an account of my exploratory interview with a grade 9 student, Enzo (pseudonym), and his experiences of being at school before and after immigrating to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Key aspects of the research process are highlighted, whereby pre-interview activities are used to visualize interpretive inquiry as a formal research process. By identifying key findings from my work, I explore how the dynamics of interpretation constitute our very mode of being. I draw on the insights of [1] to suggest that to interpret a text is to come to understand the possibilities of being that are revealed. In order to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant students and their transitions into public school settings, I will elucidate how I have employed interpretive (holistic hermeneutic) modes of inquiry as a formal qualitative research method to attend to modes of being.
The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minori... more The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minority group in Eastern Europe. In particular, Romani women and girls have been described by the UN Women, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Office of High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) as “one of the most disempowered groups in Europe.” This paper provides an exploratory investigation of Romani women’s and girls’ lack of educational attainment as it looks at some of policy barriers, practices and the nature of Roma peoples’ reluctance to participate in mainstream public schooling in Greek society. There is an urgent need for effective and focused policies that take into account social inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination of Romani women and girls. However, Romani women are ultimately silenced by the continued lack of quantitative and qualitative data, research and statistics, making them Europe’s most invisible minority. De tous les groupes minoritaires de l’Europe ...
The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 2012
This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, undersc... more This paper reflects and supports the focus of my doctoral research that aims to identify, underscore and examine some of the key challenges and policy barriers that are shaped or hindered by socio-political, ethno-cultural and economic factors that subsequently impede immigrant students’ transition and future academic and social success in their new school environments. I begin with an overview of the discourses of hospitality (philoxenia) and xenophobia – how these two notions relate to Greece’s responsibility toward the emerging and (in) flux of immigration, and how citizenship education can be instrumental in the fight against xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and related intolerance in Greek public schools. My interest in this research topic has evolved from my own experience as a repatriated immigrant student in the Greek public (state) school system. My personal experience as a child of repatriated immigrants entering a highly homogeneous and exclusionary (to “foreign...
. USD 42.95 Insurrection denotes a rising up against the unbridled forces of capitalism that have... more . USD 42.95 Insurrection denotes a rising up against the unbridled forces of capitalism that have, for centuries, dehumanized humanity by treating human beings as "inert matter that can be swept under the toxic ruins of the world's industrial wasteland" (McLaren, 2015, p. 26). The current, most obscene and ruthless incarnation of capitalism with an inordinately voracious appetite is sucking the life out of humanity, filling people and communities with "a barrage of lies and deceptions" (McLaren, 2015, p. 394); creating unstable, unsustainable, and unjust conditions in so far as history can, never again, be trusted after having been perpetually sanitized, rescripted and subsequently rewritten to complement and exalt the history of capitalist culture. Capitalism favours imperialism and exploitation for maximizing profit margins, mainly at the expense of the poor, powerless, and the highly fragile, rapidly shrinking middle class. Thus, uprisings are an inevitable result of the profound injustices and structural inequalities; the ruthless exploitation and warmongering neoliberal barbarism whose protagonists -who do not remain nameless in this book -bask in the aftermath of their shock doctrines, their artificially induced crises, and their insidiously pervasive ideologies and reforms. Insurrection, itself, evokes a radical global awakening that has the potential to attack today's out-ofcontrol, consumer-driven mutant capitalism and re-establish a new order. In what I consider to be a highly polemical, fearlessly crafted magnum opus directed against the rampant inequalities and injustices of capitalism, internationally renowned Marxist humanist, critical revolutionary scholar, activist and teacher, Peter McLaren, most certainly "rises up" to the occasion with a justifiable sense of rage against a system that locks communities and people in deplorable conditions of poverty and perpetual debt and challenges, head on, what is clearly a ferocious "hydra-headed beast of capital and its razor-toothed companions -racism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism" (McLaren, 2015, p. 385) in his latest and most powerfully provocative and poetically-charged work Pedagogy of Insurrection: From Resurrection to Revolution. Echoing the words of David G. Smith (2014), I not only find myself in full accord with the statement: "Peter McLaren has guts, commitment, and brilliance" (Smith, p. 145), but moreover, wish to extend beyond the interface and proclaim anew that Peter McLaren has "abs of steel," as he not
The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minori... more The Romani (or Roma) people are, perhaps, the oldest and most discriminated against ethnic minority group in Eastern Europe. In particular, Romani women and girls have been described by the UN Women, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Office of High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) as " one of the most disempowered groups in Europe. " This paper provides an exploratory investigation of Romani women's and girls' lack of educational attainment as it looks at some of the policy barriers, practices and the nature of Roma peoples' reluctance to participate in mainstream public schooling in Greek society. There is an urgent need for effective and focused policies that take into account social inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination of Romani women and girls. However, Romani women are ultimately silenced by the continued lack of quantitative and qualitative data, research and statistics, making them Europe's most invisible minority. De tous les groupes minoritaires de l'Europe orientale, les Roms sont peut-être le peuple le plus exposé aux discriminations. L'ONU Femmes, le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement et le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme ont notamment décrit les femmes et les filles roms comme « l'un des groupes les moins émancipés de l'Europe ». Cet article présente une étude exploratoire du faible niveau de scolarité des femmes et des filles roms en évoquant quelques obstacles sur le plan politique, certaines pratiques et la nature de la réticence de la part des Roms à s'intégrer dans le système éducatif public en Grèce. Il existe un besoin urgent pour des politiques efficaces, bien ciblées et qui tiennent compte de l'inclusion sociale, l'égalité et la non-discrimination envers les femmes et les filles roms. Pourtant et ultimement, les femmes roms sont réduites au silence par l'absence continue de données quantitatives et qualitatives, de recherche et de statistiques, ce qui fait d'elles la minorité européenne la moins visible.
-cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of... more -cultural theories of reproduction by highlighting the centrality of ideology as an instrument of reproduction. The paper explores how the dominant neoliberal ideology works, pedagogically, to produce and reproduce social inequalities and how schools and education systems play one of the most (if not the most) important roles in inculcating the dominant ideology and sustaining the system of domination. I invoke Louis Althusser's analysis of ideology and discuss the role of the educational apparatus, Bowles Gintis's "correspondence thesis" and Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron's social-cultural reproduction framework that provides a more complex, yet subtle account of inequality and transference of social stratification.
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