Preparing Teacher-Researchers for Local-Global, Multicultural Classrooms: Prospects for Postcritical and Feminist Qualitative Methodologies

Abstract

Student populations in the U.S. are becoming increasingly diverse, as global migration and immigration bring greater numbers of people from around the world to our already multicultural communities and schools (Banks, 2008,2009; Brown & Kysilka, 2002; Spring, 2008a). In this sense, U.S. classrooms are local-global environments, in which children from widely varied ethnic, socio-cultural, national, and linguistic backgrounds interact daily. Such student interactions mirror the local-global dynamics of a world in transition, in which globalization rapidly instigates myriad interconnections among peoples and systems--economic, environmental, cultural, epistemological, and political--on local and global levels (De Lissovoy, 2010; Spariosu, 2004). The local-global microcosms of classrooms, schools, and communities therefore serve as preparatory environments, in which students learn and practice the art of intercultural communications, understanding, and co-existence. Nevertheless, the local-global introduces new complexities to social environments that, if not addressed with appropriate praxes, may exacerbate tensions and misunderstandings among students from different backgrounds (Banks, 2008). Such learning outcomes could radically under-prepare students for futures in local-global societies marred by inequities, exploitations, and social and ecological crises. Additionally, diverse student bodies bring multiple epistemologies, communication styles, and cultural assumptions, experiences, and expectations to teaching and learning that must be attended to pedagogically (Nieto, 1996; Sleeter & Grant, 2003). These circumstances are further complicated by the disconnection between student positionalities and those of the majority of U.S. teachers, who are predominantly White and middle-class (Brown & Kysilka, 2002). These realities beg changes in educational policy, practice, and teacher preparation that prioritize social justice-oriented, local-global learning. This includes a re-emphasis on multicultural educations that are adaptive to the unique and evolving dynamics of classroom environments. Sprecher (2011) argued that the demands of contemporary schooling call for reflexive frameworks that draw from inclusive, social reconstructionist (Banks & Banks, 2005; Gay, 2000; Nieto, 1996; Sleeter & Grant, 2003) and critical multiculturalism (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 1997; McLaren, 1995) and global (Banks, 2008, 2009; Hicks & Holden, 2007; Noddings, 2005; Spariosu, 2004) and decolonial educational approaches (Canella & Viruru, 2004; De Lissovoy, 2009,2010; Tejeda, Espinoza, & Gutierrez, 2003; Villenas, 2006). (1) In this article, I argue that such a framework would greatly benefit from targeted skill-building among educators in qualitative methodologies that embrace postcritical and feminist philosophical insights for emancipatory learning (Hesse-Biber, 2007; Lather, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007; Noblit, Flores, & Murillo, 2004; Oleson, 2011; Weiner, 1994). I therefore propose a post/critical, local-global educational framework that integrates elements of the aforementioned theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological approaches. This framework would recognize and re-emphasize the role of teacher-researcher to inform both localized practices and cross-regional considerations. Due to the complex nature of student learning, the multiplicity and reflexivity inherent in local-global classrooms, and the potential interference of hegemonic power and inequities, I believe postcritical ethnography and feminist praxis-based methodologies may offer especially useful tools for post/critical, localglobal schooling. As I will demonstrate, these approaches integrate emancipatory epistemological orientations with methods for knowledge production that embrace and respond to diversity. For too long, educational research has been shaped by political trends rooted in positivism and conservatism that exclude teachers from the research process (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Kincheloe & Berry, 2004; Lankshear & Knobel, 2004). …