Social Justice Agenda Research Articles

Multilayered reflections of a social justice bricoleur: Becoming more purposeful in my postgraduate pedagogy

The aim of this narrative inquiry self-study project was to become more purposeful as a change agent in my postgraduate pedagogy. My objective was three-fold: I had a social justice agenda and also wanted to improve my pedagogy and my students' learning. My reflective pedagogic approach was designed to practice culturally responsive pedagogy and critical pedagogy from which I and my participant students would benefit. I practised reflective pedagogy and also asked that the students reflect on their teaching and learning experiences inside and outside of my lectures; a colleague who served as a critical friend conducted a peer-review exercise. My findings were that through multilayered analysis of my lecture reflections from previous years, my 2016 reflections, my students' reflections of my pedagogy and of their teaching and learning outside of my lecture, as well as the feedback from my critical friend, I was able to consider the nuances of the different voices and experiences and to adapt my practice in response to the needs of the students and their lived experiences.

Transformative praxis through critical consciousness: A conceptual exploration of a decolonial access with success agenda

This paper is a conceptual exploration of a decolonial perspective towards the notion of access with success. Attention is drawn to the significance of students' schooling backgrounds in the perpetuation of inequity that accrues from coloniality. Decoloniality is factored into teacher identity formation and professional development in the interests of the attainment of ontological density with specific reference to the black preservice teacher cohort. The view presented here is that colonial cultural capital in social justice has ramifications for access with success. A counterstrategy in the interests of the decolonial turn is the development of a professional identity where a culture of critical consciousness yields attributes that are indicative of, and consistent with, emergent transformative praxis. The overarching theoretical explorative tool of this discussion is couched within the transformative paradigm. This tool is used to draw attention to a critical decolonial social justice agenda that conceives of the university as a site for the inculcation of organised and multidimensional critical change agency. The attendant view is that preservice teachers' role as change agents is actualised through transformative praxis that is informed by critical consciousness. In this discussion, the decolonial strategy of breaking the cycle that is informed by mentalities of coloniality is poised to play a pivotal role in the attainment of the cohort's epistemic reflectivity and ontological density in the interests of social transformation.

A Critical Analysis and Applied Intersectionality Framework with Intercultural Queer Couples

ABSTRACTIntercultural queer couples are growing at an extensive rate in the United States, exemplifying diversity across multiple dimensions (e.g., race, ethnicity, sexuality, affectional identity, gender identity) while experiencing multiple converging forms of oppression (e.g., racism, heterosexism, genderism). Given the dearth of conceptual and empirical literature that unifies both dimensions related to intercultural and queer, applied practices and research contend with a unilateral approach focusing exclusively on either intercultural or queer couples. Intersectionality theory has revolutionized critical scholarship to determine overlapping forms of oppression, decenter hegemonic structures of power relations and social contexts, and enact a social justice agenda. This article addresses the following aims: (1) an overview of the gaps eliciting unilateral approaches to intercultural queer couples; (2) an illustration of intersectionality’s theoretical underpinnings as a critical approach; and (3) applications for insights in practices and research with intercultural queer couples.

Beyond Diversity and Inclusion: Creating a Social Justice Agenda in the Classroom

ABSTRACTA social justice classroom agenda relies on the ability of educators to create a space free from microaggressions that can be strengthened through an approach of cultural humility. Utilizing Bonnycastle’s social justice continuum, this article explores how to create a classroom grounded in social equality and guided by social work values to foster participation from students across all social identities.

Participatory Praxis for Community Food Security Education

Community food security (CFS) has a robust history as a social movement addressing the politics and practice of food access and availability. While CFS advocacy and policy activity are closely connected to grassroots efforts, the academic community has supported CFS goals in a number of ways. CFS intersects with similar food movements, such as food sovereignty, emphasizing a social justice agenda for achieving democratic social change in the food system. In our paper, we illustrate the teaching of CFS in higher education at the graduate level where masters, professional, and doctoral students seek programmatic and community-based research experiences rooted in the goals of food justice, health equity, and ecological sustainability. Drawing upon a partici­patory education and critical pedagogy philosophy, we describe our approach and outcomes in developing a graduate course centered on CFS with two institutions and stakeholder participation in central Appalachia. An interdisciplinary approach was taken using a food justice lens, with special attention given to rurality, race, and class as issues informing CFS work in the region. We illustrate how course themes, assignments, and community engagement aims were collectively developed by students, faculty, and community practitioners through the Appalachian Foodshed Project, a regional CFS project. We focus our insights learned through several processes: developing and offering a pilot course in food systems; conducting focus groups with graduate students from two institu­tions; and collecting course evaluations from the final CFS course we developed. Our paper con­cludes with suggestions for utilizing a participatory approach—as praxis—to create new opportunities for students, faculty, and CFS practitioners to learn together for food systems change.

Participatory Praxis for Community Food Security Education

Community food security (CFS) has a robust history as a social movement addressing the politics and practice of food access and availability. While CFS advocacy and policy activity are closely connected to grassroots efforts, the academic community has supported CFS goals in a number of ways. CFS intersects with similar food movements, such as food sovereignty, emphasizing a social justice agenda for achieving democratic social change in the food system. In our paper, we illustrate the teaching of CFS in higher education at the graduate level where masters, professional, and doctoral students seek programmatic and community-based research experiences rooted in the goals of food justice, health equity, and ecological sustainability. Drawing upon a partici­patory education and critical pedagogy philosophy, we describe our approach and outcomes in developing a graduate course centered on CFS with two institutions and stakeholder participation in central Appalachia. An interdisciplinary approach was taken using a food justice lens, with special attention given to rurality, race, and class as issues informing CFS work in the region. We illustrate how course themes, assignments, and community engagement aims were collectively developed by students, faculty, and community practitioners through the Appalachian Foodshed Project, a regional CFS project. We focus our insights learned through several processes: developing and offering a pilot course in food systems; conducting focus groups with graduate students from two institu­tions; and collecting course evaluations from the final CFS course we developed. Our paper con­cludes with suggestions for utilizing a participatory approach—as praxis—to create new opportunities for students, faculty, and CFS practitioners to learn together for food systems change.

The Great Recession of 2007: An Agenda for Social Justice

ABSTRACTThe Great Recession, the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, officially began in December 2007 with an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble and lasted until June 2009, resulting in loss in consumer spending and collapse in the nation’s business investment. For American workers, the Great Recession had far-reaching implications: unemployment, underemployment, pay cuts, and cutbacks in household spending. Although social work has a historical commitment to address the vulnerabilities of people and communities, we argue that the profession neglected to understand fully the factors associated with the Great Recession and to mount an agenda for justice in response to its worker-related impact.

Connecting qualitative research on exercise and environment to public health agendas requires an equity lens

In this commentary, I respond to the special section in Health & Place (vol. 46) on “Exercise and environment: new qualitative work to link popular practice and public health” edited by Hitchings and Latham. I argue that if qualitative research is to effectively inform public health policy and practice it cannot ignore the fact that physical activity participation is inequitable. Without building in a critical equity lens, geographers risk perpetuating the “inequality paradox”—that is, the potential for population health interventions to inadvertently exacerbate health inequalities. Related to this, I challenge the editors’ assumption that geographers’ critiques of public health approaches to physical activity and our applied efforts to foster physical activity participation are mutually exclusive endeavours. Rather, I argue they are mutually necessary within a social justice agenda. Finally, I close this commentary by offering ways forward for qualitative research on exercise and environment to connect with public health agendas and inform interventions.

Doing counterwork in the age of a counterfeit president: resisting a Trump–DeVos education agenda

In this article, we explore and conceptualize counterwork in education as a critical element for resistance and progressive social change in the era of Donald Trump’s presidency. We first discuss education in the context of a Trump–DeVos administration, and how this milieu necessitates activist research and counterwork. Grounded in a sense of critical hope and part of a larger anti-hegemonic project, we describe our conceptualization of counterwork in education as unfinishedness and the critical imagination, human agency, and transformational resistance for liberation. This approach to education is committed to sustaining an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and a critical social justice agenda in education across the P-20 spectrum

A Queer Critical Media Literacies Framework in a Digital Age

AbstractMedia literacy skills are focal for many educators across the globe in an age of ubiquitous access to the Internet and the rapid circulation of digital texts. A critical media literacies perspective is often a key element in teaching adolescents to read a range of texts. A queer critical media literacies pedagogy supports a social justice agenda aimed at addressing inequalities in education for youths who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer (LGBTQ+), with the + accounting for other identities, such as asexual, agender, and questioning. Queer theories provide the basis of a new pedagogical model aimed at empowering educators to guide young adolescents in identity formation as they navigate a range of content. The model is presented as a queer critical media literacies framework aimed at directly supporting the work of teachers in classrooms, including illustrative key questions, learning experiences, and related teaching resources.

What is data justice? The case for connecting digital rights and freedoms globally

The increasing availability of digital data reflecting economic and human development, and in particular the availability of data emitted as a by-product of people’s use of technological devices and services, has both political and practical implications for the way people are seen and treated by the state and by the private sector. Yet the data revolution is so far primarily a technical one: the power of data to sort, categorise and intervene has not yet been explicitly connected to a social justice agenda by the agencies and authorities involved. Meanwhile, although data-driven discrimination is advancing at a similar pace to data processing technologies, awareness and mechanisms for combating it are not. This paper posits that just as an idea of justice is needed in order to establish the rule of law, an idea of data justice – fairness in the way people are made visible, represented and treated as a result of their production of digital data – is necessary to determine ethical paths through a datafying world. Bringing together the emerging scholarly perspectives on this topic, I propose three pillars as the basis of a notion of international data justice: (in)visibility, (dis)engagement with technology and antidiscrimination. These pillars integrate positive with negative rights and freedoms, and by doing so challenge both the basis of current data protection regulations and the growing assumption that being visible through the data we emit is part of the contemporary social contract.

“Learning to See the Person, Not the Culture or the Faith”: Critical Reflections on Internationalizing Higher Education in Israel

Experiences as a Work Package leader on a European Union project on internationalization of higher education in Israel motivated the author to use her research on internationalization and university teaching experiences in various countries to facilitate the Israeli partners to interrogate their pedagogical practices. Supported to engage in a pedagogy of discomfort, they confronted complexities in their higher education environment, redesigning programs to integrate principles of internationalization of the curriculum and a social justice agenda.

Investigating the significance of social justice in educational psychology practice – A systematic literature review

The Aim:This article aimed to investigate the empirical evidence for the significance of social justice in educational psychology practice.Method/Rationale:The social justice agenda is at the forefront of present political consciousness. The concept of ‘social justice’ has entered the discipline of psychology, in particular counselling (Winter, 2015) and community psychology (Fondacaro & Weinberg, 2002), and its relevance to psychology is debated (Arfken & Yen, 2014). Educational psychologists are situated in a prime position to promote social justice through their work with children, young people, parents and professionals. A rigorous systematic literature review was undertaken to find and synthesise empirical research relevant to the question: ‘what is the significance of social justice in educational psychology practice?’Findings:The research base gives positive support to the significance of the concept of social justice in educational/school psychology practice, highlighting themes of: advocacy, equity, inclusivity, opportunity and resources.Limitations:The studies included investigated the views, in relation to social justice, of trainee and qualified school psychologists; however, all included studies were located in the USA.Conclusions:Future research should extend to exploring the significance of social justice to psychologists working in educational systems in different countries and social contexts.

Picking a hill to die on: discreet activism, leadership and social justice in education

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a study that explores the discreet activist strategies of educational leaders who promote social justice.Design/methodology/approachPart of a larger project, this study employed qualitative methods. In particular, researchers interviewed 26 leaders – principals, vice principals, department heads, and central office officials who presided over both homogeneous and diverse schools, departments, and districts in and around a large Canadian city. Data were analyzed during and after data collection, and themes were identified, explored, and described.FindingsGiven the resistance they faced in their efforts to promote social justice, leaders found that they had to be strategic in their efforts. In particular, they had to position themselves in ways that reduced their visibility and increased their credibility. When they took action, they tended to adopt subtle rather than obvious strategies.Originality/valueThe harsh reality for activist educational leaders who promote social justice is that they will likely have to be strategic in the way they go about their work. Given the nature of their relationships with the organizations in which they work and the power differentials within which they operate, educational leaders may have to adopt low key or discreet strategies if they are to successfully promote their social justice agendas.

Fostering critical teacher agency: the impact of a science capital pedagogical approach

Teacher agency is considered key in shaping teachers’ professional identities and decision-making capabilities. We suggest that the concept of agency also constitutes a useful tool for evaluating the successful implementation of new teaching approaches. In this paper we discuss findings from a teacher professional development programme aimed at enabling science capital building approaches in the classroom. By applying the lens of agency we identified developments in teachers’ sense of purpose, mastery, reflexivity and autonomy. We also identified factors which appeared to either promote or constrain the acquisition of agency. The science capital pedagogy is underpinned by a social justice agenda. In supporting teachers to ‘tweak’ their practice in ways that provide more opportunities for more students to identify with science, we suggest that the agency fostered by the intervention may best be defined as critical teacher agency.

Austerity urbanism and the promise of immigrant- and refugee-centered urban revitalization in the US Rust Belt

ABSTRACTRecent urban studies research emphasizes the unevenness of local responses to immigration in the United States and the emergence of economic development-focused inclusionary initiatives as a response to neoliberal downscaling in the Rust Belt. Scholars also highlight the impact of austerity urbanism – the deepening of neoliberal urbanism – in Rust Belt cities following the 2007–2008 financial crisis, noting its potential to produce progressive activism. This article considers the relationship between downscaling, austerity urbanism, and immigration activism in the Rust Belt by analyzing economic revitalization narratives within a regional consortium of inclusionary initiatives. My findings underscore the incongruities and compromises encompassed by welcoming coalitions operating in the age of austerity. Some local actors are motivated by growth agendas but affirm inclusionary values toward immigrants and refugees to substantiate them. Other actors are motivated by social justice agendas but cite the economic benefits of immigration to garner support from other factions.

Building a collective moral imaginary: Personalist culture and social performance in faith-based community organizing

This study draws on theories of personalist culture and social performance to explain why organizations in the field of faith-based community organizing are able to effectively engage people in collective action on multiple issues across social difference. Using two qualitative datasets, we document the construction and transformation of personal motivations in interactive social movement settings, and show the importance of this process for mobilizing action in pursuit of a multi-issue social justice agenda. Through cultural practices that construct moral meaning in interactive settings, activists learn to internalize a collective moral imaginary – a cultural schema that affirms the importance of individuals’ personal motivations, links these to those of other people, and situates them within a larger social structure. This expands individuals’ understandings of self and community, and thus frames multi-issue social justice activism organized across social difference as a morally compelling and effective means of pursuing personal interests and motivations.

Feminist leadership: Leading for social justice

Are alternative forms of educational leadership possible and effective in a managerialist, neo-liberal education context? This article presents a case study of the feminist education leadership of one principal (Jill) whose social justice agenda was a driving force for her leadership practice. In particular, I describe two aspects of her leadership, support for "at risk" students and valuing multiculturalism. I suggest that not only is the practice of feminist leadership essential to achieve more equitable schools, it is also effective. In striving for social justice Jill looked for ways to share the power and responsibility and found it in the establishment of a co-principalship.

The imaginaries that survived: Societal roles of early childhood education in an era of intensification

This ethnographic study, carried out in public kindergartens in Finland, traces the enactments of the societal roles of early childhood education. It highlights how the intertwining of governing tools and discourses related to early childhood education’s societal role participates in the formation of daily life in kindergarten. The concept of “imaginary” is used as an analytical tool. The study argues that intensification measures together with the individualistic rights discourse have substantially challenged the social justice agenda of early childhood education in Finland. Furthermore, it suggests that an ethnographic examination of the enactments of societal roles of early childhood education and the concept of “imaginaries” provide valuable insights vis-a-vis the continuing theoretical and political discussions concerning early childhood education policies and governance.

What Is Data Justice? The Case for Connecting Digital Rights and Freedoms on the Global Level

The increasing availability of ‘data fumes’ (Thatcher, 2014) – data produced as a byproduct of people’s use of technological devices and services – has both political and practical implications for the way people are seen and treated by the state and by the private sector. Yet the data revolution is so far primarily a technical one: the power of data to sort, categorise and intervene has not yet been explicitly connected to a social justice agenda. In fact, while data-driven discrimination is advancing at exactly the same pace as data processing technologies, awareness and mechanisms for combating it are not. This paper posits that just as an idea of justice is needed in order to establish the rule of law, an idea of data justice is necessary to determine ethical paths through a datafying world. The paper will analyse the existing work on data justice and argue for a framework in which it can be brought together into a single framing for further research and debate.