COLLABORATIVE TEACHING

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LEARNING

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RESEARCH

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ACTION

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COLLABORATIVE TEACHING -- LEARNING -- RESEARCH -- ACTION --

What is EthnicStudiesPHL?

In a historical moment shaped by the murder of George Floyd, Anti-Asian violence and the attack on Critical Race Theory (CRT) policies and legislation in a number of states and local level school districts, an understanding of the histories, visions, frameworks, pedagogical practices and futures of critical racial and ethnic studies is urgently needed.  EthnicStudiesPHL is envisioned as a collaborative of teaching, learning, research and action centered on  racial and ethnic studies, that Sleeter and Zavala (2020) describe as  “a set of political projects and emergent movements, rooted in place-based struggles over the curriculum, as communities fight for an education that is culturally relevant and responsive to their needs, interests, aspirations, and dreams” (p. 6). EthnicStudiesPHL seeks to contribute to deepening and amplifying the curricular and scholarly dimensions of these community-led projects within preK-higher education spaces in Philadelphia and the surrounding region.

Specifically, we are asking:

What are the socio-political and pedagogical histories of racial/ethnic studies in Philadelphia and regionally?

And what racial/ethnic studies content, pedagogies and politics/advocacy are needed in our current moment to contribute to more culturally responsive and anti-oppressive teaching, learning and living conditions for all people? 

In order to answer these questions, engage the broader public, and contribute to the professional development of interested educators and community members, this project currently focuses on three major tasks: Building a Network, Documenting our Histories of Movement and Teaching, and Advancing Collective Futures. We go into further detail with each task.

  • The goal is to build a network of practitioners, youth, families, and supporters, in formal classrooms, public institutions and community educational spaces, who are committed to expanding racial/ethnic studies work in the region. This network, which includes students and faculty from Swarthmore College, will serve as a guide for the development of research, curriculum and pedagogical practices.

  • With the network as a foundation, we are conducting a participatory research study to document the socio-political and pedagogical practices of racial/ethnic studies in the city of Philadelphia and the region, historically and today. Network participants are invited to participate in conducting a series of oral histories and semi-structured interviews, observations and doing curricular analyses (among other research activities) and writing and sharing about what we have learned.

    Alongside our research is the creation of a digital, open access, database of past, present and future curricular and pedagogical projects and resources that are grounded in racial/ethnic studies traditions, EthnicStudiesPHL.org. Network participants, and other interested community educators, are welcome to share their past work or create new projects and resources to have included in the database as a means to expand exposure of these approaches across the region. Participants are not currently compensated, but the hope is to create opportunities for the development of curricular projects and related workshops to be compensated.

  • The building of a network and the documenting of research are ways of honoring the past and the present, as well as cultivating, advancing and sustaining our collective futures. To that end we will organize a series of community pedagogy circles where participants will have an opportunity to deepen their understanding of racial/ethnic studies histories and pedagogies through workshops and presentations from leading scholars, pedagogues and community activists in the field. This will be anchored by our Educator Convening in June.

    EthnicStudiesPHL Convening & Pedagogy Circles

    • The network will be the primary participants of the SEPA Racial and Ethnic Studies Institute. Organized around a series of workshops, keynote panel(s) and community arts-based performances, the convening will be a space where participants will share curricular, pedagogical and scholarly work for the purposes of nourishing our individual and collective capacities to do this work across our educational and community spaces.

    • The convening will be the primary gathering of network members with the intention of hosting smaller pedagogy circles throughout the academic year that will be more targeted and intimate professional and personal nourishment spaces.

    Through the convening and the pedagogy circles, our intention is to create a sustainable space for educators and community members to be in dialogue with each other around these practices.

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“Specifically, we are asking: What are the socio-political and pedagogical histories of racial/ethnic studies in Philadelphia and regionally? And, what racial/ethnic studies content, pedagogies and politics/advocacy are needed in our current moment to contribute to more culturally responsive and anti-oppressive teaching, learning and living conditions for all people?”