Cultural and Political Implications of Mainstream Education. Interrupting the Westernized Paradigm of U.S. Education: The Mexican American Raza Studies Program (Arizona)

• In Event: 35.050 - Critical Approaches to Analyzing Race and Ethnicity in Education

Abstract

Objectives
Currently across the United States, Ethnic Studies disciplines are being challenged on many fronts, from budgetary issues engaged with the politics of recognition and what priorities are valued and funded, to overtly racialized concerns accusing programs and departments as being one-sided, Anti-American and critical of U.S. history (HB2281, 2010). As a witness to such a sweeping theme across the country, it is alarming to see the deliberate disregard of herstories, histories, and narratives of Indigenous and (im)migrant peoples of this land. The increasingly diverse demographics of the nation can no longer submit to old paradigms and Eurocentric views of the past and present.

This paper will attempt to explore the role that hegemony and ideology play in the production and reproduction of national curriculums, and expectations for national standards. This analysis will explore the social/cultural, political, economic, and historical complexities of education and its perceived purpose to secure upward mobility and in-group identities. The nation’s educational standards consistently reinforce and maintain a specific status quo as defined by western Eurocentric ideals, values and principles (Apple, et. al, 2009, 111). Where then, do Indigenous and (im)migrant ideals, values and principles fit when the state is conceptualizing inclusive education for all?

This paper will look to the Ethnic studies ban of the Mexican American Raza Studies Program (MAS) at Tucson Unified School District, in Arizona. This ban, as demonstrated by legislation HB 2281 which outlawed the award-winning MAS program in 2010, is a clear example of how hegemony imposes westernized ideals and delegitimizes indigenous values, ideals, and forms of education (Cambium Learning, 2011, p. 11). This paper will explore the achievements and counter hegemonic pedagogy of the MAS program, as well as highlight practically how curriculum and instruction can be used to decenter the dominant narrative.

Theoretical Framework
I will be attempting to balance an Indigenous based framework with a Critical Theory lens drawing upon Raymond William’s analysis of the relationship between power, culture, hegemony, and ideology. An Indigenous worldview and epistemology will be used to deconstruct westernized forms of knowledge and, further, to propose, new forms of praxis within educational spaces.

Methods
Literature Review

Data Sources
Academic Sources, Media Sources, informal interviews

Warrants for Arguments/Point of View
This paper will begin to outline clearly the racialized forms of education that have existed and continue to exist within the U.S. Educational system. This work will further look to evidence that an official knowledge based in Eurocentric worldviews is very much still in play.

Scholarly Significance
The significance of this work is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of Education, as well as the discipline of Ethnic Studies. The purpose for this work is to open up circles of dialogue and discussion around Westernized forms of Education.

Author

• Jorge F. Rodriguez, University of Wisconsin - Madison