Teaching With an Ethnic Studies Lens: Learning From Filipino American Teachers' Praxis

• In Event: "Unless We Know Ourselves and Our History": On the Necessity of Ethnic Studies and Education

Abstract

Objectives and Research Questions
This paper presents a critical analysis of the relationship between teaching and Ethnic Studies, with special focus on issues epistemology and pedagogy. The study draws from the experiences of Filipino American teachers working in communities that serve primarily students of color in California. This paper details how Filipino American teachers utilize their epistemological knowledges and expertise developed in Ethnic Studies to teach mainstream content. The research question driving this study asks: What can be gained from attending to the broader political goals of Ethnic Studies and education and to the ways these goals shape students’ educational experiences? That is, what does it mean to teach through and with Ethnic Studies?

Theory
I utilize frameworks of Ethnic Studies pedagogies (Tintiangco-Cubales, et al., 2015), Asian American critical race theory (Curammeng, Buenavista, and Cariaga, 2017), and anti-imperialist critiques (Chatterjee and Maira, 2014) to design and guide analyses. Filipino Americans’ relationship to colonialism (Coloma, 2009) and decolonization (Halagao, 2010) provide nuanced insights toward the complexities of histories of racialization most salient in schooling (Maramba and Bonus, 2012). Asian American critical race theory asserts the need to “rely on interdisciplinary perspectives” and “critical examinations of power” to illuminate complexities with interlocking systems namely U.S. imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Together these frameworks encourage thinking across disciplines and sub-fields in education, informing how we might better comprehend and recognize as Ethnic Studies’ role in the broader project of education.

Methods/Sources
Data were derived from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with eight K-12 Filipino American teachers working in urban schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles and includes teacher reflections and multimodal artifacts, and students’ work. Teachers were selected based on criteria that included their knowledge of Filipino American history and community issues, backgrounds in Ethnic Studies, and experience working with students from historically marginalized communities. Questions and dialogue included topics such as: teaching practice and pedagogy, ways teachers’ critical consciousness are developed and maintained, and challenge they experience at their school settings and the strategies they employ to remedy those challenges.

Findings and Significance
Findings from this study demonstrate how teaching with an Ethnic Studies lens involves explicit interrogations of power and an existing ability to engage in such an analysis. In other words, teachers with Ethnic Studies backgrounds possess important assets that need to be nurtured and developed. This study highlights characteristics of what an effective teacher with an Ethnic Studies background looks like and asserts the need to consider how Ethnic Studies can be a site for preparing and supporting teachers of color. Findings from this study provide new insights for: 1) How teachers can utilize critical perspectives from Ethnic Studies in their teaching and 2) Ways teacher educators can better support teachers with Ethnic Studies backgrounds. At a political moment where Ethnic Studies and other critical approaches toward education are challenged it is ever more urgent to realize the power and possibilities gained through Ethnic Studies.

Author

• Edward Ryan Curammeng, California State University - Dominguez Hills