Decolonizing Social Science Education: A Collaborative Critical Auto-Ethnography of Racial Awareness in a Post-Truth Era

• In Event: 15.060 - MTCC Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.060-9 - (Re)Visioning and (Re)Imagining Social Justice, Social Science, and STEM Education

Abstract

This research explores a collaborative critical autoethnography of women of color’s educational experiences, from the perspectives of a Muslim undergraduate student and Black university professor. The authors interpret their K-16 schooling experiences through decolonial epistemological lenses and identify ways in which education serves as both a divider and equalizer for students. Results of this study posit that social science education, when implemented with a critical lens, can leverage power and democratize evidence in a post-truth era. In this vein, we use our collaborative critical autoethnography as a form of resistance to glean into diverse and marginalized student experiences. The results of this research posit new milieus for academic discourse, as various racial and ethnic “intersectionalities” are explored through autoethnographic inquiry.

Authors

• Lyric Harris, Towson University

• Marcia J. Watson-Vandiver, Towson University