Sites of Liberatory Praxis: An Exploration of Teachers' Grassroots Organizing in Philadelphia

• In Event: 67.062 - Teachers' Perspectives on Curriculum and School Policy in the United States and Europe

Abstract

This critically bifocal (Weis and Fine, 2012) study explores the organizing activity of
Philadelphia teachers within the larger neoliberal context of the city and the school district.
Qualitative data derived from narrative interviews and ethnographic fieldnotes were situated within
an analysis of the “accumulated history” (Massey, 1994) of Philadelphia to more deeply understand
how and in what contexts the teachers took up grassroots organizing. This paper highlights the
importance of the teachers’ dedication to a liberatory praxis (Freire, 1970), where reflection and
action are essential and inseparable components of genuine social change.

Author

• Dana Morrison, West Chester University of Pennsylvania