Decolonizing the Syllabus: Accepting Responsibility to Reconceptualize and Unsettle Traditional Epistemologies in Multicultural Education

• In Event: Decolonizing Standards, Shadow Education, and Abolitionist Teaching

Abstract

ED 219 Civil Rights and Multicultural Issues in Education is the university’s undergraduate class in teacher education that examines issues of equity and diversity for preservice educators. This study explores traditional multicultural education curriculum through decolonizing and wholeness approaches, analyzing existing course materials. Research questions are: (1) How does an existing multicultural education course reflect particular epistemologies in the teaching/learning of social justice and equity? (2) What are reimagined possibilities from a wholeness and decolonial approach to transform the teaching and learning? Using grounded theory and discourse analyses, findings indicate that multiculturalism is analytical content, socioemotional and contemplative processes are absent, focus on individualistic not collective, separate topics instead of intersectional, and authoritative voices do not align.

Authors

• Kathryn Esther Mcintosh, Oregon State University

• Freddy León, Oregon State University

• Raisa Blazquez, The Learning Partnership

• Marcos Viveros, Oregon State University

• Faran Saeed, Oregon State University

• Jane Waite, Oregon State University