Reckoning With Empire: The Politics of Racial Justice and Inclusion in the United States and SWANA (Southwest Asian/North African) Region

• In Event: Navigating Race, Immigration, and National Identity in Transnational Educational Contexts

Abstract

Abu El-Haj frames our conversation about the relationship between race, immigration, and nationality by suggesting that our analyses for justice and inclusion must center a reckoning with the US empire. For example, although an entire generation of children in the U.S. and the SWANA (SouthWest Asian/North African) region have grown up in war-time education, it is rare for US-raised students to recognize this fact. The racialized practices of empire are nearly invisible within the US borders, and yet it is these very practices that drive injustice in the US, SWANA, and elsewhere. In our conversation, I suggest that an analysis of empire has direct implications for educational research and practice that aims toward a just future.

Author

• Thea Renda Abu El-Haj, Barnard College