Expanding on the Scholarship of a Pioneer Advocate for Racial Justice

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This proposed session brings together ethnically and racially diverse scholars to expand on the scholarly legacy of Dr. Geneva Gay. At various career stages and living in different geographical regions and continents, the presenters aim to leverage our experiential and academic knowledge to articulate Geneva’s contributions to curriculum studies, culturally responsive teaching, culturally responsive mentoring, and culturally responsive research. Through interactive dialogue, storytelling, poetry, art, and traditional academic presentations, the presenters will entice researchers and
practitioners to build on Geneva’s pioneering scholarship to advance racial justice.

• broad, interrelated research and/or conceptual questions that will be addressed across the session papers
1. How can educators draw on Geneva’s foundational scholarship on curriculum studies to counter the curricular violence inflicted on students of Color in schools?
2. How can educators design culturally responsive teaching in outside-of-school spaces to promote racial equity for marginalized youth?
3. How can educators of Color sustain their intersectional identities while enacting culturally responsive mentoring in and beyond PreK–20 educational institutions?
4. How can educational scholars employ culturally responsive research to decolonize racially deficit paradigms and advance racial justice?

• research base reflected in (including to be advanced by) this session; in other words, what conversation are you joining, advancing, disrupting, and/or pushing?
Multicultural education grew from the U.S. Civil Rights movement during the 1960s and gradually evolved into a discipline aiming to reform schools, create equity, and promote justice

(Gay, 2020). As one of the field’s pioneer scholars, Geneva Gay has produced an essential and persistent body of scholarship, including ethnic studies (Gay, 1973), ethnic identity development for students of Color (Gay & Baber, 1987), curriculum theory (Gay, 2004), culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2013), and teacher preparation (Gay, 2018) that have had a profound impact on
educational research, theory, and practice. Among Geneva’s enduring scholarship, a central theme is advocating for ethnically diverse students of Color through culturally responsive research, teaching, and mentorship. There is no doubt that Geneva Gay “took the risks and suffered the repercussions for challenging the dominant paradigm” (Ladson-Billings, 2005, p. 84). However, her scholarly legacy continues to nourish the root of multicultural education and inspire emerging scholars to build on her scholarship for future advocacy. Thus, this proposed session aims to inform current and future scholars about exploring and extending Geneva Gay’s scholarship in their own teaching, mentoring, and research to further educational reform.

• explicit relevance to the theme of “Dismantling Racial Injustice Across P-20 Systems”
As the 2024 AERA situates its conference theme of dismantling racial injustice in the classic work of D. E. B. DuBois (1903), Geneva Gay is “a legendary figure in the minds of most African American scholars in education” (Ladson-Billings, 2005, p. 84). As the mother of multicultural education, Geneva has paved the way for racial justice for many scholars, especially those of Color. Her enduring and influential body of scholarship has always centered on the intersections of race, ethnicity, culture, and education that “confront the challenge of racism through research-informed action” to “imagine, instigate, and be a catalyst for change” (AERA Annual Meeting Theme, 2024, p. 2). Hence, this proposed session highlights the hallmark of Geneva’s five-decade scholarship and its impact on education in the United States and across the globe. Together, the panelists build on
Geneva’s work to imagine how culturally responsive curriculum, teaching, mentorship, and research can help educational institutions dismantle racial injustice.
• significance of this session as a Presidential Session and its contribution to the overall theme
Besides her five-decade excellent scholarship, Geneva Gay has taught hundreds of preservice and in-service teachers and mentored numerous doctoral students, including many panelists in this proposed session. Yet, what strikes many of her mentees is not just her scholarly accomplishment, but more of Geneva’s humility, integrity, and finesse in navigating the academy built around ego, competition, and incompetence. Hence, we propose this presidential session to celebrate Geneva’s legacy in advocating for communities of Color. In so doing, we hope current and future researchers
and practitioners will be empowered to extend Geneva’s scholarship in their own research, teaching, and mentorship to advance racial justice.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• A Pioneer Scholar’s Five Decades of Curriculum Theorizing and Praxis - Ming Fang He, Georgia Southern University; Yiting Chu, University of South Florida - Tampa; Hyunhee Bailey Cho, Hongik University

• Designing Culturally Responsive Teaching in Outside-of-School Spaces - Rich Milner, Vanderbilt University; Bryant O. Best, Morgan State University; Laura Fittz Parks, Fort Lewis College

• The Embodiment of Culturally Responsive Mentoring in Academia - A Longoria, Western Washington University; Raedell Boateng, University of Washington

• Theorizing and Practicing Culturally Responsive Research - Lin Wu, Western Oregon University; Emily A. Affolter, Prescott College; Melissa Braden, Prescott College

Discussant

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles