“I hate that I didn’t know this ”: Pre-service teachers’ reflections on learning to evade imperialism

• In Event: Critcal Perspectives on Grading, Tutoring, and Justice in Schools

Abstract

Drawing on interviews and written reflections from undergraduates of an anti-imperialist Teacher Education course focused on migration and education, we analyze how students reflected on their socialization into what we call imperial evasion through their families, communities, media, and schools. We also examine how they grappled with the emotional weight of their unknowing and describe continued forms of ignorance. Findings reveal how students come to not know about imperialism and how that shapes their understanding of schools, themselves, and the world around them. We argue their reactions are produced by an educational system designed to uphold nationalist mythologies and avoid confronting imperial violence.

Authors

• Nesrin El-Isa, Michigan State University

• Alexandra Allweiss, Michigan State University

• Shireen Al-Adeimi, Michigan State University