Liberation as Political Imperative: Foundations of an Ethnic Studies Education

• In Event: Ethnic Studies Education across Tovaangar

Abstract

The advancement of Ethnic Studies in Los Angeles via the implementation of requirements in the high
school, community college, and four-year levels happened simultaneously to nationwide attacks on
critical race theory (CRT). This presentation examines how opponents of liberatory education tend to
conflate Ethnic Studies and CRT. As many Ethnic Studies Education scholars are also CRT scholars, we
address the nuanced relationship among Ethnic Studies and CRT, their distinctions, and potential to push
education scholars to engage in an Ethnic Studies Education research praxis. Connected with the
conference theme, we offer “a new vision of education research” through Ethnic Studies Education. Our
presentation will highlight the following guideposts accompanied by exemplars of Ethnic Studies
Education projects. We characterize an Ethnic Studies Education research praxis that: centers
community, encourages collectivity, is co-conspiratorial, and requires critical reflexivity. Research
should consider how students and educators are members of communities and embody the issues that
shape those communities. Thus, Ethnic Studies Education research should be collective and relational in
subject and/or methodological approach, cross racial, intersectional, and intergenerational. Part of being
collective is moving at the pace of the group toward accountability and inclusivity. This practice reflects
Ethnic Studies Education research as co-conspiratorial, where the process of research values power and
resource redistribution, and the building of communities historically disenfranchised by colonialism,

Authors

• Edward R. Curammeng, California State University - Dominguez Hills

• Tracy Lachica Buenavista, California State University - Northridge

• David O. Stovall, University of Illinois at Chicago

• JC Lugo, California State University - Northridge