Representing Social Justice: Youth Activism, Media, and the Struggles for Ethnic Studies

• In Event: The Use of Decolonization Within Ethnic Studies, Refugee Studies, and Gender and Empire/Counter-Terrorism Discourses

Abstract

Objective:
This paper will examine the intersection of education, activism, and media in P-12 and higher education contexts. In particular, it will focus on the struggles for ethnic studies in Arizona and California by student activists at Tucson High Magnet School in 2008-09 and at San Francisco State University in 2016. In both contexts, students were responding to institutional pressures to eliminate or cut ethnic studies programs through state legislation and university fiscal management.

Perspectives:
While the rationales to eliminate or cut ethnic studies ranged from considering ethnic studies as “un-American” to ensuring institutional fiscal health and viability, the effects were similar: the dismantling of inclusive and culturally empowering curriculum in P-12 and higher education. Research finds that ethnic studies curriculum has demonstrated positive impact on the academic achievement and personal wellbeing particularly of students of color (Dee & Penner, 2016; Sleeter, 2011). Yet the development, implementation, and advancement of ethnic studies in P-12 and higher education continue to be contested. In this paper, the two case studies in Arizona and California will provide insights into the ongoing fight for curriculum that centers diversity, equity, and social justice. More specifically, they will focus on the walkout in Tucson High and the hunger strike in San Francisco State as critical moments that expressed and symbolized student support for ethnic studies and resistance against state and university mandates that curtail it.

Methods/Mode of inquiry/Data Sources:
The paper will employ digital archive research and discourse analysis to track the ways in which mainstream and non-mainstream media documented and covered these youth-led movements. It will examine newspapers, magazines, social media outlets (Facebook and Twitter), and documentaries (e.g., Precious Knowledge).

Significance:
Ethnic Studies program across university and high school settings are under attack by right-wing political candidates and conservative organizations. The area of Ethnic Studies is often viewed as a threat to US democracy, and, in particular white notions of democracy. The discussion examines ways in which people have been mobilizing to propose the benefits of Ethnic Studies, particular for students of color. The decolonizing possibility that Ethnic Study provides, particularly in today political climate, offers alternative ways of understanding human rights, freedom and democracy.

Author

• Roland Sintos Coloma, Wayne State University