My research focuses on how changing social, political, and economic conditions affect the education of children from migrant and immigrant families and communities. My ongoing line of inquiry explores the relationships between home, school, and community with attention to historical and contemporary contexts of transnational migration. I am particularly interested in how migrant and immigrant communities mobilize resources to support their children’s education both inside and outside of school. My scholarship is situated within the fields of curriculum studies and comparative and international education. I use ethnography, along with archival research and policy analysis, to develop critical understandings of the impact of broader social structures on the experiences of migrant and immigrant children and the role of community organization for education equity.
The Aesthetic View of Moral Education, Nov 30, 2023
The Aesthetic View of Moral Education is the result of in-depth interdisciplinary research in edu... more The Aesthetic View of Moral Education is the result of in-depth interdisciplinary research in education and aesthetic studies. This book advocates the use of aesthetic ideas and methods to transform moral education activities, which are often trapped in a state of forced indoctrination.
This book aims to address the problems of moral education in China and share certain commonalities in the exploration of educational theory. The aesthetic view of moral education is a new and practical philosophy of education. The author's theory of moral education as the appreciation of beauty, the creation of beauty, and the theory of the attainment of the ultimate realm of moral education provide an in-depth analysis of the functions of aesthetic education for moral cultivation. The author also offers unique interpretations of the aesthetic transformation of the process of moral education itself and the pursuit of the realm of moral life and education.
This book examines the dynamics surrounding the education of children in the unofficial schools o... more This book examines the dynamics surrounding the education of children in the unofficial schools of China’s urban migrant communities. This ethnographic study focuses on both the complex structural factors impacting the education of children attending unofficial migrant children schools and the personal experiences of individuals working within these communities. As the book illustrates in careful detail, the migrant children schools serve a critical function in the community by serving as a hub for organized collective action around shared grievances related to issues of education, employment, well-being, and other social rights. In turn, the development of a collective identity among teachers, students, parents, and other members in the migrant communities makes it possible for activists to begin to work to address multiple forms of discrimination and maltreatment while simultaneously moving towards the possibility of more profound social transformation.
This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advo... more This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advocates the recognition of migrant families’ and communities’ knowledge as necessary, relevant, and impactful curriculum. This article is based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted in various migrant settlements in Beijing. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with migrant parents, teachers, and community activists and participant observations in schools, community meetings, and other gatherings in the communities. Data were coded on themes related to place-based connection, attachment, and belonging and then analyzed. Findings demonstrate that pedagogical practices can be developed to re-center the knowledge and experiences of Chinese migrant communities. This pedagogical work recognizes and reflects the undervalued and unrecognized knowledge of migrant communities while investigating the meaning of “place” for migrant children. This is the first study putting special emphasis on the discussion of what “place” means for migrants and what knowledge is worthwhile for their children in China. A key contribution of this article is that it documents the challenges and benefits of creating a place-based curriculum and pedagogy for migrant children as they construct a sense of belonging.
This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information techno... more This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information technology and discuss the complex impact of technical elements on teaching and the time–space distance of student subjectivity in a technology-dominated world. Based on Foucault's panopticism, this study examines a smart classroom in East Asia to observe classroom teaching and learning processes; conducts semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders; and analyzes the hidden mechanism of the smart classroom on interaction from the perspective of perceivers. The smart classroom has the distinctive structural features of a Panopticon. Artificial intelligence, which coalesces cultural capital through technological authority, has a significant capital advantage over students, producing a false spectacle of efficient learning. Panoramic surveillance causes the “backstage” of students’ roles to be gradually consumed by the “front” and makes students exhibit “make-work” behavior. Refined information management mechanisms produce invisible digital walls that separate interactive groups, making it difficult for students to obtain sufficient information about the gestures and behaviors of their classmates to interact effectively. This study reveals the ignorance of human subjectivity in the orientation of instrumental rationality by understanding the expressions of witnesses.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Jun 15, 2024
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contempor... more Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to prov... more The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to provide education and child development programs and service in China’s migrant communities, specifically as it pertains to the prospects of addressing sociocultural and socioeconomic inequalities in education and child development in urban China. Building on frameworks of dimensions of citizenship, this article examines the work of migrant educator-activists who provide community-based education and child development service in Beijing’s migrant communities. Their efforts to address inequalities in child development for migrant children enrich the understanding of citizenship in the Chinese context.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Sep 15, 2023
This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric ... more This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric theories onto Southern and Eastern examples. Specifically, I reflect on the examination of educational issues faced by marginalized migrant communities within Chinese contexts and explore the application of an “Asia as Method” conceptual framework to reimagine education opportunities for migrant children and community mobilization as it pertains to a politics of recognition and redistribution. The politics of location and identity shaped by Chinese society’s historical and contemporary power structures highlight both the needs and potential of theoretical conceptualizations from within. The goal is not simply to replace the West/North with the East/South nor is it to generate a wholly new theoretical concept to be applicable to all contexts; instead, the task undertaken in this work is to foster historically grounded relational explanations in order for communities in previously-decentered contexts to become one another’s multifaceted reference points.
The primary focus of this paper is twofold: to demarcate the epistemic erasure of societal knowle... more The primary focus of this paper is twofold: to demarcate the epistemic erasure of societal knowledge and narratives of Asian Americans as braided with other forms of anti-Asian racism by tracing its historical roots in orientalism, colonialism, and imperialism; and to redress such erasure by foregrounding transnational perspectives and Asian American Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit). By attending to historical and ongoing experiences of migration and racialization, this paper highlights the transculturality of Asian American histories, epistemologies, and communities, along with the multi-stranded connections that they share with diasporic Asians in other countries. It expands the dominant framing of racialized minorities in the United States that indexes and limits their experiences within the geopolitical boundaries of the nation-state. By situating Asian Americans within critical historical and transnational contexts, this paper generates a fuller and more complex understanding of the past and present conditions of Asian Americans and anti-Asian racism. It also deliberately highlights the agency of Asian American youth and their strategies in contesting anti-Asian racism in schools and society at large. By amplifying Asian American youth voices and agency, this paper not only affirms their wealth of transnational funds of knowledge but also offers crucial interventions challenging the curricular violence that continues to marginalize and misrepresent Asian Americans.
The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by Joh... more The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by John Dewey to a standard element in teacher education curricula and standards. In the process, CT has narrowed its focus to the analysis and articulation of logical thought, and lost transformative value. In this paper, we examine the conception and implementation of CT in three teacher education domains primarily in the United States–music, media and information literacy, and social studies–asking how CT has deformed education in those domains, and how domain-specific approaches could reinvigorate CT. We further suggest refocusing the purpose of CT in teacher education on accomplishing transformative education for equity in school and society, by implementing a critically reflective, transformative praxis based on the insights of domain-specific approaches to CT.
This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation... more This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation after the enactment of the “Double Reduction” Policy. Data were collected from 364 questionnaires and six subsequent in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that despite having brought about some benefits, the “Double Reduction” Policy has increased Chinese primary school teachers’ working time. Moreover, the teachers’ working time is unevenly allocated, with disproportionately more time devoted to subject teaching and less time devoted to professional development. As a result, the nature of the different types of Chinese primary school teachers’ working time further affect the teachers’ perceived workload and work-related stress. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers receive greater support and time for their ongoing professional development.
In order to clarify the status quo of international research on Chinese rural education research ... more In order to clarify the status quo of international research on Chinese rural education research and explore possible strategies for moving forward, we conducted systematic content analysis on 173 research articles published in 41 high-impact English-language international academic journals between 1978 and 2022. Though articles related to Chinese rural education make up a quarter of all articles on Chinese education published in these journals, they make up less than 0.5% of all articles published in these journals. Though this tiny field has grown substantially since 2010, there are two major problems constricting its healthy development: the dominance of positivism and quantitative methodologies, and the dominance of western classical social theories. Currently, changing international relations and the prominence of rural development issues present unprecedented opportunities for reshaping international research on Chinese rural education. In order to seize these opportunities, the Chinese state needs to invest in developing international academic journals as well as support qualitative and theoretical research on Chinese rural education. Researchers also need to develop cultural and theoretical reflexivity in order to break out of the current theoretical conundrum.
This article explores critical ways that migrant groups engage in diverse forms of resistance. In... more This article explores critical ways that migrant groups engage in diverse forms of resistance. In this comparative case study, we draw on our longitudinal ethnographic research on migrant groups, particularly those that are characterized as undocumented, with a focus on the ways in which they engage in activism and resistance in China and the United States, respectively. We aim to expand the literature about comparison by asking: how is comparison understood differently through the lens of crisscrossing, and what productive insights can be uncovered through this theoretically informed approach? What implications might crisscrossing have for studying grassroots level resistance from migrants across borders?
This editorial essay is for the special issue “Intersectionality and education work during COVID-... more This editorial essay is for the special issue “Intersectionality and education work during COVID-19 transitions.” We reconceptualize intersectionality in the contexts of COVID-19 to theorize change to education work, introduce the six special issue papers, and provide directions for future research.
Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers ... more Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers in both public schools and schools for migrant children have responded to state policies that restrict educational opportunities for migrant students. We argue the importance of political context in re-conceptualising empowerment by raising the question ‘empowerment from what?’ By making explicit what is normalised, we problematise the ways in which the predominant definition of empowerment has marginalised and trivialised the experiences of educators who are also engaging in powerful acts of empowerment in China. Importantly, this study sheds light on the ways in which Chinese teachers use ‘citizenship talk’ practices to engage in empowerment processes for migrant students. We contend that the value of this piece lies in pushing critical scholars to think more deeply about empowerment as socio-cultural transformation and advancing the field by generating debate on how context matters.
In this article, we examine our efforts as a multiracial collective of mothers, activists, and ed... more In this article, we examine our efforts as a multiracial collective of mothers, activists, and education scholars to work together to (re)new ourselves – to use our collective energy to harmonize our relationships between home and work and to imagine new possibilities for the future of the academy through this regenerated state. Marginalized women have long used the collective power in this way – turning to one another for support through circumstances certainly as challenging and frightful as the pandemic and using the collaborative learning to build new futures for their children, their students and, by extension, society. Using a circle methodology and abuelita epistemologies framework, we engage in the different process of (re)membering ourselves as MotherScholars, in order to rupture the violent logic of structural racism in the academy, intensified by the global pandemic. The stillness of the earth provided a space for us MotherScholars to listen in a new way, to bring back ancestral wisdom and center it to survive, to heal, and to build a new way of being MotherScholars.
In this article, we discuss the current state of research on Chinese teacher education as it dire... more In this article, we discuss the current state of research on Chinese teacher education as it directly pertains to issues of ethnic diversity. Drawing on an extensive review of the research literature published over the past 20 years, we highlight some of the limitations present within the contemporary research literature on teacher education in China. By paying close attention to studies discussing both structural considerations and instructional/practice-based considerations, we raise key questions about the need for future research to explore how to better prepare teachers to serve ethnic minority students. Through a careful examination of current dominant epistemologies in Chinese teacher education research, this study argues that diversity in China remains significantly and woefully underdeveloped in the understandings and analyses of teacher education and much of the existing research in teacher education presents diversity as regional differences in social and economic development in China. There is a need for how ethnic diversity is conceptualized and supported within Chinese teacher education.
Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as center... more Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as centers of collective action which address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant students and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that migrant teachers and students utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. Situating in the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban cities, this article aims to demonstrate the mobilization in China’s migrant communities as teachers and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children and to explore the ways in which their actions changed community members’ perceptions of who they are, what they can do, and how they can do it.
In this article, we argue for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education... more In this article, we argue for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy analyses of teachers' work. We first lay out the conceptual and methodological groundwork, and then revisit two case studies of teachers' work to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework for intersectional transnational education policy analysis. The multi-scaled (individual-relational-systemic) nature of policy processes melds with intertwined oppressive systems to shape who teaches whom what where and why. We draw attention to teaching as work, labor, an occupation, whose contours are being dramatically altered by never-ending crises and neoliberal education projects. We find that the demands of the framework are quite demanding, but promising to theorize change to teachers' work and their role in policy processes.
The article argues for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy... more The article argues for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy analyses of teachers’ work. We first lay out the conceptual and methodological groundwork, and then revisit two case studies of teachers’ work to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework for intersectional transnational education policy analysis. The multi-scaled (individual-relational-systemic) nature of policy processes melds with intertwined oppressive systems to shape who teaches whom what where and why. We draw attention to teaching as work, labor, an occupation, whose contours are being dramatically altered by never-ending crises and neoliberal education projects. We find that the demands of the framework are quite demanding, but promising to theorize change to teachers’ work and their role in policy processes.
The Aesthetic View of Moral Education, Nov 30, 2023
The Aesthetic View of Moral Education is the result of in-depth interdisciplinary research in edu... more The Aesthetic View of Moral Education is the result of in-depth interdisciplinary research in education and aesthetic studies. This book advocates the use of aesthetic ideas and methods to transform moral education activities, which are often trapped in a state of forced indoctrination.
This book aims to address the problems of moral education in China and share certain commonalities in the exploration of educational theory. The aesthetic view of moral education is a new and practical philosophy of education. The author's theory of moral education as the appreciation of beauty, the creation of beauty, and the theory of the attainment of the ultimate realm of moral education provide an in-depth analysis of the functions of aesthetic education for moral cultivation. The author also offers unique interpretations of the aesthetic transformation of the process of moral education itself and the pursuit of the realm of moral life and education.
This book examines the dynamics surrounding the education of children in the unofficial schools o... more This book examines the dynamics surrounding the education of children in the unofficial schools of China’s urban migrant communities. This ethnographic study focuses on both the complex structural factors impacting the education of children attending unofficial migrant children schools and the personal experiences of individuals working within these communities. As the book illustrates in careful detail, the migrant children schools serve a critical function in the community by serving as a hub for organized collective action around shared grievances related to issues of education, employment, well-being, and other social rights. In turn, the development of a collective identity among teachers, students, parents, and other members in the migrant communities makes it possible for activists to begin to work to address multiple forms of discrimination and maltreatment while simultaneously moving towards the possibility of more profound social transformation.
This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advo... more This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advocates the recognition of migrant families’ and communities’ knowledge as necessary, relevant, and impactful curriculum. This article is based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted in various migrant settlements in Beijing. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with migrant parents, teachers, and community activists and participant observations in schools, community meetings, and other gatherings in the communities. Data were coded on themes related to place-based connection, attachment, and belonging and then analyzed. Findings demonstrate that pedagogical practices can be developed to re-center the knowledge and experiences of Chinese migrant communities. This pedagogical work recognizes and reflects the undervalued and unrecognized knowledge of migrant communities while investigating the meaning of “place” for migrant children. This is the first study putting special emphasis on the discussion of what “place” means for migrants and what knowledge is worthwhile for their children in China. A key contribution of this article is that it documents the challenges and benefits of creating a place-based curriculum and pedagogy for migrant children as they construct a sense of belonging.
This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information techno... more This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information technology and discuss the complex impact of technical elements on teaching and the time–space distance of student subjectivity in a technology-dominated world. Based on Foucault's panopticism, this study examines a smart classroom in East Asia to observe classroom teaching and learning processes; conducts semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders; and analyzes the hidden mechanism of the smart classroom on interaction from the perspective of perceivers. The smart classroom has the distinctive structural features of a Panopticon. Artificial intelligence, which coalesces cultural capital through technological authority, has a significant capital advantage over students, producing a false spectacle of efficient learning. Panoramic surveillance causes the “backstage” of students’ roles to be gradually consumed by the “front” and makes students exhibit “make-work” behavior. Refined information management mechanisms produce invisible digital walls that separate interactive groups, making it difficult for students to obtain sufficient information about the gestures and behaviors of their classmates to interact effectively. This study reveals the ignorance of human subjectivity in the orientation of instrumental rationality by understanding the expressions of witnesses.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Jun 15, 2024
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contempor... more Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to prov... more The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to provide education and child development programs and service in China’s migrant communities, specifically as it pertains to the prospects of addressing sociocultural and socioeconomic inequalities in education and child development in urban China. Building on frameworks of dimensions of citizenship, this article examines the work of migrant educator-activists who provide community-based education and child development service in Beijing’s migrant communities. Their efforts to address inequalities in child development for migrant children enrich the understanding of citizenship in the Chinese context.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Sep 15, 2023
This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric ... more This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric theories onto Southern and Eastern examples. Specifically, I reflect on the examination of educational issues faced by marginalized migrant communities within Chinese contexts and explore the application of an “Asia as Method” conceptual framework to reimagine education opportunities for migrant children and community mobilization as it pertains to a politics of recognition and redistribution. The politics of location and identity shaped by Chinese society’s historical and contemporary power structures highlight both the needs and potential of theoretical conceptualizations from within. The goal is not simply to replace the West/North with the East/South nor is it to generate a wholly new theoretical concept to be applicable to all contexts; instead, the task undertaken in this work is to foster historically grounded relational explanations in order for communities in previously-decentered contexts to become one another’s multifaceted reference points.
The primary focus of this paper is twofold: to demarcate the epistemic erasure of societal knowle... more The primary focus of this paper is twofold: to demarcate the epistemic erasure of societal knowledge and narratives of Asian Americans as braided with other forms of anti-Asian racism by tracing its historical roots in orientalism, colonialism, and imperialism; and to redress such erasure by foregrounding transnational perspectives and Asian American Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit). By attending to historical and ongoing experiences of migration and racialization, this paper highlights the transculturality of Asian American histories, epistemologies, and communities, along with the multi-stranded connections that they share with diasporic Asians in other countries. It expands the dominant framing of racialized minorities in the United States that indexes and limits their experiences within the geopolitical boundaries of the nation-state. By situating Asian Americans within critical historical and transnational contexts, this paper generates a fuller and more complex understanding of the past and present conditions of Asian Americans and anti-Asian racism. It also deliberately highlights the agency of Asian American youth and their strategies in contesting anti-Asian racism in schools and society at large. By amplifying Asian American youth voices and agency, this paper not only affirms their wealth of transnational funds of knowledge but also offers crucial interventions challenging the curricular violence that continues to marginalize and misrepresent Asian Americans.
The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by Joh... more The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by John Dewey to a standard element in teacher education curricula and standards. In the process, CT has narrowed its focus to the analysis and articulation of logical thought, and lost transformative value. In this paper, we examine the conception and implementation of CT in three teacher education domains primarily in the United States–music, media and information literacy, and social studies–asking how CT has deformed education in those domains, and how domain-specific approaches could reinvigorate CT. We further suggest refocusing the purpose of CT in teacher education on accomplishing transformative education for equity in school and society, by implementing a critically reflective, transformative praxis based on the insights of domain-specific approaches to CT.
This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation... more This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation after the enactment of the “Double Reduction” Policy. Data were collected from 364 questionnaires and six subsequent in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that despite having brought about some benefits, the “Double Reduction” Policy has increased Chinese primary school teachers’ working time. Moreover, the teachers’ working time is unevenly allocated, with disproportionately more time devoted to subject teaching and less time devoted to professional development. As a result, the nature of the different types of Chinese primary school teachers’ working time further affect the teachers’ perceived workload and work-related stress. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers receive greater support and time for their ongoing professional development.
In order to clarify the status quo of international research on Chinese rural education research ... more In order to clarify the status quo of international research on Chinese rural education research and explore possible strategies for moving forward, we conducted systematic content analysis on 173 research articles published in 41 high-impact English-language international academic journals between 1978 and 2022. Though articles related to Chinese rural education make up a quarter of all articles on Chinese education published in these journals, they make up less than 0.5% of all articles published in these journals. Though this tiny field has grown substantially since 2010, there are two major problems constricting its healthy development: the dominance of positivism and quantitative methodologies, and the dominance of western classical social theories. Currently, changing international relations and the prominence of rural development issues present unprecedented opportunities for reshaping international research on Chinese rural education. In order to seize these opportunities, the Chinese state needs to invest in developing international academic journals as well as support qualitative and theoretical research on Chinese rural education. Researchers also need to develop cultural and theoretical reflexivity in order to break out of the current theoretical conundrum.
This article explores critical ways that migrant groups engage in diverse forms of resistance. In... more This article explores critical ways that migrant groups engage in diverse forms of resistance. In this comparative case study, we draw on our longitudinal ethnographic research on migrant groups, particularly those that are characterized as undocumented, with a focus on the ways in which they engage in activism and resistance in China and the United States, respectively. We aim to expand the literature about comparison by asking: how is comparison understood differently through the lens of crisscrossing, and what productive insights can be uncovered through this theoretically informed approach? What implications might crisscrossing have for studying grassroots level resistance from migrants across borders?
This editorial essay is for the special issue “Intersectionality and education work during COVID-... more This editorial essay is for the special issue “Intersectionality and education work during COVID-19 transitions.” We reconceptualize intersectionality in the contexts of COVID-19 to theorize change to education work, introduce the six special issue papers, and provide directions for future research.
Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers ... more Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers in both public schools and schools for migrant children have responded to state policies that restrict educational opportunities for migrant students. We argue the importance of political context in re-conceptualising empowerment by raising the question ‘empowerment from what?’ By making explicit what is normalised, we problematise the ways in which the predominant definition of empowerment has marginalised and trivialised the experiences of educators who are also engaging in powerful acts of empowerment in China. Importantly, this study sheds light on the ways in which Chinese teachers use ‘citizenship talk’ practices to engage in empowerment processes for migrant students. We contend that the value of this piece lies in pushing critical scholars to think more deeply about empowerment as socio-cultural transformation and advancing the field by generating debate on how context matters.
In this article, we examine our efforts as a multiracial collective of mothers, activists, and ed... more In this article, we examine our efforts as a multiracial collective of mothers, activists, and education scholars to work together to (re)new ourselves – to use our collective energy to harmonize our relationships between home and work and to imagine new possibilities for the future of the academy through this regenerated state. Marginalized women have long used the collective power in this way – turning to one another for support through circumstances certainly as challenging and frightful as the pandemic and using the collaborative learning to build new futures for their children, their students and, by extension, society. Using a circle methodology and abuelita epistemologies framework, we engage in the different process of (re)membering ourselves as MotherScholars, in order to rupture the violent logic of structural racism in the academy, intensified by the global pandemic. The stillness of the earth provided a space for us MotherScholars to listen in a new way, to bring back ancestral wisdom and center it to survive, to heal, and to build a new way of being MotherScholars.
In this article, we discuss the current state of research on Chinese teacher education as it dire... more In this article, we discuss the current state of research on Chinese teacher education as it directly pertains to issues of ethnic diversity. Drawing on an extensive review of the research literature published over the past 20 years, we highlight some of the limitations present within the contemporary research literature on teacher education in China. By paying close attention to studies discussing both structural considerations and instructional/practice-based considerations, we raise key questions about the need for future research to explore how to better prepare teachers to serve ethnic minority students. Through a careful examination of current dominant epistemologies in Chinese teacher education research, this study argues that diversity in China remains significantly and woefully underdeveloped in the understandings and analyses of teacher education and much of the existing research in teacher education presents diversity as regional differences in social and economic development in China. There is a need for how ethnic diversity is conceptualized and supported within Chinese teacher education.
Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as center... more Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as centers of collective action which address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant students and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that migrant teachers and students utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. Situating in the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban cities, this article aims to demonstrate the mobilization in China’s migrant communities as teachers and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children and to explore the ways in which their actions changed community members’ perceptions of who they are, what they can do, and how they can do it.
In this article, we argue for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education... more In this article, we argue for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy analyses of teachers' work. We first lay out the conceptual and methodological groundwork, and then revisit two case studies of teachers' work to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework for intersectional transnational education policy analysis. The multi-scaled (individual-relational-systemic) nature of policy processes melds with intertwined oppressive systems to shape who teaches whom what where and why. We draw attention to teaching as work, labor, an occupation, whose contours are being dramatically altered by never-ending crises and neoliberal education projects. We find that the demands of the framework are quite demanding, but promising to theorize change to teachers' work and their role in policy processes.
The article argues for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy... more The article argues for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy analyses of teachers’ work. We first lay out the conceptual and methodological groundwork, and then revisit two case studies of teachers’ work to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework for intersectional transnational education policy analysis. The multi-scaled (individual-relational-systemic) nature of policy processes melds with intertwined oppressive systems to shape who teaches whom what where and why. We draw attention to teaching as work, labor, an occupation, whose contours are being dramatically altered by never-ending crises and neoliberal education projects. We find that the demands of the framework are quite demanding, but promising to theorize change to teachers’ work and their role in policy processes.
GWO 30(2) Table of Contents:
Starting a dialogue in difficult times: Intersectionality and education work
Sarah A. Robert, Min Yu, Fernanda Sauerbronn, Banu Özkazanç-Pan
Pages: 628-637
The persistence of neoliberal logics in faculty evaluations amidst Covid-19: Recalibrating toward equity
Ethel L. Mickey, Joya Misra, Dessie Clark
Pages: 638-656
Just because it don't look heavy, don't mean it ain't: An intersectional analysis of Black women's labor as faculty during COVID
Christa J. Porter, Ginny Jones Boss, Tiffany J. Davis
Pages: 657-672
Navigating white academe during crisis: The impact of COVID-19 and racial violence on women of color professionals
Tsedale M. Melaku, Angie Beeman
Pages: 673-691
Fighting on the frontlines: Intersectional organizing in educators' social justice unions during COVID-19
Rhiannon M. Maton
Pages: 692-709
“It's part of me”: Brazilian immigrant teachers' work in a global pandemic
Gabrielle Oliveira, Corinne Kentor
Pages: 710-723
Testimonios de las atravesadas: A borderland existence of women of color faculty
Katherine S. Cho, Racheal M. Banda, Érica Fernández, Brittany Aronson
Pages: 724-743
This article explores the discursive functioning of education policies, bringing into considerati... more This article explores the discursive functioning of education policies, bringing into consideration community perspectives regarding policy enactment in contemporary China. With the intention of building upon ongoing discussions surrounding both the conceptions and purposes of policy sociology, we critically analyse policies directly related to the education of migrant children living in and around China's largest urban centres, with a specific focus on those implemented in Beijing. We emphasize two important aspects that previous studies of China's education policies have tended to underplay given their focus on social-economic perspectives. The first argument is that education policies have an underlying agenda that extends beyond that of simply addressing the educational needs of migrant children – evidenced through the discursive functions of policy texts. The second argument is related and seeks to raise questions about who is best served by these policies and for whom these policies are intended.
摘要
本文探讨了教育政策的话语功能, 并倡导从社区的角度来审视当代中国的政策制定。我们延续了围绕政策社会学的概念和目的进行的讨论, 并批判性地分析了与生活在中国大城市中心及其周边的流动儿童的教育直接相关的政策, 特别是在北京实施的流动儿童教育政策。鉴于先前对中国教育政策的研究往往倾向于从社会经济层面入手, 我们强调此前的研究低估了两个重要方面的议题。第一个议题是, 这些教育政策的潜在议程往往并不只是简单地为了解决流动儿童的教育需求的问题——此点通过对这些政策文本的话语功能分析得以证明。第二个议题所提出的问题是与此紧密相关的一系列反思, 所寻求的反思是这些政策归根到底为谁服务以及这些政策的目标对象究竟为谁。
Full-text: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/discursive-politics-of-education-policy-in-china-educating-migrant-children/083D73FBD05F624F3D06946004AC3620/share/444b418040c7c57dc37a7c49fbee23b527faf9c6
In P. Downes, G. Li, L. Van Praag, & S. Lamb (Eds.),The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education, 2024
Situating within the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban Chin... more Situating within the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban Chinese cities, this chapter aims to demonstrate the mobilization in migrant communities as community members and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children. Although excluded from the urban public realm for decades, migrant communities in China’s large urban cities never stopped their mobilization toward providing education for their children and making their voices heard. Grassroots migrant organizations function as centers of collective actions that address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant children and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that community members and activists utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. The spaces created as a result of the collective actions encouraged the formation of a sense of solidarity among migrant children, their families, as well as activists from outside the communities. These activities not only challenged the stereotypes of migrant children and their families but also provided opportunities to mobilize people from outside the communities to support migrant children’s education.
In Pinson, H., Bunar, N., & Devine, D. (Eds.), Research handbook on migration and education. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar., 2023
This chapter discusses what kinds of schooling is worthwhile for China’s migrant children, examin... more This chapter discusses what kinds of schooling is worthwhile for China’s migrant children, examines the development of educational policies concerning migrant children and documents the collective experiences of securing access to schooling for migrant children in Chinese cities. It critically analyses policies directly related to the education of migrant children living in and around China’s largest urban centres, with a specific focus on those implemented in Beijing. It argues that these education policies have an underlying agenda of population control that extends beyond that of simply addressing the educational needs of migrant children. This chapter also raises important questions about who is best served by these policies and for whom are these policies intended.
Global Feminist Autoethnographies During COVID-19: Displacements and Disruptions, 2022
In response to the diverse challenges that we faced as Motherscholars of different racial and eth... more In response to the diverse challenges that we faced as Motherscholars of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the varied positionalities we occupy as faculty members on the tenure spectrum, we began to meet as a collective to seek meaning from our lives in these perilous times and to offer each other holistic support for the many roles we fulfill. As Motherscholars working from within the colonial settler, white supremacist, capitalist, and patriarchal society, while employing the power of a restorative circle and abuelita epistemologies, we have asked: How might invoking ancestral epistemologies as a collective translate into self-preservation and transformation in the coronavirus age? Our focus is on the past as a foundation to remember what has happened to our ancestors, to (re)member their experiences as a sustaining practice in the present, and to re-member ourselves and our communities anew as a result.
In Brugar, K. A. & Roberts, K. L. (Eds.) Real Classrooms, Real Teachers: The C3 Inquiry in Practice. Charlotte, NC: IAP., 2021
The C3 Framework is organized in an “inquiry arc”(think flow of instruction) that is launched by ... more The C3 Framework is organized in an “inquiry arc”(think flow of instruction) that is launched by questions, advances to the application of the concepts and tools of the core social studies disciplines (civics, economics, geography, and history). It is ultimately grounded in both the communication of conclusions reached through the inquiry as well as the taking of appropriate action with the new knowledge, understandings and skills developed. The four dimensions of the C3 Framework mutually reinforce instructional components that highlight the intersection of ideas and learners. Foundational to this instructional arc in a social studies lesson are the sources gathered and analyzed by students. Dimension 3: Evaluating sources and using evidence includes the skills students need to analyze information and develop conclusions in an inquiry. These skills consist of gathering and evaluating sources, as well as developing claims and using evidence to support those claims.
The establishment of the community schools for migrant children and the development of curriculum... more The establishment of the community schools for migrant children and the development of curriculum for migrant children in China’s migrant communities speak to the critical questions concerning whose knowledge counts and what is worthwhile for children from underserved communities. The spaces provided by the migrant children schools encouraged the formation of a sense of solidarity among migrant students, their families, and teachers, as well as active members outside the communities. The sense of solidarity was reflected by the blurred boundary between schools and familial spaces. Located inside migrant communities, migrant children schools contributed to the formation of a sense of collectivity among the students, their teachers, their families, and other members of the migrant communities. Many of the schools, regardless of size, number of teachers, with permits or without official recognition, organized various activities and opportunities to bring personal, family, and community experiences into school curriculum and extracurricular activities, or to encourage everyone to join community events.
The collective understanding of living and working in the migrant communities was formed among teachers and parents, especially when they shared both roles in a community. Although excluded from the public realm for decades, migrant communities never stopped their mobilization towards providing education for their children and making their voices heard. In the spaces provided by migrant children schools, students and teachers used a variety of ways to tell their own stories. The vitalizing activities in the communities not only challenged the stereotypes of migrant children and their schools but also provided opportunities to mobilize people outside the communities and beyond the basic communal networks to further collaborate with and to support the work of migrant children’s schooling.
In Sharpes, D.K. (Ed.), Handbook on Comparative and International Studies in Education. Charlotte, NC: IAP., Dec 1, 2016
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a multi-ethnic country with the world’s largest populatio... more The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a multi-ethnic country with the world’s largest population, a total of 1.34 billion. Among China’s officially recognized 56 ethnic groups, approximately 91.51% of the total population are Han, the majority group. Less than 10% of the population is composed of 55 ethnic minority groups who live in the largely resource-rich but economically under-developed ethnic autonomous areas (Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 2013). Ethnic minority education is an integral part of education in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Adamson & Feng, 2009). This chapter is a starting point for us to explore the education of ethnic minorities in P. R. China. We begin with a sketch of ethnic minorities in China and then move to an overview of main educational policies for ethnic minorities: the preferential policies, the language policies, and the decentralized education systems in China. Situations, challenges, and possibilities of the education of ethnic minorities are also explored.
In Lim, L. & Apple, M. W. (Eds.), The Strong State and Curriculum Reform: Assessing the Politics and Possibilities of Educational Change in Asia. New York, NY: Routledge., May 2016
This chapter examines how the state in China has attempted to transform rural migrants and their ... more This chapter examines how the state in China has attempted to transform rural migrants and their children into new types of subjects by introducing policies that would monitor and control them. It lays out the development of these policies, both at the state and regional level, and shows how they influence the often “less-than-official” status of China’s migrant children schools. Yet members in migrant communities often adopt strategies to chart out alternative paths for their children’s education, and in ways that cannot be fully captured by Western understandings of social movements. By documenting these communities’ efforts towards redefining the education they provide for their children, and by tracing out the ongoing impacts such efforts carry for the society as a whole and for individuals, this chapter makes the argument that Western constructs such as democracy and social movements fail to illuminate the complexity of current social and political changes in China and the richness of the agendas that are developing at the grassroots level. Such an analysis offers insights into the nature of collective action in Chinese society and the reconstruction of social dynamics across its cities.
In He, M. F., Schultz, B. D., & Schubert, W. H. (Eds.) The SAGE Guide to Curriculum in Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE., Jun 2015
The SAGE Guide to Curriculum in Education integrates, summarizes, and explains, in highly accessi... more The SAGE Guide to Curriculum in Education integrates, summarizes, and explains, in highly accessible form, foundational knowledge and information about the field of curriculum with brief, simply written overviews for people outside of or new to the field of education. This Guide supports study, research, and instruction, with content that permits quick access to basic information, accompanied by references to more in-depth presentations in other published sources. This Guide lies between the sophistication of a handbook and the brevity of an encyclopedia. It addresses the ties between and controversies over public debate, policy making, university scholarship, and school practice. While tracing complex traditions, trajectories, and evolutions of curriculum scholarship, the Guide illuminates how curriculum ideas, issues, perspectives, and possibilities can be translated into public debate, school practice, policy making, and life of the general public focusing on the aims of education for a better human condition. 55 topical chapters are organized into four parts: Subject Matter as Curriculum, Teachers as Curriculum, Students as Curriculum, and Milieu as Curriculum based upon the conceptualization of curriculum commonplaces by Joseph J. Schwab: subject matter, teachers, learners, and milieu. The Guide highlights and explicates how the four commonplaces are interdependent and interconnected in the decision-making processes that involve local and state school boards and government agencies, educational institutions, and curriculum stakeholders at all levels that address the central curriculum questions: What is worthwhile? What is worth knowing, needing, experiencing, doing, being, becoming, overcoming, sharing, contributing, wondering, and imagining? The Guide benefits undergraduate and graduate students, curriculum professors, teachers, teacher educators, parents, educational leaders, policy makers, media writers, public intellectuals, and other educational workers.
Key Features:
Each chapter inspires readers to understand why the particular topic is a cutting edge curriculum topic; what are the pressing issues and contemporary concerns about the topic; what historical, social, political, economic, geographical, cultural, linguistic, ecological, etc. contexts surrounding the topic area; how the topic, relevant practical and policy ramifications, and contextual embodiment can be understood by theoretical perspectives; and how forms of inquiry and modes of representation or expression in the topic area are crucial to develop understanding for and make impact on practice, policy, context, and theory.
In Knoester, M. (Ed.), International and Struggles for Critical Democratic Education., Jun 2012
""Over the past two decades, Chinese society has been undergoing profound social and economic tra... more ""Over the past two decades, Chinese society has been undergoing profound social and economic transformations. Under the historical conditions of “late socialist” China, new social phenomena—including unprecedented domestic migration and the accelerated restructuring of social institutions—have led to the emergence of various new kinds of social spaces and practices.
The purpose of this chapter is two-fold. First, it addresses the question of why have migrant children schools emerged. Specifically, the article describes the contexts surrounding the emergence of migrant children schools, paying specific attention to the economic, social, and political factors of late socialist China. Second, it answers the question of what are migrant children schools, by providing an overview and description of migrant children schools, focusing both on the social and educational issues facing the children of migrant workers and how the collective efforts of parents and teachers working in migrant communities have (or have not) influenced and been influenced by changing official Chinese educational policies.""
William C. Smith’s edited book, The Global Testing Culture, examines important and timely issues ... more William C. Smith’s edited book, The Global Testing Culture, examines important and timely issues surrounding both the politics and consequences of large scale testing systems. Central to this work is the assertion that this feature of contemporary education impacts nearly all aspects of education throughout the world.
Teaching Comparative Education: Trends and Issues Informing Practice examines the ideological and... more Teaching Comparative Education: Trends and Issues Informing Practice examines the ideological and conceptual landscape of comparative and international education (CIE), as well as the intellectual and social aims surrounding CIE teaching.
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Books by Min Yu (余旻)
This book aims to address the problems of moral education in China and share certain commonalities in the exploration of educational theory. The aesthetic view of moral education is a new and practical philosophy of education. The author's theory of moral education as the appreciation of beauty, the creation of beauty, and the theory of the attainment of the ultimate realm of moral education provide an in-depth analysis of the functions of aesthetic education for moral cultivation. The author also offers unique interpretations of the aesthetic transformation of the process of moral education itself and the pursuit of the realm of moral life and education.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles by Min Yu (余旻)
从何处赋权？中国教师对流动儿童的“公民话语”实践
摘要：
借助北京和上海多个调研地点的民族志研究项目，我们探讨公立学校与打工子弟学校教师如何应对旨在限制流动儿童教育机会的国家政策。通过提出 “从何处赋权？”这一问题，我们论证政治背景在重新理解赋权方面的重要性。通过明确何为规范，我们对主流的赋权定义提出质疑，这一定义将那些在中国同样从事于有力的赋权活动的教育者的经验边缘化及琐碎化。重要的是，这项研究揭示中国的教师如何通过开展“公民话语 ”实践,参与对流动儿童赋权的过程。我们认为，本文的价值在于促使从事批判性研究的学者更深入地思考作为社会文化转化的赋权议题，并通过引发关于背景之重要性的讨论，推动这一研究领域的进展。
Full article: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DM7UV9DIAVRQ3743BQQK/full?target=10.1080/03050068.2022.2088691
This book aims to address the problems of moral education in China and share certain commonalities in the exploration of educational theory. The aesthetic view of moral education is a new and practical philosophy of education. The author's theory of moral education as the appreciation of beauty, the creation of beauty, and the theory of the attainment of the ultimate realm of moral education provide an in-depth analysis of the functions of aesthetic education for moral cultivation. The author also offers unique interpretations of the aesthetic transformation of the process of moral education itself and the pursuit of the realm of moral life and education.
从何处赋权？中国教师对流动儿童的“公民话语”实践
摘要：
借助北京和上海多个调研地点的民族志研究项目，我们探讨公立学校与打工子弟学校教师如何应对旨在限制流动儿童教育机会的国家政策。通过提出 “从何处赋权？”这一问题，我们论证政治背景在重新理解赋权方面的重要性。通过明确何为规范，我们对主流的赋权定义提出质疑，这一定义将那些在中国同样从事于有力的赋权活动的教育者的经验边缘化及琐碎化。重要的是，这项研究揭示中国的教师如何通过开展“公民话语 ”实践,参与对流动儿童赋权的过程。我们认为，本文的价值在于促使从事批判性研究的学者更深入地思考作为社会文化转化的赋权议题，并通过引发关于背景之重要性的讨论，推动这一研究领域的进展。
Full article: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DM7UV9DIAVRQ3743BQQK/full?target=10.1080/03050068.2022.2088691
GWO 30(2) Table of Contents:
Starting a dialogue in difficult times: Intersectionality and education work
Sarah A. Robert, Min Yu, Fernanda Sauerbronn, Banu Özkazanç-Pan
Pages: 628-637
The persistence of neoliberal logics in faculty evaluations amidst Covid-19: Recalibrating toward equity
Ethel L. Mickey, Joya Misra, Dessie Clark
Pages: 638-656
Just because it don't look heavy, don't mean it ain't: An intersectional analysis of Black women's labor as faculty during COVID
Christa J. Porter, Ginny Jones Boss, Tiffany J. Davis
Pages: 657-672
Navigating white academe during crisis: The impact of COVID-19 and racial violence on women of color professionals
Tsedale M. Melaku, Angie Beeman
Pages: 673-691
Fighting on the frontlines: Intersectional organizing in educators' social justice unions during COVID-19
Rhiannon M. Maton
Pages: 692-709
“It's part of me”: Brazilian immigrant teachers' work in a global pandemic
Gabrielle Oliveira, Corinne Kentor
Pages: 710-723
Testimonios de las atravesadas: A borderland existence of women of color faculty
Katherine S. Cho, Racheal M. Banda, Érica Fernández, Brittany Aronson
Pages: 724-743
摘要
本文探讨了教育政策的话语功能, 并倡导从社区的角度来审视当代中国的政策制定。我们延续了围绕政策社会学的概念和目的进行的讨论, 并批判性地分析了与生活在中国大城市中心及其周边的流动儿童的教育直接相关的政策, 特别是在北京实施的流动儿童教育政策。鉴于先前对中国教育政策的研究往往倾向于从社会经济层面入手, 我们强调此前的研究低估了两个重要方面的议题。第一个议题是, 这些教育政策的潜在议程往往并不只是简单地为了解决流动儿童的教育需求的问题——此点通过对这些政策文本的话语功能分析得以证明。第二个议题所提出的问题是与此紧密相关的一系列反思, 所寻求的反思是这些政策归根到底为谁服务以及这些政策的目标对象究竟为谁。
Full-text: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/discursive-politics-of-education-policy-in-china-educating-migrant-children/083D73FBD05F624F3D06946004AC3620/share/444b418040c7c57dc37a7c49fbee23b527faf9c6
The collective understanding of living and working in the migrant communities was formed among teachers and parents, especially when they shared both roles in a community. Although excluded from the public realm for decades, migrant communities never stopped their mobilization towards providing education for their children and making their voices heard. In the spaces provided by migrant children schools, students and teachers used a variety of ways to tell their own stories. The vitalizing activities in the communities not only challenged the stereotypes of migrant children and their schools but also provided opportunities to mobilize people outside the communities and beyond the basic communal networks to further collaborate with and to support the work of migrant children’s schooling.
Key Features:
Each chapter inspires readers to understand why the particular topic is a cutting edge curriculum topic; what are the pressing issues and contemporary concerns about the topic; what historical, social, political, economic, geographical, cultural, linguistic, ecological, etc. contexts surrounding the topic area; how the topic, relevant practical and policy ramifications, and contextual embodiment can be understood by theoretical perspectives; and how forms of inquiry and modes of representation or expression in the topic area are crucial to develop understanding for and make impact on practice, policy, context, and theory.
The purpose of this chapter is two-fold. First, it addresses the question of why have migrant children schools emerged. Specifically, the article describes the contexts surrounding the emergence of migrant children schools, paying specific attention to the economic, social, and political factors of late socialist China. Second, it answers the question of what are migrant children schools, by providing an overview and description of migrant children schools, focusing both on the social and educational issues facing the children of migrant workers and how the collective efforts of parents and teachers working in migrant communities have (or have not) influenced and been influenced by changing official Chinese educational policies.""