Search

This article explores the role and responsibility of the community psychologist in creating change that could potentially harm the group they are meant to be in solidarity with. Drawing upon a 2-year project with a Latinx Student Union at a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest, I examine the ethical dilemmas that arose when powerful stakeholders (school administration) changed the goals and intention of the research project without the consent of the low-power stakeholders (the students). This narrative seeks to shed light on the dilemmas that come with being an ethical community psychologist (Balcazar, Garate-Serafini, & Keys, 2004; Nelson, Prilleltensky, & MacGillivary, 2001; O'Neill, 1989), how these ethics can be compromised by one's identity, and what it means to work for/with/against one's community when deciding whether to stay with or leave a project.

This is an autoethnography of one community psychologist's reflections on the abrupt conclusion of a project that resulted in the dismantlement of a Latinx Student Union at a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest. Gloria Anzaldúa's (Borderlands/La Frontera: The new mestiza, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, 2002) notion of nepantla is used to situate how an individual's personal identities often intersects with their professional identities in ways that collide within the research environment. Drawing on the "heart work" core competencies within the field of community psychology (The Community Psychologist, 45, 2012, 8; American Journal of Community Psychology, 55, 2015, 266) and extending the dialogue of feminist community psychologists engaged in narrative work (American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 2006, 157; American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 2006, 267; Feminist research practice: A primer, Sage, Los Angeles, 2014; American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 2000, 883), the author addresses why it is important for researchers of Color engaged in community collaborations to reflect on projects that have unraveled to understand how their positionality shifts within social contexts.

This article explores how decolonial pedagogy can develop a sense of student activism (Portillo, 2013; Tejada & Espinoza, 2003; Villanueva, 2013). Decolonality in the classroom requires decentering dominant groups to make space for marginalized voices and experiences (Cruz & Sonn, 2011). Aligned with community psychology values (Amer, Mohammed, & Ganzon, 2013), this paper argues for the importance of employing decolonial pedagogy in undergraduate learning through praxis projects. Centering the analysis on one college course in United States, the author showcases how a large-scale class project can engage students in decolonial thinking and foster an interest in social action. The Practical Activism Project, a 45 student collaborative project, explores how class projects can work to decolonize the classroom environment and further push students toward social action and activism. Co-authored with some undergraduate students from this course, this article will examine how decolonizing-informed class projects can lead to campus activism that has spearheaded institutional change for marginalized students. Integrating both perspectives, the authors conclude with lessons learned from this project and advice for future educators.

This article examines how teachers can develop a sense of social activism in students through critical multiculturalism. Drawing upon data from a nine-month participant observation study of a first-grade public charter school classroom in central California, this article highlights how teachers can integrate critical multiculturalism within an elementary classroom by connecting artists' lives to social issues to raise awareness of social injustices, promote critical reflection and consciousness, and develop a sense of social activism. Particular attention is paid to how teachers can incorporate this curriculum into their own classrooms.

Empowering settings are important places for people to develop leadership skills in order to enact social change. Yet, due to socio-cultural constructions of childhood in the US, especially constructions around working class and working poor children of Color, they are often not seen as capable or competent change agents, or in need of being in empowering settings. Based on a 9-month participant observation study of a first grade public charter school classroom in central California, this paper examines how one teacher used an alternative, artist-focused curriculum to take steps to facilitate a more empowering setting for her working class and working poor students, most of whom were Latina/o. We illustrate how this teacher worked to implement the components of an empowering setting within her classroom space: community building, peer-based support, meaningful roles, and shared leadership among her students. Student and teacher interviews are also used to triangulate findings. Implications include providing ways to assist young children as they become social change agents.

Using 8,265 positive behavior cards and 544 conduct reports for 244 students, regressions of how race and gender influence the allocation of punishments or rewards for students at a New England elementary school with an Effective Behavioral Support (EBS) program were examined. Girls were most likely to receive a positive behavior card for respectful actions and white students were most likely to receive a positive card for safe behavior. Boys and Black students were more likely to receive a conduct report for “bad” behavior than girls and white students. Implications regarding race and gender bias in behavior-based programs are discussed.

This article uses data from a 9-month ethnography in California to illustrate how elementary teacher’s decision to reenact Jane Elliott’s “A Class Divided” experiment, in conjunction with an artist-centered multicultural curriculum, shifted classroom conversations to a more critical dialogue of social groups, power, and privilege. Data illustrate how this approach to learning about diversity and difference can facilitate development of students’ critical consciousness at the elementary school level. Student interviews and an interview with the classroom teacher are also used to triangulate findings. The article concludes with suggestions as to how teachers can create critical spaces in their own classrooms.

This ethnographic study examines how one first grade teacher uses an alternative, artist-focused curriculum to develop a critical consciousness in her students to work toward social change. A framework incorporating critical multicultural education and Lewin's theory of small groups is applied to assess how the use of a multicultural curriculum facilitates critical consciousness where students develop a sense of community, agency, and commitment to social action. Student interviews and an interview with the classroom teacher also illustrate how this teacher integrates a critical perspective into her classroom, resulting in discussions of power, privilege, and students becoming agents of social change within their community.

Multicultural education emerged from the political struggles of the 1960s and 1970s and advocated the inclusion of women and ethnic and racial groups in school curricula and children's media. Recently multiculturalism has evolved to include a critical perspective by focusing on stigmatized social identities such as race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and disability. Little Bill, a children's animated television series, is an example of applied critical multiculturalism. In this chapter, we present a case study of one episode, “A Ramp for Monty,” to illustrate the merits of this approach, which may increase the number of social identities children relate to and increase the degree of understanding they may bring to the differences inherent in social identities. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

© 2016 by the board of trustees of the university of ill inois Since the establishment of the first women’s center at the University of Minnesota in 1960, women’s centers on college campuses have provided a wide variety of resources, including but not limited to support services (such as counseling, childcare, and sexual education), as well as workshops and networking opportunities that can benefit the individual both personally and academically (Byrne 48). Women’s centers, in particular, often meet needs that institutions are unable to address given a growing diverse student body, and they are frequently established by current students who are seeking a space for community (Kasper 185). Unfortunately, not all colleges and universities house women’s centers, despite the need for such spaces for their students. Having taught feminist courses, I saw the need for a women’s center at my current institution, the University of Washington Bothell (UWB). UWB is home to over four thousand students, with 51 percent identifying as female and 28 percent identifying as women of color, respectively (“Fast Facts”). As UWB has grown in size, so has our ethnic diversity, with over 51 percent of students in the 2013–14 academic year identifying as being a student of color (“Fast Facts”). Our institution prides itself on being a diverse and inclusive college campus, yet lacks the centers needed to foster a sense of community that promotes these values. Knowing this, I designed a senior seminar grounded in feminist pedagogy and community psychology principles to develop a space where students could learn to work as a collaborative group to facilitate social change on our campus. Over the course of one quarter, eighteen community psychology undergraduate students investigated the need for a women’s center on our campus through student surveys and faculty interviews. This paper is a collective illustration of their class project regarding establishing a campus women’s center as written by their faculty instructor and all eighteen students.