It is difficult to overestimate the differences between Native American studies in Europe and the United States. In Europe there are no dedicated university programs in Native American studies; instead, disciplinary units such as American studies or departments such as English, history, development studies, and anthropology house teaching and…

The attack on ethnic studies in Tucson is a local struggle with broad implications. This essay poses that Arizona is a testing ground for neoliberal laws, policies and practices, including HB2281, an anti-Latin@ law banning ethnic studies courses in public schools. Given that many such political "experiments" have been successfully…

It's funny how a single lucid moment can change so many things; a single video can light a spark for justice. That reality hit the author when her teacher, Devin Carberry, played a YouTube clip of UNIDOS, a group of students fighting to keep ethnic studies alive in Arizona. Devin brought in the documentary "Precious Knowledge," an…

"Rethinking Columbus," the book the author co-edited with Bob Peterson, had been banned in the schools of Tucson, Arizona, as part of that state's suppression of the Mexican American Studies program. The state superintendent of schools, John Huppenthal, had found the acclaimed Tucson program out of compliance with House Bill 2281, which…

"Writings of Healing and Resistance: Empathy and the Imagination-Intellect" is a multi-authored, interdisciplinary journey. It continues the work started in Public Education and the Imagination-Intellect (Peter Lang, 2003) by extending the importance of empathy in developing an action-based social consciousness. Mary E. Weems doesn't argue for a…

Even as a little girl, Dr. Nitasha Sharma aspired to become a college professor like her parents, whose careers let the family spend entire summers or longer in either her mother's native Brooklyn, New York, or her father's native India. She dreamed of long vacations as a grown-up and going home for lunch on weekdays. But during a stay in India…

In this chapter, the authors describe how a pedagogical commitment at one urban public school to support teaching and learning with Southeast Asian refugee students and their Vietnam veteran classmates two decades ago has continued to be meaningful for more recently arrived refugee students from other world regions, as well as for a diverse, new…

When Dr. Chia Youyee Vang arrived at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee five years ago, numerous Hmong students along with community residents called for more courses specifically examining their life experiences. Now, her university offers a certificate in Hmong diaspora studies. It's part of a growing tide within Asian American studies--more…

This article describes the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston which complements students' career tracks and engages them in the surrounding Asian American community. For many educators, large numbers of graduates are not only a bragging right, but a goal. However, those involved in the Asian American…

Focused on comparative ethnic studies and intersectionality, the author commences with a discussion about Barack Obama's historic inauguration and the Asian American literature classroom. This essay argues that courses, programs, and departments focused on ethnicity, race, gender, class, and sexuality remain important precisely because they…

In his keynote address to the Fifth Annual American Indian Studies Consortium in 2005 David Wilkins began by commenting on earlier attempts to formally organize such a gathering in ways that might help establish and accredit Indian studies programs. He said he had the sense that the thrust of earlier meetings "was really an opportunity for Native…

One of the most versatile and multi-faceted films that an educator can use to illustrate urban America in the 1930s is "Great Guy," a relatively obscure film from 1936 directed by John G. Blystone and starring James Cagney and Mae Clarke. There are some simple practical considerations that make the film such a good fit for an American history or…

The academic field of Native American/American Indian studies (NAS/AIS) has been and largely remains a product of political forces at the national level and now at the tribal level. The very recognition of American Indians as a unique group by the U.S. government is a political statement of survival. In this article, the author revisits the…

This study describes how two 10th grade teachers designed a cross-disciplinary unit, using PBL instruction as a tool for helping students create a valid and convincing argument in their math class. The five week PBL unit focused around American Studies/English and geometry content. In order to measure the rigor and relevance of the unit, multiple…

In this article, the author describes how he co-teaches an interdisciplinary American Studies class that fosters inquiry and reflection on the complexity of an authentic telling of US history. With the help of his partner, a social studies teacher, the author designed an American Studies course that aims to reveal to students that America's…