For the past several decades, public attitudes toward immigrants in the United States have centered on questions of legality and documentation, as well as economic and social impacts of immigration, whether real or imagined, such as employment and criminality. How immigrants, writ large, perceive of and contribute to these debates is…

Using tenets of political psychology, this article analyzes educational implications of contemporary Hollywood partisan political film through two critically acclaimed films released in 2018, "Vice" and "On the Basis of Sex." I argue that these films appeal to confirmation bias and motivated reasoning through the use of…

This article discusses the false dichotomy between criticality and historical inquiry. We argue that adding "critical" to "historical inquiry" can be interpreted as something distinct, instead of integral, to historical inquiry. It can normalize the idea that historical thinking is not critical, which, in turn, upholds the…

This article provides a review of the theoretical perspectives on civic and political participation. Four distinct views were identified in the literature: (a) The orthodox view: "Civic and political participation are always positive"; (b) The broad view: "Civic and political participation are multidimensional"; (c) The…

In this article the author aims to broaden the conception of critical pedagogy, while maintaining its defining features, which make it an educational practice distinct from traditional approaches. The author illustrates how critical pedagogy might be made a more broadly embraced practice by teachers and advance its affects on individuals, schools,…

This review essay examines recent texts by Nancy Welch and Tony Scott, both of which use embodied activism as a starting point for their inquiries. Taken together, these works point to a distinct shift in composition studies' turn toward the social, one that calls on workers both within and outside the academy to actively engage in grassroots…

Since the 1990s, ethnic studies and other components of multicultural education have been criticized by neo-conservative and assimilationist scholars who maintain that school diversity initiatives weaken national identity and fail to help students attain the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function effectively in the national mainstream…

In this chapter, the authors consider Paulo Freire's construct of critical consciousness (CC) and why it deserves more attention in research and discourse on youth political and civic development. His approach to education and similar ideas by other scholars of liberation aims to foster a critical analysis of society--and one's status within…

Discusses how President Clinton's view of citizenship is flawed, leading to his attempt to recast big-government programs, such as AmeriCorps, as instruments of individual and community empowerment. The debate over school lunch funding is offered as an example of Clinton's refusal to turn over power, responsibility, and resources to local control.…