This study examines a grassroots, school-centered parent and family organizing effort from the actual "trenches" in the struggle for equity and excellence in education. This is an exploration of the intrinsic value and the complex dynamics of the organizing process of a small group of Latino immigrant parents struggling to improve their children's…

The 1983 Review of the Family Services Act (1973) and the Advisory Council meetings in Saskatchewan should be viewed against the backdrop of political changes taking place in North American society. Beginning with decolonization movements in both Canada and the United States, control over the provision of child and family services to indigenous…

Background: Education researchers are paying increasing attention to student activism and to the social production of school spaces. Few studies, however, have brought these two concerns together to examine how student activists work to rebuild school spaces in line with their political commitments. In the present study, I address this gap at the…

Understanding teaching as a political act is often assumed to be a strength for teachers; however, this assumption conceals important aspects of their processes of becoming politicized. I argue that seeing teaching as a political act can be a liability for prospective teachers of color who engaged with college student activism if these assumed…

Some parents and caregivers, frustrated by low academic performance of their local school, emphasis on testing, or the content of the curriculum, have worked independently or formed parent groups to speak out and demand improvements. Parents and families enact solutions such as opting out of tests, developing alternative curricula, invoking parent…

Within the field of teacher education, increased emphasis has been placed on social justice education (SJE). This qualitative study examined a group of beginning teachers who voluntarily participated in a social justice critical inquiry project (CIP). The findings indicate that while many of them were successful at teaching social issues, they…

In the southwestern United States, there is a group of children who are referred to as "borderland children" who experience additional challenges that place them at higher risk of developing mental health and other related problems. For the purpose of this article, borderland children are defined as children who reside in towns and…

This study critically examines facets of student identity and youth activism in the context of evolving notions of citizenship and democracy in a globalized world. I conducted this study to research the nature of the divide that exists between civic engagement programs at higher education institutions that have committed to educating students for…

"Decades of Chaos and Revolution: Showdowns for College Presidents" is the story and comparison of two eras in the history of higher education. The first era covers the period of the 1960s through the mid-1970s, and the second is the first decade of the twenty-first century. Both decades were marked by events that shook the foundations of colleges…

Introduction: The infamy of Nazi medical research conjures up images of horrific experiments in the concentration camps and SS (Schutzstaffel) doctors like Josef Mengele. However, the anti-smoking campaign of Nazi Germany is perhaps one of the least examined aspects of public health history and state sponsored anti-tobacco advocacy. Nazi public…

Nancy Fraser's propositions regarding the nature of "boundary" work carried out by experts within organizations suggests that individuals who work within bureaucratic structures are so constrained by the institutional context that they become detached, depoliticizing arbitrators of politicized claims. The purpose of the research reported…

Every January, Charles Cobb Jr. makes the 1,100-mile trek from sunny Jacksonville, Florida, to chilly Providence, Rhode Island. For the past eight years, Cobb--a veteran of the civil rights movement who in the 1960s served as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi--becomes a visiting professor of…

Historian of religions Charles Long uses the term "American cultural language" to identify discursive challenges to democracy and social justice in the Unites States. The American cultural language, Long says, is the "misinterpretation" of humanness and freedom conveyed when the term "American"--used to signify…

Popular discourses on the problem of sexualisation are beset by emotively charged rhetoric that all-too-often promotes a visceral and affective response as opposed to reasoned and nuanced examination. Drawing on materials from the Social Purity Movement (1860-1910) as well as contemporary anti-sexualisation literature, this article argues that a…

The francophone world has always been at the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. From the mythical (French Canadian) "patient zero," Gaetan Dugas, to Rock Hudson's flight to Paris for medical treatment and the blaming of Haiti for AIDS, as well as the close relationships between Belgian and French and their former African colonies,…