Corporate school reformers like to call themselves just "reformers" and counterpose themselves to the "status quo." There is no doubt that the corporate/foundation crowd has successfully captured the media label as "education reformers." However, this political branding has little to do with reality or the substance of the issues under debate.…

What inspires young people to become activists? Events such as wars or regime changes obviously raise high emotions. But some choose to get involved because they saw a need and felt compelled to take action. Young Americans have a long track record as activists. Among other things, they played a key role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s…

In 1837, Margaret Prior became the first female missionary for the American Female Moral Reform Society. She traveled throughout the poorest neighborhoods in New York City--entering barrooms, brothels, and sickrooms. Based on an analysis of Prior's missionary reports, published in the society's periodical and included in her memoir, this essay…

This viewpoint begins by exploring whether the global phenomenon of the 2011 "SlutWalks" constitutes a feminist politics of re-signification. We then look at some qualitative, focus group data with teen girls who participated in a UK SlutWalk. We suggest girls are not only negotiating a schizoid double pull towards performing knowing…

The slogans, the effigy, and the disruption of public space reflect tactics for which AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is commonly remembered, but the occasion is somewhat unique. These protests and actions challenged the Bush and Clinton administrations' policy on HIV-positive Haitian migrants fleeing political repression in Haiti after…

This study investigated perspectives of social justice activists who directly advocate for eliminating Native-themed mascots, nicknames, and logos. Using consensual qualitative research methodology, the research team analyzed transcripts of interviews conducted with 11 social justice activists to generate themes, categories, and domains within the…

This paper argues that modern education is premised upon urban industrial society, and that this has been conceived around a false notion of progress which perpetuates fracture between people and planet. If education maintains this illusion of progress whilst ignoring the reality of environmental meltdown it serves no reliable purpose in…

Despite the dramatic shift in demographics occurring within public schools, there is scarce research connecting issues of diversity and race with the curricula guiding educational leadership preparation programs. In the field of leadership preparation, little information has been offered as to how professors facilitate social justice oriented…

In this article Sarah Stitzlein highlights an educational right that has been largely unacknowledged in the past but has recently gained significance given renewed citizen participation in displays of public outcry on our streets and in our town halls. Dissent is typically conceived of as a negative right--a liberty that guarantees that the…

This piece explores questions of power, conflict, and community in education through a story of Chicago educators engaging in experiential inquiry processes. One of these processes is a "Theatre of the Oppressed" exercise for dealing with conflict in education settings. The other process described here focuses on a text that emerged from…

This article explores the mobilization dynamics of a school-based minority language revitalization initiative in the French Basque Country, known as the Ikastola Movement. Bringing the study of language revitalization into dialogue with social movement theory, I discuss how the solidarity of Basque language activists was influenced by state-level…

In a sweeping history that begins in the 1960s, the author investigates how the sustainability movement emerged from the extremes of environmentalism. In considering how these movements diverge, he points out that what sets "sustainatopians" and environmentalists apart from earlier conservationists is their quasi-mystical claim that "everything is…

Activists understand "engagement" to entail working toward positive social change in a sometimes uncivil, aggressive manner. However, scholars' enthusiasm for engagement is often policed by their affiliate institutions via various forms of depoliticization and/or apoliticization inside the academy. In this article, the authors argue that policing…

This paper explores the connections between two common circulating discourses about queer youth and the ways that these discourses are wielded in the name of creating safe spaces for queer youth. First, the discourse of innocence is still applied to queer youth, however, the application has shifted to focus largely on the ways that queer youth are…

This study builds on political mediation and movement infrastructure models to highlight contingent and synergistic ways in which social movements may impinge upon the U.S. national policy-making process. Analyses employ a variety of datasets to examine the role of environmental movement organizational capacity, protest and institutional activity…