In the contemporary world, very diverse voices and narratives have punctured the cultural canon of universal Western rationality (an enlightened, modern, racist, classist and patriarchal rationality), as well as question the androcentric and sexist norms of language. Through the emergence of new political subjects and languages that embody…

Scholars have utilized the allegory of Reconstruction to trace threads between the historical and contemporary struggles for freedom. In this article, I highlight the ways that abolition has always been a dual project and remains as such in our present time. It calls for the complete destruction of oppressive structures while simultaneously…

In the wake of Trump's presidency, children of color have been increasingly subjected to overt racism in and outside of educational settings. After seeing "In light of the Trump effect" or the anxiety and fear that has ensued for children of color since Trump's pre-election campaign, we suggest that concerted actions are needed from…

Inspired by the life and works of Grammy Award® winning artist, Lil Nas X, we explore ways a young Black queer musician has enacted emancipatory utopias to disrupt dominant cultural modes of being--offering unapologetic expressions and expansions of race, gender, and sexual identity. In this paper, we draw upon José Esteban Muñoz and Ytasha Womak…

Purpose: This paper aims to trace how emotion shapes the sense that is made of politics and how politicization can remake and re-mark emotion, giving it new meaning in context. This paper brings together theories of politicization and emotional configurations in learning to interrogate the role emotion plays in the learning of social justice…

The contemporary #MeToo moment has led to renewed concern about issues of masculinity and gender justice. This moment provides a strong warrant for critically analyzing different programmes for boys and men in relation to their capacity for gender transformation. This paper presents three such programmes located in Victoria (Australia) as case…

Through a study of digital composing in LGBTQ+ YouTube reaction video channels, I explore the role of emotion in shaping how writers in virtual communities collectively feel about injustice and write for social change. In the reaction videos, vloggers circulate funny, emotional reactions to anti-LGBTQ+ media undergirded by oppressive ideologies…

I have developed a Feminist-Humanities model for social justice education that demonstrates pedagogical potency for building students' capacity for transformative social change. This dissertation presents the model, describes its theoretical framework, assesses its impact on student learning, and considers what the findings can offer to social…

In this article, I revisit the concept of activist educational research to consider a wider array of methodological approaches that support the documentation and transformation of systems of oppression, from youth participatory action research projects to 'studying up.' Although activist researchers often turn to participatory methods, I examine…

This 2020 issue of "Social Education," marking the centennial anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, seeks to broaden understanding of the suffrage story in several ways: by considering the strategies and tactics used by the suffragists to foment their agitation; by acknowledging the ways in which further work was needed to secure…

Defining monuments as "ideological powerhouses," this article argues that the current dismantling of confederate monuments is a dismantling of white supremacy. More than symbolic destruction of representations, theses "acts of take-down" are concrete, physically manifested interruptions of systemic racism. Drawing on Black…

In this essay, Kate Cairns considers the implications of assessing garden pedagogies, arguing that a rhetoric of effects assumes an essentialist conception of the child-as-educational-output and bolsters a neoliberal vision of social change rooted in personal transformation. Drawing from ethnographic research with youth gardens in Toronto,…

Social change and social justice have become an increasingly important movement within the profession of counselor education. Feminism shares a philosophical foundation with social justice movements. Despite the overlapping philosophy, feminists within counselor education have little visibility, and a dearth of literature regarding their…

In this 2019 presidential address, I reflect on the significance of community across four areas: with youth and in school communities, within literacy teacher education, in community-engaged theories and methodologies, and within the professional organization. How do we define and understand community? Who and what is included and excluded? As a…

Care in the early years entails more than childcare. This paper has three major sections. In the first section, I begin with an introduction and a quick overview of the ECEC system in Australia. This snapshot of the Australian ECEC system presents a messy map of the care and education system for young children under a neoliberal political economy…