Why ethnic studies?

Ethnic Studies Week (Oct. 1-7) at BSU was part of a nation-wide effort to raise our collective profile, as well as draw attention to regressive state legislation in Texas and Arizona, effectively restricting programs like Latino Studies or African-American studies in these states' secondary schools, colleges and universities. (Blog site readers: see the Google map of sites around the country taking place below!)


View Ethnic Studies Week October 1-7 Initiators in a larger map

I jumped at the chance to speak at yesterday's roundtable, "Why Ethnic Studies?" After all, I grew up in Arizona, and got my M.A. in Texas--what was happening in these places I've called home?

You all that are reading this and living in either of these states can answer that far better than I can, of course. But these are not isolated cases--this is a nationwide trend of disavowing difference and diversity (Glenn Beck's co-opting MLK in the name of "unity" is just one loud, pungent example).

In the run-up to this week, I picked up the latest book by bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom (2010), the third and final installment of her "pedagogy trilogy." The chapters are short and sweet--I'm reading them like morning meditations. Today's nugget of practical wisdom, for instance, was on decolonization. On p. 25, hooks writes:

"The most essential lesson for everyone, irrespective of our race, class, or gender, was learning the role education played as a tool of colonization here in the United States."

So part of our ongoing mission as teachers and educators is to consciously push back against (re)colonization of our schools, as part of our effort to consciously push back against (re)colonization of our society.

Taip, mums galima.