The field of critical race theory has gotten increasingly more attention as an emerging perspective on race, the law, and policy. Critical race theory examines the social construction of the law, administrative policy, electoral politics, and political discourse in the U.S. Race Is ? Race Isn't presents a group of qualitative research studies, literature reviews, and commentaries that collectively articulate critical race theory in secondary and post-secondary educational settings. The editors explore links and conflicts with other areas of difference, including language, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, with the goal of opening a dialogue about how critical race theory can be incorporated into education research methodologies.
About the Author"Laurence Parker is an associate professor in the department of educational policy studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research and teaching interests are in the areas of critical race theory and educational policy research and analysis (at the K-12 and postsecondary levels), and the politics of school choice. His most recent article, entitled ""Race is ... race ain't: An exploration of the utility of critical race theory in qualitative research in education,"" appeared in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Donna Deyhle is a professor of anthropology and education in the department of educational studies and in the ethnic studies program at the University of Utah, where she is also co-director of the American Indian Resource Center. She is a leading scholar in the area of American Indian educational research, and her work has appeared in the Harvard Educational Review, the Journal oj American Indian Education, Youth and Society, and the Review of Research in Education. Her research also has been an integral part of the litigation surrounding the Navajo conflicts with Anglo school officials in southern Utah. Prof. Deyhle is a former Spencer Fellow of the National Academy of Education.
Sofia Villenas is an assistant professor in the department of educational studies and in the ethnic studies program at the University of Utah. Her research centers on investigating Latino schooling and home and community education within the dynamics of racial/cultural community politics. Critical race theory informs this work, as is evident in her article co-authored with Donna Deyhle entitled ""Critical race theory and ethnographies challenging the stereotypes: Latino families, schooling, resilience and resistance,"" forthcoming in Curriculum Inquiry. As a Chicana ethnographer, Villenas also explores positionality and locality in qualitative research, as can be seen in her article ""The colonizer/colonized Chicana ethnographer: Identity, marginalization, and co-optation in the field,"" in the Harvard Educational Review. She is also a former Spencer Fellow of the National Academy of Education.
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