“It Changes Me from Nothing to Something”: Identifying Educative-Psychic Violence in a Public Diplomacy Program for Nonelite Youths

Since 2004, the English Access Microscholarship Program, a U.S. public diplomacy initiative, has impacted at least 150,000 nonelite youths. U.S. Department of State employees created the program in response to suicide bombings committed by Moroccan youths at international sites in Casablanca. The program later expanded throughout the Middle East and then across the world, eventually operating in more than eighty-five countries for students aged thirteen to twenty. [Author’s name] examines images promoted by the program associated with the mission for students to develop an “appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values through cultural enhancement activities” using critical concepts such as educative-psychic violence and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s description of education as a cultural bomb. Troubling content promoted by the program features students depicting themselves as lacking dignity and worth paired with portrayals of gaining dignity and worth through their participation in the program. Additionally, the program’s “cultural enhancement activities” intended to promote “appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values” often occur in communities deeply impacted by the U.S.-led War on Terror and amid dramatic economic and military power differentials. Finally, [the author’s] analysis encourages academic engagement with policy makers on the use of education within public diplomacy initiatives.

Bridging Teacher Candidates, School Communities, and the World During a Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic caused distance that separated the teacher from the learner as schools and higher education moved to virtual and flexible learning communities. Likewise, at the same time racial tensions were growing further increasing the distance and divide across the country. This positions teacher educators with the responsibility to bridge this distance. The challenges of preparing educators for activism in a post-Covid educational context that considers cultural literacy, ethical leadership, and community engagement is explored with three narratives. These narratives provide the opportunity to think with and through our commitments in early childhood and elementary teacher education. Collectively, these narratives use the conditions of learning and teaching in a pandemic to consider educational challenges of the past and the things we must do to create a more equitable and just future. We conclude this essay with essential commitments as we work to bridge the distance and build community. Classification: Reflective Essa

Social studies, denizens, and the state: A three-article dissertation

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This dissertation examines education as an apparatus of state in three different research studies. The first paper, “Cultural Bombs and Dangerous Classes: Social Studies Education as State Apparatus in the War on Terror,” interrogates the tactical use of education within the War on Terror. Using sixteen years of annual reports from the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism, this study 1) historicizes the growth of social studies education in counterterrorism policies; 2) illustrates how nonelite youths in the Muslim world are depicted as a threat requiring mitigation through education initiatives; and 3) applies Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Franz Fanon, and Amilcar Cabral’s observations of class, culture, and imperialism as analytical tools through which we can consider these reports. The second paper, “It Changes Me from Nothing to Something: Identifying Educative-Psychic Violence in a Counterterrorism Program for Nonelite Youths,” identifies educative-psychic violence in submissions to a U.S. public diplomacy initiative’s page on Facebook. It examines how teachers and staff interpret and communicate compliance with the program’s mission for students to develop an “appreciation for U.S. culture and democratic values through cultural enhancement activities” and addresses implications for education as public diplomacy. The third paper, “Teaching for Critically Engaged Denizenship: Lessons from Morocco on Naïve Notions of Citizenship and an Empowered Other Civic Status,” argues that in social studies education we too often use citizen and citizenship as inaccurate proxies for denizen and denizenship. Using ethnographic data from Morocco, it identifies distinctions in civic status and why they matter in civic education

Connecting an open classroom climate to social movement citizenship: A study of 8th graders in Europe using IEA ICCS data

Using data from the International Civic and Citizenship Study, this quantitative study explores the potential for open classroom climates to foster political efficacy and civic knowledge among 8th grade students in 14 Western European countries. Findings show that an open classroom climate is associated with increased civic knowledge and political efficacy. In addition, civic knowledge and political efficacy are positively correlated with social movement citizenship. However, the relationships between both political efficacy and civic knowledge on social movement citizenship are strengthened with presence of an open classroom climate. This study demonstrates the importance of an open classroom climate to develop students\u27 knowledge and efficacy related to active citizenship