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The Poetics of Anti-Racism

The Poetics of Anti-Racism

edited by Nuzhat Amin, George Dei and Meredith Lordan

The sense of white entitlement is seen through discourses of “what about us” when issues of race and equity are raised in the classrooms of the dominant. Even when race issues are grudgingly acknowledged there is the politics of moral distancing apparent in the dominant body “playing the race card” through evocations of “merit,” “excellence” and “meritocracy.”

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About the book

This book deals with linguistic racism and the centrality of language in the discourse of anti-racism. The contributors discuss how language is used and how, especially in that usage, race and racism are expressed in everyday practice. The authors invite us to join the journey of real, meaningful change through the poetics of words and action, thereby giving voice to the possibilities of change.

Race & Anti-Racism

Authors

Nuzhat Amin

Nuzhat Amin is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Long Island University’s C.W. Post Campus, where she teaches courses in cultural diversity and in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. She has taught English, ESL and EFL in Canada, Pakistan and Poland. Nuzhat’s research explores the intersections of race with gender, language and power. Her current research interrogates discourses of Islam in TESOL. She has published in The CATESOL Journal, TESOL Matters, TESOL Quarterly and Canadian Woman Studies.

George Dei

Born in Asokore-Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, George Sefa Dei did undergraduate education at the University of Ghana, and postgraduate studies at McMaster University and the University of Toronto, Canada. Currently, George is Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Between 1996 and 2000 he served as the first Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at OISE/UT.

Professor Dei’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of anti-racism, minority schooling, international development and anti-colonial thought. His professional and academic work has led to many conference and workshop invitations in Canada, U.S., Europe and Africa. He has also appeared on many radio and television shows speaking about my academic and research work.

Professor Dei has received several awards for his work, including the African-Canadian Outstanding Achievement in Education; the Community Builder Award. Continuing Education Department of the Toronto Catholic District School Board; and, the Race, Gender, and Class Project Academic Award (at the Annual Race, Gender, and Class Conference, New Orleans). He is the author, co-author, and editor of several books on anti-racism and education, including Anti-Racism Education: Theory and Practice; Hardships and Survival in Rural West Africa; Reconstructing ‘Drop-Out’: A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students’ Disengagement from School and Indigenous Knowledge in Global Contexts.

Meredith Lordan

Meredith Lordan, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology andEquity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the Universityof Toronto, is an Instructor with the Initial Teacher Education Program atthe University of Toronto. A writer, teacher and community advocate, herresearch interests include equitable education, reframing students at risk,multilateralism and education as a human right.

The Poetics of Anti-Racism (G. Dei)
Language, Race and Anti-Racism (G. Dei)
Language, Linguistic Discrimination and Polyvocality (G. Dei & Meredith Lordan)
Rethinking Displacement, Language and Cultural Shock (Awad Ibriham)
Teacher Candidates’ Perspectives on their Preparedness for Multicultural/Antiracist Approaches to Teaching (Donatille Mujawamariya & Gada Mahrouse)
Language Policies and Newcomers to Canada (Eve Haque & Ellen Cray)
Learning in a Foreign University (Kumari Beck)
Assessing the Puzzles of Specific Learning Disability Disorders and Support Services for African Refugee Students (Lantana Usman)
Teachers, Conventional Knowledge, Oppression in the Classroom (Rose Baaba Folson)
Inclusive Education and Anti-Racist Classroom Practice (Njoki Nathani Wane)
Language, Race and the Poetics of Anti-Racism (Nuzhat Amin)