Dismantling Spaces of Silence in Social Science Education

Edited by:
Eric B. Claravall, California State University, Sacramento
Jessica Ferreras-Stone, Western Washington University

A volume in the series: Social Science Education Consortium Book Series. Editor(s): Whitney G. Blankenship, San Antonio College. Matthew T. Missias, Grand Valley State University. Anne Aydinian-Perry, University of Wyoming. Dean P. Vesperman, University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Published 2025

Throughout history, silences have been an inherent process of historical production - privileged narratives masquerade as definitive history, and those deemed less worthy are mute (Trouillot, 1995). Because of this, our understanding of many events in the past is incomplete; and the way we frame our contemporary societies based on these events is, implicitly or explicitly, silenced by inherently racist structures. The editors of this volume define spaces of silence beyond the temporality and physicality of historical events. Spaces of silence exist within minds, emotions, systems, and places. For instance, we recognize ways in which settler colonialism historically and presently silences Indigenous sovereignty and rights to place.

How do we, then, dismantle these spaces in a multi-racial society and globalized world? Dismantling these spaces of silence situates hopes and possibilities of decolonizing our ways of thinking, ways of acting, and ways of being. This volume seeks work that calls out the various spaces of silence and ways to dismantle these spaces.

CONTENTS
Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction: Dismantling Spaces of Silence: Deconstructing Complexities and Breaking Barriers, Eric B. Claravall and Jessica Ferreras-Stone. PART I: NAMING THE SPACES OF SILENCE. Suffering in Silence No More: Asian Mother–Scholars Clambering Through the White Space of Academia, Liane C. Pereira and Grace Inae Blum. Breaking the Silence of LGBTQ Contributions to United States History in an Elementary Social Studies Methods Course, Linda Doornbos. Empowering Truth: A Call to Social Studies Educators to Stand Against Book Bans, Desirée W. Cueto, Seneca Beth Miller, and Jessica Ferreras-Stone. The Shaping of Filipino-American Communities in California: A Historical Narrative, Eric B. Claravall. The Poetics of a Fractalized Profession: “Shhh, Teaching as Labor”, Sara Burge, Joshua Montgomery, and Terry A. Belew. PART II: HEALING AND RECONCILIATION. Shame and Silencing: An Analysis of Race, Education Policy, and Emotion, Maia Sheppard. Civic Education in Museums of History: What Are We Meant to Remember and What Are We Meant to Forget? Daria Smirnova. Critical Multiculturalism: An Approach to Teaching and Learning That Promotes Student Agency, Gregory Samuels and Amy Samuels. PART III: BREAKING BARRIERS. Amplifying Untold Stories: Utilizing Student-Created Podcasts to Disrupt Spaces of Silence in an Elementary Social Studies Methods Course, Andrea Scalzo Willson and Crista K. Banks. Geographic Imagination and Difficult History: (Re)Making Local Spaces and Community, Sara B. Demoiny, Jesús A. Tirado, and Mark Wilson. Local Historical Maps and Geography as Social Inquiry: Critical Interrogatories for Social Justice, Anne Aydinian-Perry, Matthew T. Missias, Dean P. Vesperman, and Whitney G. Blankenship. About the Editors. About the Contributors.