Personal ~ Passionate ~ Participatory

Inquiry into Social Justice in Education

Edited by:
Ming Fang He, Georgia Southern University
JoAnn Phillion, Purdue University

A volume in the series: Research for Social Justice: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry. Editor(s): Ming Fang He, Georgia Southern University. JoAnn Phillion, Purdue University.

Published 2008

Scope of the Book: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry into Social Justice in Education, the first book in the series, features 14 programs of social justice oriented research on life in schools, families, and communities. This work, done by a diverse group of practitioner researchers, educators, and scholars, connects the personal with the political, the theoretical with the practical, and research with social and educational change. These inquiries demonstrate three distinct qualities. Each is personal, compelled by values and experiences researchers bring to the work. Each is passionate, grounded in a commitment to social justice concerns of people and places under consideration. Each is participatory, built on long-term, heart-felt engagement, and shared efforts. The principle aspect of the inquiries featured in the book series that distinguish it from others is that researchers are not detached observers, nor putatively objective recorders, but active participants in schools, families, and communities. Researchers have explicit research agendas that focus on equity, equality, and social justice. Rather than aiming solely at traditional educational research outcomes, positive social and educational change is the focal outcome of inquiry. The researchers are diverse and their inquiries are far ranging in terms of content, people and geographic locations studied. These studies reflect new and exciting ways of researching and representing experience of the disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible groups seldom discussed in the literature, and challenge stereotypical or deficit oriented perspectives on these groups. This book informs pre-service and in-service teachers, educators, educational researchers, administrators, and educational policy makers, particularly those who advocate for people who are marginalized and those who are committed to the enactment of social justice and positive educational and social change.

CONTENTS
Preface, William Ayers. Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry: Research for Social Justice, Ming Fang He & JoAnn Phillion. Stitched From the Soul: An Autobiographical Inquiry of a Black Woman Principal, Sonya D. Jefferson. Teen Mom: A Black Feminist Inquiry, Dell Wilkerson. Resilient Lives: African American Women Scholars, Paula Booker Baker. Self, Others, and Jump Rope Communities: An Oral History of the Triumphs of African American Women, Wynnetta Scott-Simmons. Using Literature to Develop Empathy and Compassion in Pre-service Teachers: A First Step in Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers, Lyndall Muschell. A Curriculum of Imagination in an Era of Standardization, Robert Lake. A Quiet Awakening: Spinning Yarns From Granny's Table in the New Rural South, Angela Haynes. African American Students with Reading Disabilities: A Critical Race Inquiry, Margie Wiggins Sweatman. Language, Culture, and Identity: Immigrant Female Students in U. S. High Schools, Joanna Stoughton Cavan. Reading Through Brown Eyes: A Culturally Congruent Reading Curriculum, Clara Taylor. Dalton's Suicide: Dealing with Student Death in Education, Teresa Rishel. Stories of Successful Native American Women in Academia, Angela Jaime. It Starts at Home: The Familial Relationship of Scholarship, Education, and Advocacy, Tammy Turner Vorbeck. Becoming an Agent of Social Change: Women’s Stories of Sweatshops and Sweetshops, Betty Christine Eng. Potentials, Contributions, Concerns, and Future Directions, JoAnn Phillion & Ming Fang He.

REVIEWS
""This collection of essays provides a solid case for the use of Personal-Passionate-Participatory Inquiry in the classroom and in qualitative research. Fresh and provocative, the stories that emerge from these pages display an accurate picture of how we, as humans, experience the world."" Kate Agathon Purdue University in Education Review (Read full review)