Pushing Students' Self/Other Boundaries in Order to Teach Critically About Difference
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
McClimans, Melinda Cathrin
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Subedi, Binaya
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
The Ohio State University
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
306
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
The Ohio State University
Text preceding or following the note
2019
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
This study investigated how curriculum can develop students' ability to critically engage with cultural difference, specifically with regard to learning about Islam and Muslims. The significance of this study lies in its synthesis of both academic and practitioner perspectives on this subject. The study built upon several areas of scholarship: critical global education, critical multicultural curriculum, decolonial and decolonizing approaches (countering Eurocentrism), anti-oppressive education, and critical pedagogy (see "Defining Critical Global Curriculum" in Chapter 2). All these approaches were viewed through the lens of Islamophobia as I analyzed curricular practices for teaching critically about Islam and Muslims. The core finding was that teachers countered Islamophobia by pushing their students' boundaries, or their conceptual biases, with regard to Muslim identity, and their own cultural identities. They often did this in ways intended to disrupt conceptualizations of self/Other. Teachers pushed student boundaries of self/Other by countering Eurocentric bias, acknowledging current and past forms of imperialism and oppression, and asking students to reflect on themselves before judging the Other. For many of the teachers in my study, this meant including Palestinian, indigenous, feminist, and other critical perspectives in their curriculum. Teachers acknowledged several key challenges: complicity with Eurocentric narratives, speaking the truth about war and racism, students' internalized racism and Islamophobia, and dilemmas for teaching about women's rights without perpetuating stereotypes about Muslim-majority countries and communities.