Antonia Darder

Latinos and Education: A Critical Reader.

As the Hispanic! population continues to grow, we can expect to see an increasing amount of research and scholarship on the impact this group will have on various societal institutions. The book under review focuses on the relationship between Hispanics and the U.S. educational system. As a coherent, well-organized contribution to the topic the book misses the mark. However, the volume does put together in one collection a number of competent articles, some being pathbreaking pieces by Hispanic scholars representing various academic and research disciplines on topics ranging from Hispanic identity to demographic trends of the Hispanic population. Unfortunately, there is no theoretical string tying these articles together in one neat bundle. In reviewing this volume, I will address the following topics:

Neoliberalism in the Academic Borderlands: An On-Going Struggle for Equality and Human Rights.

The article examines the negative impact of neoliberal policies upon the work of border intellectuals within the university, whose scholarship seeks to explicitly challenge longstanding structural inequalities and social exclusions. More specifically, the notion of neoliberal multiculturalism is defined and discussed with respect to the phenomenon of economic Darwinism and the whitewashing of contemporary academic labor, despite a tradition of progressive struggle within the academy. In response to the current counter-egalitarian climate of neoliberalism, a call is issued for a critical pedagogy that supports a revolutionary vision of human rights and democratic life.

Decolonizing interpretive research: subaltern sensibilities and the politics of voice

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion of decolonizing interpretive research in ways that respect and integrate the qualitative sensibilities of subaltern voices in the knowledge production of anti-colonial possibilities. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws from the decolonizing and post-colonial theoretical tradition, with a specific reference to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s contribution to this analysis. Findings Through a critical discussion of decolonizing concerns tied to qualitative interpretive interrogations, the paper points to the key assumptions that support and reinforce the sensibilities of subaltern voices in efforts to move western research approaches toward anti-colonial possibilities. In the process, this discussion supports the emergence of an itinerant epistemological lens that opens the field to decolonizing inquiry. Practical implications Its practical implications are tied to discursive transformations, which can impact social and material transformations within the context of research and society. Originality/value Moreover, the paper provides an innovative rethinking of interpretive research, in an effort to extend the analysis of decolonizing methodology to the construction of subaltern inspired intellectual labor.

Latina/o formations in the United States: Laboring classes, migration, and identities

The last four decades have marked an epochal socio-economic transformation in the nature of US society. Nowhere is this more obvious than the precipitous growth of US-born Latino and Mexican/Latino immigrant populations. According to the US census, the previous decade (2000–2010) alone accounted for a 43% increase, with the majority residing in states like California, Illinois, Florida, and New York. However, more recently, new Latino (primarily of Mexican origin) destinations include Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee. These states are experiencing growth rates exceeding that of the larger Latino Metropolitan areas, where growth exceeds 300%. And a 2014 PEW Hispanic Research report on Puerto Rican migration showed that the population there is declining dramatically, primarily due to the financial instability of the island (Cohn et al., 2014). Latino population is now estimated to be nearly 54 million and with the dubious distinction of being the largest ethnic minority in the United States. More significant than sheer numbers is the fact that Latinos and Ethnicities 2015, Vol. 15(2) 157–164 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1468796814557657 etn.sagepub.com

Embodiments of Public Pedagogy: the art of soulful resistance

This article provides a space to explore, through artistic representations and the words of artists themselves, the manner in which politically engaged artists use their visual art, poetry, music, dance, and theatre performances as an effective tool for public pedagogy. In turn, these artists provide those who enter into their cultural production a place of interrogation, affirmation, political critique, and solidarity, as they contend skillfully with issues of oppression, resistance, and the daily struggles to survive in a world of inequalities.