Fostering Movements or Silencing Voices: Learning from Egypt and South Africa, Leading Against Racism

Authors

  • Tyson E. J. Marsh Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy College of Education University of New Mexico
  • Christopher B. Knaus University of Washington Tacoma

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v17i1.969

Keywords:

Egypt, South Africa, Educational Leadership, Critical Multiculturalism, Racism

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the role of educational leadership in promoting and/or challenging racism as an intentional outcome of schooling. We focus on Egypt and South Africa, two countries uniquely framed as both deeply divided (by race, religion, and/or class) and as models of resistance and conscious activism. We draw upon experiences working as, or with, school principals in South Africa and Egypt to reveal how the context of education is negatively shaped by schooling practices that foster race and class-based inequalities. Using personal narratives of school principals, we situate educational leadership as core to understanding how Western educational reforms are structured, conceived and enacted within Egyptian and South African contexts. This analysis sheds light on how educational inequalities are reinforced and justified by contexts of educational leadership and how efforts to resist are institutionally silenced.

Author Biography

Tyson E. J. Marsh, Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy College of Education University of New Mexico

Tyson E.J. Marsh is Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of New Mexico. He received his Ph.D. in Urban Schooling, and M.A. in Higher Education from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before completing his doctorate, Tyson resided in Egypt for four years where he studied Arabic, worked as a P-12 Principal, and served as an Adjunct Professor in the American International College’s M.A. in International Education Program. An international student/practitioner/scholar of color from a working-class background, Tyson is committed to social justice from the ground up. Through his work in the classroom, community, writing and artistic expression, he is dedicated to drawing upon and centering the voices and experiences of those traditionally silenced in P-20 education and beyond. Tyson’s interests include critical race theory, critical pedagogy, and radical approaches to schooling and leadership in opposition to the neoliberal transnational capitalist agenda. A product of the Hip Hop Generation, Tyson argues that the recognition of indigenous forms of knowledge is essential and central in this struggle. Tyson’s research draws upon critical race theory and critical pedagogy in:

  • Interrogating the globalized neoliberal educational agenda
  • Reclaiming public pedagogy as a pedagogy of democratic possibility
  • Naming and resisting structural forms of oppression within and beyond P-20 schooling

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Published

2015-01-28

How to Cite

Marsh, T. E. J., & Knaus, C. B. (2015). Fostering Movements or Silencing Voices: Learning from Egypt and South Africa, Leading Against Racism. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 17(1), 188–210. https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v17i1.969

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2015): Educational Leadership Against Racism: Challenging Policy, Pedagogy, and Practice

Section

2015 Special Issue Articles (Peer-reviewed)