(Photos via Kasoro.com, Habesha Inc., & Bro/Sis)
The Africana Study Abroad Alliance (ASAA) promotes Africana study in nature immersion therapy, regenerative & sustainable permaculture gardening, organic fertilizer production/worm composting/seed saving/germination/eco-friendly pest & disease management/multi- & inter-cropping, swimming/breathing/stretching/walking/running meditation, vegetarian/vegan/plant-based nutrition/exercise, production, & publishing. The alliance was founded by Brian Hughes Kasoro along with The Liberator Magazine/Live From Planet Earth to foster Africana literacies in diaspora travel & 8 African/Indigenous adolescent study abroad tour/leadership programs from 6 cities, including New York (International Youth Leadership Institute, Brotherhood Sister-Sol), Atlanta (Habesha, Sankofa Spirit), Baltimore (Afrikan Youth Alchemy), St. Louis (Good Journey), Philadelphia (Sankofa Freedom Academy), & Detroit (Atlantic Impact).
Unlike mere tourism & experience programs, our focus is on structural education and helping the members of the alliance turn tourism and study abroad experiences into accredited language, writing, science, or social courses, using critical multimodal literacies to produce oral (talk, song, rap, language), textual (reading, writing, visual), and practical (farming, dance, instrumentation) good work*, music**, or speech*** prior to, during, and after travel that exceeds common "standards" and is ready for publication across The Liberator's production and distribution platform.
Notable past contributors include Dr. Greg Kimathi Carr (chairman of Howard University African American Studies), Dr. Clyde Taylor (author of "The Mask of Art: Breaking the Aesthetic Contract—Film & Literature"), Opiyo Okeyo (director of "Birth of Afrobeat"), Michael J. Wilson (professor of English at New York City College of Technology), Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ (son of Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o), Dr. Anyabwile Aaron Love (Pennsylvania State University African American Studies postdoctoral fellow), Dr. Melisa Riviere (University of Minnesota Anthropology professor), and some who have gone on to work at BuzzFeed, LivingSocial, and Ebony Magazine. The Liberator has published over 50 African American travel stories from over 12 diaspora nations and sites to date.
Our Goals: (1) to create cooperation & collaboration around a mastery-level Africana literacies curriculum that earns traveling students academic credit for developing varied profile & narrative skills for research & communications; (2) to normalize Africana study abroad for African descended youth as a means of human & community development & international cooperation; (3) to represent a powerful united alliance that mutually promotes & supports Africana study abroad programs & organizations, culturally-relevant Africana literacies, & Africana Studies to communities & schools; & (4) to serve as a diasporic storytelling & educational exchange-asset. We invite your Africana study abroad program to join the alliance.
The Liberator Magazine
(Live From Planet Earth / Diaspora publication distributed online & in 11 countries, 9 U.S. cities)
HQ: USA.
Destinations: Jamaica and Kenya.
Book publications: The Last Generation of Black People distributed at (New York: Artbook @ MoMA PS1, BookCourt, McNally Jackson Books, and Strand Bookstore); (Los Angeles: Eso Won Books); (Chicago: Quimby's Bookstore); (Atlanta: Medu Bookstore, Moods Music, and Nubian Bookstore); (District of Columbia: Sankofa Video & Bookstore); (Florida: African Extravaganza and Mojo Books & Records); (Texas: Pan-African Connection); (Minnesota: Ancestry Books, Common Good Books, Subtext Books, and Mayday Books); (Tennessee: The African Place).
Magazine publications: Previous Releases; Travel Articles: from Haiti by Nathalie Pierre, from Ghana by Anyabwile Love, from Egypt by Dr. Greg Carr, from South Africa by Mike Stewart Jr., Stephanie Tisdale, Melvin Barrolle, & Nate Mathews, from South Sudan by Jeri Hilt, from Brazil by Justin Hansford, from Belize by Eric Berry, from Jamaica by Shamira Muhammad, from Ghana by Camille Thomas, from Ghana by Jeri Hilt; Seen in Ghana; Liberator Magazine 9.1 #24 Release Party/Live From Planet Earth Dakar.
⫸CONTINUE READING⫷
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Notes
* "Five days to go: working for the next day/ Four days to go: working for the next day/ Say we got: three days to go now/ Working for the next day/ Two days to go (ooh): working for the next day (yea)/ Say we got: one day to go/ Working for the/ Every day is/ Work."
(Bob Marley)
** Love, A. B. (2014). Uninterrupted conversations with our eggun: Preliminary considerations for methodological approaches to the research of African music and the music of John Coltrane. Temple University, Philadelphia.
*** "Let us begin with a paradox of the human experience: eternity and time. On the one hand, humanity experiences the everlastingness of cosmic events. On the other hand, the regular recurrence of those events conveys the sense of time which seems to contradict the sense of the eternity. That is, eternity means no beginning and no end while time seems to mean just the opposite, i.e., a beginning and an end. The problem, however, is one in speech rather than experience, since one can experience both time and timelessness. The solution is thus found through the appropriate statements applied to the relevant experiences. The Kemites had established a solar calendar at the dawn of history. The sun therefore became for them the definer of time. So, to raise the question, When did things begin? was to ask when did time begin. The answer is simply, 'the first appearance of the sun,' and since the sun rises 'every day forever,' we have time and eternity existing together without one cancelling out the other." (Carruthers, J. H. (1995). Mdw Ntr: Divine Speech: A Historiographical Reflection of African Deep Thought from the Time of the Pharaohs to the Present. London: Karnak House.)
RESEARCH
by Brian Hughes Kasoro, The Liberator Magazine & Columbia University Teachers College, Institute for Urban & Minority Education
Do intimate, Africana literacy-based study abroad immersion experiences heal cultural amnesia, foster agency, identity construction, & guarantee the nurturing of educational excellence among African-descended students?
What if we could transform how our students operate within the educational paradigm through programs that provide opportunities to attain academic credit while studying outside of the container of the classroom and beyond borders?
The renowned educational psychologist Asa Hilliard III led study abroad trips to Egypt and other diaspora sites for 15 years, leaving a body of work that illustrates the diaspora's importance to the education of African-Americans suffering from what he called a unique "acute amnesia." Priests, philosophers, and scientists have theorized on the necessary quality of immersion in natural environments and I add that the same quality exists for cultural environments. The sum of natural and wise, cultural, geographical, and spatiotemporal spaces parallel to and beyond any given neo-colonial moment hold all of the necessary but still scattered parts of the African experience. In partnership with The Liberator Magazine, we hope to produce whole stories.
Regarding our whole stories and lives, Ayi Kwei Armah outlines/observes, as narrative, characterization, description, themes, structure/design, imagery, and points of view of Africana literacies, what Dr. Greg Carr outlines/observes as social structure, governance, ways of knowing, science/technology, movement/memory, and cultural meaning-making. There need not be any further philosophical synthesis on our part, indeed these similiar giants and their similar patterns of outline/observation are self evident in our natural and wise, cultural, geographical, and spatiotemporal spaces/places.
Thus, cultural amnesia can be healed when student ambassadors experience the space/place of the whole diaspora, and the whole story, for themselves, in the context of storytelling practice and authentic exchange learning, by participating in their full cultural and intellectual genealogy with agency. The interest in commonality and the ties that bind, for learning and innovation, is at the deepest root of human civilization and is the backbone of civilized diplomatic ethic. For instance, the Bantu say, "I am because we are" (ubuntu) like the early ancient Kemites and Egyptians said, "A person is a person because of people" (ankh pu peret). Exposure to the broader cultural community provides a greater number of relevant stories and active roles to sympathize with — motivational fuel for mastering literacy and narrative (particularly in English for African American high school students). Multimodal reading and writing from the crossroads of past, present, and future in that broader cultural community fosters the critical Africana literacies and further develops capacities for authentic exchange — using voice, global awareness, and culture in service of integrated individual, family, and community development.
By fostering and observing their writing over the course of their travel and publishing, we continue to amass both qualitative and quantitative data that proves the value of high school study abroad to learning, and literacy in particular.
Share your views. I would love to hear from you: parents, teachers, students, and artists. Do you know adolescent students who might benefit from an Africana-oriented study abroad experience? Do you know of another program working in study abroad? Are you interested in being interviewed in order to share your opinion on the value of study abroad for our students?
Help fund adolescent study abroad for African-American students. I also welcome inquiry from individuals and organizations that want to support, and have questions about, the development of study abroad programs and curriculum for African-American students.
The Liberator Magazine, 2014. "The Traveling Africana Study Group, Tropics: Jamaica & Kenya, Diaspora Sites of Building for African Deep Thought." Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations Presentation. Essex County College (Newark, New Jersey).
Brian Kasoro, 2013. "Investigating & Navigating Authentic Exchange in the 21st Century African Diaspora: Asa Hilliard, the Traveling Africana Classroom, & Our Journeys Back To the Grand Narrative." Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations Presentation. Howard University (Washington, DC).
Academic Outcomes of Study Abroad
(Inside Higher Ed) In 2000, researchers began an ambitious effort to document the academic outcomes of study abroad across the 35-institution University System of Georgia. Ten years later, they’ve found that students who study abroad have improved academic performance upon returning to their home campus, higher graduation rates, & improved knowledge of cultural practices & context compared to students in control groups. They’ve also found that studying abroad helps, rather than hinders, academic performance of at-risk students.
Dr. Greg Carr on American History TV / Black Movements & Memory
(C-SPAN) "Professor Greg Carr, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, presented a class lecture on slavery in the U.S. in the international context. He focused on maroonage (flight from owners followed by banding together to establish independent communities in remote areas) as a dimension of African resistance, migrations, & movement in African-American history & the cultural meaning in U.S. history"
United African Alliance Community Center: An African Renaissance
(The Liberator Magazine) "Today the organization serves a community of more than 200 people. The single room dwelling that once served as their home has since been turned into a recording studio for local artists. In addition, the UAACC houses a dining hall, dormitory, classrooms, art studio, & computer lab where various English, art, & computer classes are taught all free of charge. Aside from its various cultural & community events, the Center completed a major community water project, providing a continuous supply of fresh water to the surrounding community. The Center also facilitates student exchanges between Tanzanian & American university & high school students."
Brotherhood-SisterSol: New York
(International Study Program: 4-week study abroad to Morocco, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, & Brazil)Description: Founded in 1995, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis) provides comprehensive, holistic & long term support services & study abroad programs for youth who range in age 8-22. Bro/Sis offers wrap around evidence-based programming.
Destination: Accra, Ghana.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine. Members of the International Study Program toured Independence Square, W.E.B. Du Bois Centre, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, and walked through historic Jamestown in Accra, Ghana.
Transatlantic Productions
(Dr. Leonard Jeffries on Cheikh Anta Diop)Habesha: Atlanta
(Black To Our Roots: 4-week study abroad to Ghana & Ethiopia)
Fundraising: $4,000 per student (1 month trip).
Description: Black To Our Roots is a year-long youth leadership & rites of passage program that promotes African cultural values through media production, community service, & fundraising; providing high-schoolers with the tools to become active participants in the unity & development of in their local communities & the global African community. The program culminates in a 4-week travel study to Africa during the summer in which students apply their learning to community service projects, while exchanging ideas with African youth.
Destinations: Ghana & Ethiopia.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine. Student travelers will present their reflections from their "Journey of Self-Discovery" at an Akwaaba party -- a welcome home community affair, in late September.
Afrikan Youth Alchemy: Baltimore
(Independent Afrikan Minds: 4-week study abroad to Ghana)
Description: AYA is an African-centered Youth Development organization that engages in media production, cultural education, & community supported agriculture.
Destinations: Ghana.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine. In late May, AYA visited OYOTunji Village in rural Shelton, South Carolina:USA to prepare for travel to Africa. They recently returned from a very productive journey to Ghana where they have begun construction of a youth educational media center & residential retreat. They planted over 40 fruit trees on their one-acre homestead & will be completing the mission soon.
Watch: Who Are You? (student film) weaves together interviews, skits, & experimental filming together as young people question why their peers know very little about African American history.
International Youth Leadership Institute: New York
(International Study Program: Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, St. Eustatius, & Tanzania)Fundraising: $6,500 per student (students pay just $200).
Description: IYLI has conducted overseas programs in 16 Latin American & African countries. IYLI’s international study programs support individual & collective leadership development experiences through hands-on experiences in Africa & Latin America. IYLI offers 4-week summer programs & a 10-day winter program in the Caribbean & Latin America (for IYLI Fellows only). Building on the research & analytical skills they’ve fostered year-round, IYLI Fellows are immersed in town or village life & study the history, culture, geography & environment of the host community, including gender role relationships, & economic & employment patterns. Under a new mission -- to nurture visionaries from the African Diaspora inspired by their rich African heritage to leave a world legacy -- adopted as of September 2014 & the ASAA/IYLI partnership, work that students do will be the vehicle for their development; raising the bar on portfolio assignments, in order to strive for eloquent, professional publications that will earn high school, & perhaps even fund college credit.
Full Scholarship available to study in Senegal (attn: High School-age Young Men) for high school-age young men, aged 13 to 19-years old. I've attended several youth workshop meetings they've held at Teachers College Columbia U & highly recommend this opportunity.
Destinations: Dominican Republic (Winter 2014); Senegal (Summer 2014); Jamaica (2015); Morocco/Spain (2015).
Highlights: The Liberator Magazine has accepted a piece by IYLI's Oreoluwa Oloruntoba -- now a college student -- which features profound reflections from his trip to Goree, Island. The piece will be published alongside other Alliance student submissions for the inaugural, student-led Africana study abroad publishing project, crafted within The Liberator's story production ecosystems.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine.
In Depth: IYLI Fellows traveled to the Dominican Republic on February 14 under the Winter Institute theme, "What is race?" During the eight-day program, the group met with Peace Corps volunteers & attended a briefing at Batey, a non-governmental organization serving Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic. The group investigated the three cultural foundations of the country- Africa, Spain & Taino through visits to the colonial zone, Taino caves & wall drawings, & the program curriculum. Visits were conducted to Santo Domingo, La Romana, & San Pedro de Macoris. The Summer Fellowship Program was held in Senegal, July 18-August 20, 2014. Six U.S. & six Senegalese students participated. IYLI volunteers were Jason Higgins, Yasemin Mangroo, Ajani Clunie, Michael Webb, & Anasa Scott. A language guide was provided to each student with selected vocabulary (presented phonetically). The course, taught by Columbia University Professor Ly, included one/two hours per day over a five-day period. Activities included meetings with Africare, Tostan, & KAYER (Kayor Energie Rurale), a U.S. Embassy briefing, seminars, hands-on science activities, research projects, book circles, Micro-Credit workshop, & a Rural Sociology class at Cheikh Anta Diop University. Students participated in book circles based on The Other Wes Moore. The theme of the program was "Energy." Following a week in Dakar, students traveled to Mboudiene, Thies, Mbackombel Eco-Village, Saint Louis & Ngaye Mekhe. Students participated in Wolof language study prior to departure. The SFP was documented on video by Ajani Clunie & Gilbert Roman. A blog site was set up & maintained throughout the program to provide program images & update. The Brazil SFP was cancelled. Only 3 students applied & the program would not be cost-effective. For the second consecutive year, the SFP included an equal number of U.S. & Senegalese students. This format enriched the experience for both groups. In response to the question, "What would you have liked to include that was not included?" students asked for: a clear guide on where to get food & for how much (culinary guide or cookbook); to learned more about culture; to sleepover for at least 3 days with a Senegalese counterpart in a host home before starting work; for more site visits. General feedback included: for knowing the culture we have to live in Senegalese houses; book circles were very important. IYLI & Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center partnered to produce several short videos documenting the experiences of the 12 US & Senegalese students that will be aired on the network. Gilbert Roman, youth producer at MNN, received a full scholarship from IYLI to participate in the Senegal trip & help produce the videos. Seminar participation averaged 14 students. 4 Fellows ended the year in distinguished good standing with 3 receiving cash awards of $500 & one receiving a $500 scholarship. 3 students represented IYLI at the 4th International Young Leaders Assembly, "Moral & Innovative Leadership: Vision, Service & Entrepreneurship" at the United Nations, August 19. Also an alumnus was appointed as the youth delegate to the United Nations by IYLI partner Metropolitan New York Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolence.
Sankofa Freedom Academy: Philadelphia
(International Service Program: Ghana)
Description: The International Service Project Ambassadors program is the student traveling arm of the Sankofa Freedom Academy, a college preparatory, K-12 Freedom School that serves students of Philadelphia who aspire to responsible leadership roles in their chosen professions & communities. Building on the Philadelphia Freedom School (PFS) model, SFA is a public charter school that creates & sustains a teaching-learning environment that is culturally relevant & decidedly communal in its educational approach.
Destinations: Goree Island, Senegal.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine.
Atlantic Impact: Detroit
(International Travel Program: Barbados, Canada, and United Kingdom)
Description: Atlantic Impact uses history, community engagement, through experiential learning & student-led opportunities youth develop college-ready skills.
Destination: Barbados.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine.
In Depth: Students are paired one-on-one with a mentor & explore the heritage & nature of the island for the first several days. Equipped with a better understanding of the past, the last several days were devoted to the state of Barbados today, & in future, through shadowing local businesses & learning from young entrepreneurs about the culture & economy of Barbados. The group went on to tour various parishes in Barbados to explore the effects of the country becoming a powerhouse in the sugar industry, led by Miguel Pena of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society. The Freedom Footprints slave route heritage tour, created in collaboration with UNESCO, was designed to inspire people by educating the public about the role the slave trade has played in Barbados. Outdoors in Bridgetown at Independence Square students continued discussing the Freedom Footprints tour & reflecting on the similarities & globally shared history between the United States, Caribbean, & beyond, & what freedom means to each individual. In conversation with their mentors, students found deeper meaning in their Barbados experiences & their lives. Exploring the country’s history & thinking on a local and global scale, as well as using history as a source of inspiration & empowerment, those first days served as a scaffold to experiences with the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Youth Entrepreneurship. Students participated in active & engaging workshops focusing on entrepreneurial skills, mindset, behavior, and strengthening creativity, with discussions and activities led by Ashley John and Karlene Gordon. Each student was then paired with a local youth business to shadow, learning how they started and operate and gaining unique perspective into everyday Bajan life. At other times, students worked on their group projects through PowerPoint or participated in & conducted interviews in person & through Google hangouts. They loved living one minute from the Caribbean Sea & getting to the beach every day: riding waves, learning how to float, searching for sea creatures along the shore. Barbadian teacher Michael Hinds, who engaged with students several times throughout their trip, commented on the level of adaptability students had during their time in Barbados, "I was really impressed by the students & how open-minded they are." In Speightstown, students attended an outdoor session held at the Esplanade. Hosted by the Barbados and the Carolinas Legacy Foundation, a panel of experts provided a background for the beginning of Barbados as we know it today. Among the speakers were: Rhoda Green; Frederick Alleyne; Ramona La Roche (from Africana Lowcountry Genealogy, member of the Gullah Geechee community, Afro-American Studies graduate student at University of South Carolina); and Mela Berger (director & health practitioner at Caribbean Institute of Healing & Cultural Arts). In Holetown, they explored the St. James Parish Church & the monument marking the first landing of English settlers to Barbados. Upon returning home, Youth Mentor Chasity Cooper from Washington, DC said, "While home hasn't changed, my perspective has." Another mentor Kaara Baptiste from New York said, "It has been a really powerful experience." Student Lerrell was excited to learn that breadfruit is grown in Barbados & commonly fed to the formerly enslaved. He also shared, "Barbados put me in a calmer state of mind & it was very nice to get away from Detroit & everyday life ... It was interesting to learn that there is a lot of history between Barbados & places like Britain & South Carolina." The last major exploration was a calming nature hike along the coast in St. Philip, with ocean waves crashing in the background, led by Mela Berger who also discussed the benefits of being in touch with the self, especially emotionally. Student Jayvon said the discussion provided him with ideas about how to obtain inner peace & control outrage, "It made me feel like a better person..." For him, shadowing baker Shawna Rollins’ business Delicious Treats was among the most valuable experiences, "her dedication, her hard work, & her ambition."
Sankofa Spirit: Atlanta
(Passport To Adventure: Ghana, Africa, South/Central America, Caribbean, and Europe)
Description: Passport to Adventure is an educational travel program for youth to discover the cultural connections between Africa & the Diaspora, through classroom instruction & a study tour to see the cultural connection firsthand.
Destinations: Ghana.
Updates: Made a verbal agreement to join ASAA's collective publishing project with The Liberator Magazine. Invited The Liberator Magazine to help foster weekend classroom study in order to prepare for the next trip to Ghana.
Good Journey Inc.: St. Louis
Description: Good Journey's mission is to support & build sustainable communities & young leaders ages 8-25 who take responsibility for the improvement of their communities, & promote cultural understanding that contributes to the betterment of society.Destination: South Africa.
Updates: Four students -- Haile, 11; Mariama, 12; Elijah, 13 and Malaika, 13 -- will be traveling to South Africa (Kruger National Park, Soweto, Johannesburg, Robben Island and Cape Town) from October 24th to November 5th.
Leadership Excellence: Oakland
(Camp Alkebulan: 3-week trip to West Africa for 18-21 year-olds; Camp Akili: 5-day rural retreat for 14-17 year-olds)United African Alliance Community Center
(International Exchange Program: Arusha, Tanzania)Affirmation:
"We have an endless respect for this Africana Study Abroad work & its endless ethic & ingenuity linked to Live From Planet Earth & The Liberator Magazine, recognizing the holistic development of experience, psychosocial, cognitive, & intercultural competency, & immersed, studied understanding of living experience in diaspora nations as being as meaningful as attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). Learning to instinctively & intellectually recognize & not question the beauty & blessings of one's genealogy of a similar hue, stride, sway, gaze, & relationship to triumphs & challenges of the spiritual being & community beyond any diploma or accolade, into the dreamed & imagined postcolonial, postsettler state is how Africana mind, vision, & sense of purpose & meaning is actually & will always be expanded in inventiveness & familial bonds never taken for granted, within the new awareness or definition of self & diaspora. We must get out into our world & reconnect it; this work will lead us."(Brian Hughes Kasoro, Live From Planet Earth / The Liberator Magazine LLC & Maraina Montgomery, Howard University Assistant Director of Study Abroad)
"This work is consistently insightful, pushing learning in new & important directions, not afraid of difficult questions, yet sensitive enough to pose them in the most productive ways. This is intelligent scholarship, resourceful innovation, & work of good character, the rare work that remains in supportive awareness of peers at all times, invested in mutual participation & success, encouraging quieter students to speak up, especially those who have not yet spoken. It is a quality that goes beyond emotional maturity, one I can only describe as a sense of pragmatic justice in the teaching of writing & of writing nonfiction. But beyond the scholarly potential & performance I find this to be work of a high ethic, linked to education with a commitment to social justice & making the world a better place, undoubtedly embracing the world in learning. I appreciate the intellect & curiosity of Brian, his kindness & compassion for his fellows & growth as an educator, a writer, a publisher, & a valued contributor to the field."
(Erick Gordon, Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College Founding Director of Student Press Initiative)
"This work is a great pleasure, the combined interest in literacy, African-American youth, & African continental thought brought together to conceive & develop study abroad programs that immerse African-American students in language, culture, & history for the development of positive self-identities & academic literacies, conceptual & methodological frameworks, as well as pedagogical theory that allows for the shaping & study of African-American study abroad programs that center youth participatory action research & intensive writing, working with local providers of study abroad programs for African-American students as they consider how to grow & improve their programs, helping them to think differently about pre-travel preparation, during-travel academic & cultural experiences, & post-travel reflection & domestic activities. Brian’s work addresses several serious problems in education. He deals with the lack of cultural connection between African-American students & the African continent, the lack of academic motivation many students have, the need to develop more robust academic literacies, & the need to think differently about students’ experiences while studying abroad. He is also interested in creating “abroad-like” experiences for students who are not able to travel to the African continent. His work is extremely important for English Education, Urban Education, African-American Education, & International & Comparative Education. This work will change the way we think about literacy education for African-American students, I expect prolific scholarship & leadership in several subfields of education, as well as continued distinguished writing & intellectual voice through Live From Planet Earth / The Liberator Magazine & the academic field, without reservations."
(Ernest Morrell, Ph.D., Coyle Professor in Literacy Education & Director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame, Director of the National Council of Teachers of English's (NCTE) James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts, Past-Columbia University Teachers College Macy Professor of Education, Past-Director of Institute for Urban & Minority Education (IUME), & Past-President of National Council of Teachers of English)
Related
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