From: Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:48:48 -0500

I read Charles's posts as ones that tell us we have to prove there is a need for the literature we want. Empirical proof is what he wants. I find that position and insistence on proof troubling but am not able to articulate why it is so troubling. It is tangled up in the power structure and history of discrediting the voices of people of color.

That said, I can point to some research studies, but am aware that any study can be refuted if the power structure wants to do so.

In an earlier post (the one in which I provided an overview of what happened with Mexican American Studies in the Tucson school district), I referenced studies that found that students who had taken courses in MAS performed better. There, the power structure succeeded in passing laws that said ethnic studies programs were anti-American, and then found the MAS program guilty of violating that law. It doesn't matter what the studies found.

Here's one of the studies, conducted by professors at the UA: http://posting.tucsonweekly.com/images/blogimages/2012/11/12/1352763151-112886925-emprical-analysis-mas-report-2012.pdf

Heres' the Cambium report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSD-ethnic-studies-audit

I can also point to research conducted by researchers at the U of Arizona and Stanford, regarding the impact of mascots/stereotypes. Findings in this study showed that self-efficacy of Native students was depressed upon seeing stereotypical imagery. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/daphna.oyserman/files/frybergmarkusoysermanstone2008.pdf

Christine Sleeter has a report worth reading, too. It is an analysis of ethnic studies programs. http://hin.nea.org/assets/docs/NBI-2010-3-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf

Debbie
__________________________________________________________ Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo

Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com

Website: American Indians in Children's Literature
_at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net

Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois

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Received on Sun 16 Feb 2014 12:49:10 PM CST