Abstract
Critical multicultural education and its promise of cultural inclusion face a crisis induced by powerful neoliberal forces that view education as an economic enterprise rather than open dialogue and inclusive pedagogies. With this in mind, this article uses interpretive phenomenology to examine how US American preservice teachers engage in the process of decolonization to challenge neoliberal influences in education and develop multicultural awareness during an international cross-cultural field experience in Honduras. Participants in this study comprise seventy-six preservice teachers from a Mid-Western university who went on a study abroad program to Honduras. Data for the study were collected through interviews, discussions, class assignments, reflective journals and researchers’ field notes and observations. Multiple levels of data analysis reveal that international cross-cultural field experiences promote a deeper understanding of colonial social relations and questioning of powerful neoliberal networks that perpetuate the status quo to disadvantage diverse and minority students. Findings also indicate that through reflexive and critical dialogue preservice teachers negotiate difference, engage with the self and other, and question their own knowledge and practices in sustaining colonial relations of privilege and domination with implications for classroom practice. This study suggests that ongoing multicultural awareness at every stage of teacher preparation, beginning at the preservice level, has the power to effect change in future classroom practice so that all students, including diverse minority populations experience educational equity and equal opportunities for academic success.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apple, M. W. (2004). Creating difference: Neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism and the politics of educational reform. Educational Policy, 18(1), 12–44.
Asher, N. (2007). Made in the (multicultural) USA: Unpacking tensions of race, culture, gender, and sexuality. Educational Researcher, 36(2), 65–73.
Asher, N. (2010). Decolonizing curriculum. In E. Malewski (Ed.), Curriculum studies handbook: The next moment (pp. 393–402). New York: Routledge.
Banks, J. (2004). Teaching for social justice, diversity and citizenship in a global world. Educational Forum, 68, 296–305.
Bentz, V. M., & Shapiro, J. J. (1998). Mindful enquiry in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity and social justice in teacher education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Colón-Muñiz, A., SooHoo, S., & Brignoni, E. (2010). Language, culture and dissonance: A study course for globally minded teachers with possibilities for catalytic transformation. Teaching Education, 21(1), 61–74.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Giroux, H. A. (2004). The terror of neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the eclipse of democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Giroux, H. A. (2008). Against the terror of neoliberalism: Politics beyond the age of greed. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Jaramillo, N. E. (2012). Occupy, recuperate and decolonize. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 10(1), 67–75.
Kinginger, C. (2009). American students abroad: Negotiation of difference? Language Teaching, 43(2), 216–227.
Loutzenheiser, L. W. (2010). Can we learn queerly? Normativity and social justice pedagogies. In T. K. Chapman & N. Hobbel (Eds.), Social justice pedagogy across the curriculum (pp. 121–143). New York: Routledge.
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ogden, A. (2007). The view from the veranda: Understanding today’s colonial students. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 15, 2–20.
Papastergiadis, N. (2000). The turbulence of migration. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Phillion, J., Malewski, E., Rodriguez, E., Shirley, V., Kulago, H., & Bulington, J. (2008). Promise and perils of study abroad: White privilege revival. In T. Huber (Ed.), Teaching and learning diversity: International perspectives on social justice and human rights (pp. 365–382). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Rahatzad, J., Ware, J., & Haugen, M. (2013). Chocolate covered twinkies: Social justice and superficial aims in teacher education. In L. C. de Oliveira (Ed.), Teacher education for social justice: Perspectives and lessons learned. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Sharma, S. (2009). From the red-dot-woman to jet-set mangoes and all the hyphens in-between: Studying abroad and discovering myself. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 25(3), 119–136.
Sleeter, C. (2008). Equity, democracy and neoliberal assaults on teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 1947–1957.
Zeichner, K. M. (2009). Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharma, S., Rahatzad, J. & Phillion, J. How Preservice Teachers Engage in the Process of (De)Colonization: Findings from an International Field Experience in Honduras. Interchange 43, 363–377 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-013-9182-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-013-9182-2