ABSTRACT
Over the last several decades, race and ethnicity have been the focus of theoretical debates in the social sciences, educational research, and political arenas. A recent and very prominent example is the reactionary public assaults against the proliferation of critical race theory. This so-called analytical “death of class” and its limited explanatory ambition has led to a set of diverse claims about the kind of socioeconomic structures and political and cultural forms that have emerged within schools since the late 20th century. The American Indian question has long been problematic in US scholarly literature, with scant attention to socioeconomic concerns or the cultural histories of the population. Sandy Grande, in “American Indian Geographies of Identity and Power,” examines the tension between American Indian epistemology and critical pedagogy. Kevin Lam’s article “Theories of Racism, Asian American Identities, and a Materialist Critical Pedagogy” critiques the category of race and the “model minority” myth, moving toward the critical deconstruction of pan-Asian ethnicity.
