Religious Capital of the Oppressed

Black advancement in Antebellum Philadelphia was not solely a byproduct of White philanthropy, but Black residents advocated for a more inclusive form of education. Scholars have considered the influence of the Black church in educational progress, but not the influence of religion on the educational advocates. This chapter analyzes religion as a form of capital on the antebellum Philadelphian Black Christian community. This chapter achieved this by conducting a socio-historical content analysis of primary sources such as sermon manuscripts and books, as well as secondary sources such as history books and journal articles. Ultimately, the chapter findings suggest that religion was a motivator of the educational advancement for the Black educational advocates and churches, whereas for the White Christian community Black education was informed by deficit-based perspectives. The author of this chapter suggest that Black Christian Education can serve as a useful educational alternative especially if it embraces a social justice orientation to empower Black students.

Challenging the Hegemonic Police Within

Those who benefit from privilege often fail to understand the inner workings of their privilege. If they do, they can respond in various ways: abuse their privilege, continue to ignore it, become more self-reflexive with their actions, and more. This essay engages my (in)ability to use a standpoint of privilege in challenging everyday acts of oppression. I offer a dominant group methodology that uses dominant group theory as a heuristic to practice critical self-reflexivity through autoethnography. I follow by providing autoethnographic accounts of moments when I complicitly reinforced or attempted to impede communicative behavior(s) that perpetuated prejudice and discrimination. I conclude with practical implications for readers—especially those who identify as dominant group members. More specifically, I invite readers to unlearn oppressive ways of being toward the continual development and enactment of a social justice orientation.

How a principal's action as an invitational leader with a social justice orientation can serve as a factor in recruiting and reciprocally retaining teachers at high-poverty, high-minority, high needs urban high schools

The number of individuals going into the teaching profession was dwindling at a time when the rate of retirement and people leaving the profession was increasing. Sutcher et al. (2016) noted that in 2015-16, the United States was short 64,000 qualified teachers. They predicted this to grow to as much as 300,000 teachers needed per year by 2020 and up to 316,000 by 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate this challenge even more (Page, 2020). Teachers need to be recruited, supported, and retained in high-poverty, high-minority, high-needs, urban high schools (Freedman and Appleman, 2008; Greenlee and Brown, 2009; Hughes, 2012; Petty, et. al, 2012; Podolsky, et. al., 2016; Simon and Johnson, 2015; Stotko, et. al., 2006; Waddell, 2010). In a time when inequities are being exacerbated in the field of education, the principals and the teachers will be called upon to do more with less (Page, 2020). Empowerment of school principals who are willing to take on the schools that are the most challenging (Bartanen, 2019; Levin and Bradley, 2019) is needed. They must to be trained to demonstrate leadership dimensions and supporting actions (Martin and Miller, 2017) that can guide them to build a team of team of irreplaceable teachers (The Irreplaceables, 2012), which will build collective efficacy (Hattie, 2016) to help students furthest from opportunity reach their high potential in academic and personal achievement. In the contention of Martin and Miller, (2017) aligning the dimensions of invitational leadership (Purkey and Novak, 2016; Purkey and Siegel, 2003) with action and self-reflection of social justice leadership for principal leadership will better prepare principals leading schools with diverse populations. This study further contends that if the principal's action as an invitational leader with a social justice orientation it will serve as a factor in recruiting and retaining teachers in the schools where they are needed most.

Case III.5: Reflections on our Critical Service Learning Provision: Is it Critical or Are We Social Justice Dreamers?

In 2013 we ran a small but successful service learning pilot in the department of sociology at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). Immediately following the pilot, service learning was added to our BA Sociology, BA Criminology and MA Public Sociology provision as core modules. In brief, we argue our version of service learning sits within a social justice orientation, often referred to as critical service learning. Simply put, this involves students working in partnership with our not-for-profit community on social justice issues for the purpose of social change and mutual benefit for community partners and students. These are big claims. Whether the service learning we do at NTU genuinely extends beyond the dream of social justice is at the heart of this chapter....

Community-Based Research: A Grass-Roots and Social Justice Orientation to Inquiry

Community-based research challenges the traditional research paradigm by recognizing that complex social problems in the early 21st century must involve multiple stakeholders in the research process—not as subjects but as coinvestigators and coauthors. It is an orientation to inquiry rather than a methodology and reflects a transdisciplinary paradigm by including academics from many disciplines, community members, activists, and often students in all stages of the research process. Community-based research is relational research where all participants change and grow in a synergistic relationship as they work together and strategize to solve issues and problems that are defined by and meaningful to the community. This chapter is an introduction to the historical and philosophical roots of community-based research and discusses the core principles and skills useful when designing and working with community members in a collaborative, innovative, and transformative research partnership. The rationale for working within this research paradigm is discussed, as well as the challenges researchers and practitioners face when conducting community-based research. This chapter ends with a discussion of the continuing need for discussion, reflection, and case studies from the field regarding professional boundaries, institutional barriers, ethical research practices, and project evaluation.

Using a Trauma-Informed, Socially Just Research Framework with Marginalized Populations: Practices and Barriers to Implementation

Social workers, including social work researchers, are called on to challenge social injustices and pursue social change. Research has shown a strong association between trauma and adversity and marginalized populations, exposing the unequal distribution of trauma and its effects throughout society. Given the focus on marginalized populations in social work, the social justice orientation of the field, and the intersection of trauma with marginalized populations, a framework to guide social work researchers in conducting trauma-informed, socially just research with marginalized populations is warranted. Therefore, this article provides a framework integrating trauma theory, trauma-informed principles, and intersectionality as a guide for social work research. The proposed framework is illustrated using a case study of low-income, predominantly African American men recruited from a criminal justice setting, acknowledging facilitators and barriers to implementation. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for researchers and doctoral student training.