Critical Approaches to Social Justice and
Antiracism in Language Education

Co-sponsored by the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies
Date: Wednesday, October 21st, 2020, 1:00-2:00 PM
Location: Through Zoom

Watch: Critical Approaches to Social Justice and Antiracism in Language Education

Lecture Abstract

Equity, diversity, and social justice have recently attracted a great deal of attention in language education. These values are widely accepted by institutions and instructors committed to fostering ethics and collaboration among citizens in our increasingly volatile world. Yet, they can also become a set of superficial slogans with little substance, resulting in a discourse that is non-performative. The recent antiracist social movements also contain both potential and pitfalls. This presentation will scrutinize the concept of social justice, various dimensions and effects of racism, and raise an alarm for so-called Oppression Olympics—competitions focusing on the amount of vulnerability experienced by different racialized groups, pitting them against each other. Critical language teaching must recognize these potential problems of education for social justice and antiracism, and should strive for developing contextual ethics and empathy in order to build solidarity among different groups and to enact criticality in institutional and instructional practices.

About the Speaker: Ryuko Kubota

Ryuko Kubota is a Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at University of British Columbia, where she teaches applied linguistics and teacher education. Her research draws on critical approaches to second language education, focusing on race, gender, culture, and language ideologies. Her publications appear in such journals as Applied Linguistics, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, Foreign Language Annals, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of Second Language Writing, TESOL Quarterly, and World Englishes. She is a co-editor of Race, culture, and identities in second language education: Exploring critically engaged practice  (Routledge 2009).