Interview and Survey Data for the Dissertation of Melinda C
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Appendix D: Interview and Survey Data for the Dissertation of Melinda C. McClimans This supplement provides the full context for quotes in Chapter 4, Data Analysis, and Chapter 5, Discussion. The following page provides an index according to respondent name to make searching easier. At the head of each respondent’s section I indicate the sources of the data, which always entails and interview and usually also a member check. Some respondents also submitted data via an online survey form. I included portions of data from each respondent which pertain to the major findings and organized them under subheadings headings which correspond to my data categories. Quotes are organized alphabetically according to the pseudonym of the study respondent and are listed under each respondent's pseudonym according to the major finding, in the same order in which their derivative quotes appear in the narrative text. All quotes under the respondent's name are theirs, other than my words, which are prefaced by my first name, Melinda. Some quotes are also followed by a note from the respondent's member check which clarifies or provides more specific information. Usually these are also quotes but sometimes they are my summary notes from the member check. Only those which are indicated with quotes are actual quotes. The dates following the quote or note are the dates on which the quote was recorded, and correspond either to the initial interview, or the member check. Member check quotes are indicated by “member check member check note” before their date. A small number of quotes are taken directly from the survey the teacher filled and are indicated by “survey response” before their date. All other quotes are interview quotes. All quotes are from interviews or member checks took place over the phone or in person, unless otherwise indicated. Respondent Index Andrea ................................................................................................................................. 3 Anne .................................................................................................................................. 12 Bruce ................................................................................................................................. 19 Caroline ............................................................................................................................ 24 Edmund ............................................................................................................................. 28 Frank ................................................................................................................................. 34 Henry ................................................................................................................................. 44 James ................................................................................................................................. 53 Kelly .................................................................................................................................. 58 Lillian ................................................................................................................................ 63 Linda ................................................................................................................................. 68 Luke ................................................................................................................................... 75 Marisa ............................................................................................................................... 88 Michelle ........................................................................................................................... 104 Nancy .............................................................................................................................. 108 Pamela ............................................................................................................................ 114 Rose ................................................................................................................................. 120 Sally Brown ..................................................................................................................... 131 Shifa ................................................................................................................................ 141 Sophia ............................................................................................................................. 143 Andrea Quotes from interview on 10/11/2017, member checks on 1/30/2018 and 4/27/2018 Decolonizing Eurocentric Curriculum: "I have two end goals that explain the way I deconstruct imperialism and explain racial issues or tensions through history. One is understanding that history is a construct so we are able to build the narratives that we think are the ones that need to be heard, or the ones that are not being heard enough. How we can counter that in the classroom. So this is a deliberative work that I do inside my classroom. I do not go by the any specific narrative. I just go by the narrative that after the years of teaching and of research and studies that I've done after a six-year undergraduate program in history. I'm able to evaluate based on my student population, like this is a narrative that helps them, as immigrants, as Others understand world history in a way that resonates with them. And sticks with them, to make it more relevant. So that's one aspect. Melinda: So you connect to their experience. Their lived experience as many of them are immigrants. Many are immigrants, students of color, Muslims. Most of them have ties to countries that have recently got their independence since the sixties after the decolonization process. They still have family members in Africa who remember what it was like living under French rule or under the British rule. So this is topic that for them, they can't really engage with and try to make sense out of why is Africa like this? What are the current events and problems in Africa - like what are the roots of these issues? I'm very lucky to have this student population and I'm able to deconstruct it in a way that it's meaningful, and not just doing it because I want to do it and not have student that would appreciate it the way they appreciate it. So that's very particular. I don't know if that makes sense to many teachers around here. That's one thing about why I deconstruct the way I do. Melinda: Do you think your own identity, and your own social experience in this context affects your teaching? Did you grow up in Chile? So I've only been here for four years. Since 2009. So that's my second point. I do think teacher identity and the way that we have. these perceptions of who we are. how we identify ourselves. It absolutely influences and guides the way that I teach my students. Teaching, in my opinion is a highly personal activity. We are trained. We have requirements. Baselines. But at the end of the day it's my interaction with my students. It's a personal relationship we have. I do bring a lot of my personal experience, my family experience growing up in Chile, a country that of was under the influence of the United States during the Cold War. How the United States influenced and changed, shifted the history of my country, and of my own family. .with having family members tortured and ‘disappeared.’ The dictatorship in the 80s and how the United States was behind all of that. That is a really great example to counter. to provide another light onto how the United States and the Soviet Union manipulated things for example during the Cold War. We're talking about Congo and the Lumumba assassination and that makes sense to them. But they also need to know it was not only happening in Africa. It was not only happening to Black people in Africa, it's happening to brown people in Latin America, too. And then we can build a narrative of different groups of oppressed people throughout the world, throughout history. It connects to my personal identity, and individual identity, as well." (4/27/2018) "I teach an economic class, a current events class, and then I taught US history and now modern world history. And imperialism is something that comes across all of those. .we would study the global economic. patterns. And then, countries which are being used primarily for their, primary resources. .an exploitation of making developing countries, in terms of the resources that they have. and that is also residue of colonialism." (10/11/2017) "for the US history class I taught, I identified a lot more American imperialistic views, and be very specific about imperialism and expansion in the United States." (10/11/2017) “the United States doesn't have colonies, but it has an imperialistic attitude” (10/11/2017) See also, Contemporary History and Current Events, below. Decolonizing Curriculum as an Anti-Racist Approach: See also, Contemporary History and Current Events, below. Contemporary History and Current Events: "I make an emphasis on race, on gender, and, yes - especially if something comes up, especially based on current events - whatever it is in today's political environment. Melinda: so sometimes it comes up by accident yes. Melinda: because they're reading the news. Yeah. So a lot of it it would come up, based on what happened yesterday. What has happened this week. And concerns or comments that the students have. Melinda: do you remember