Anti-Racist Activist Pedagogy Towards Socio-Political Transformation: A Case Study of LUNDU’s Apúntate Contra el Racismo Campaign by Sonia Medel B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Society, Culture and Politics in Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2014 © Sonia Medel, 2014 ABSTRACT The present case study examines the anti-racism campaign Apúntate Contra el Racismo, launched by the Afro-Peruvian non-profit organization, LUNDU: Centro de Estudios y Promoción Afroperuanos, to illustrate how a marginalized group utilizes forms of activist pedagogy to call for the articulation of alternative notions of politics that promote social justice oriented national development. The study is concerned with the ways through which the meanings of public political participation are taught and the goals of development are redefined through the enactment of radical constructions of citizenship. I attempt to address: how LUNDU leaders conceive of themselves as activists and how they construct their activism in relation to discourses of education, development and participatory politics within the context of Peruvian society, how LUNDU leaders come to articulate the public pedagogy that frames the raison d’ être of the campaign and through what means LUNDU leaders leverage political power by conceiving spaces for greater visibility, participatory politics, and civic engagement towards socio-political transformation. To answer the aforementioned I employ a critical conceptual framework on development, citizenship, pedagogy and activism. I also draw on an overall anti- oppressive methodology that engages feminist standpoint perspective, personal narrative, extensive field work and data collection of varied textual and visual document sources and interviews, applied thematic analysis with a critical discourse analysis theoretical approach, and triangulation and organization of data based on the facets of activist pedagogy which this study focuses primarily on. The main case study highlights reveal the campaign impact as ‘successful’ in enacting socio-political transformation, forcing state acknowledgement of re-articulations of development and exemplifying critical modes of citizenship towards a radical participatory democracy through anti-racist and anti-patriarchal activist pedagogical campaign initiatives. i PREFACE This thesis is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, S. A. Medel and received approval from the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board. Certificate of Approval- Minimal Risk University of British Columbia, Office of Research Services Behavioural Research Ethics Board UBC BREB NUMBER: H12-02926 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i PREFACE ....................................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ x DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: FRAMING THE INQUIRY .................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study, A Personal Narrative Approach ............................................................... 1 Introduction to The Apúntate Contra el Racismo Case Study .................................................. 11 Situating the Study .................................................................................................................... 17 Racism in Peru ....................................................................................................................... 19 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMING......................................................................... 26 Introduction: Critical Pillars ...................................................................................................... 26 Engaging Citizenship, Democracy, and Development.............................................................. 26 “D”evelopment as the All-Knowingly Neoliberal Saviour ................................................... 27 Democracy and Citizenship for Alternative Development Possibilities ............................... 29 Citizenship, Participatory Politics, and the Role of Critical Pedagogy ..................................... 41 The Need for Critical Citizenship .......................................................................................... 42 Critical Pedagogy for Critical Citizenship............................................................................. 47 Critical Pedagogy for Participatory Politics: the Case of Peru .............................................. 55 From ‘Critical’ to ‘Activist’ Pedagogy: Towards a Radical Socio-Political Transformation in Peru ........................................................................................................................................ 58 Facet 1: Development of ‘Militant Consciousness’ .................................................................. 67 Facet 2: Embodied Learning ..................................................................................................... 68 Facet 3: Learning from Micro-Politics and Tensions Between Professional/ Academic and Activist Discourses .................................................................................................................... 69 Facet 4: Strategic Acquisition of Democratic Skills ................................................................. 70 Facet 5: Space-Making .............................................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS ...................................................................................... 73 Methododology & Ethical Considerations ................................................................................ 73 Beginning the Research Process ............................................................................................... 80 Fieldwork: From Limitations to Organic Shifts ........................................................................ 81 iii Methods of Inquiry and Analysis: Case Study Research .......................................................... 85 Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 88 Translation: Necessary Gaps ............................................................................................. 89 Interviews .......................................................................................................................... 90 Documents ........................................................................................................................ 91 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 92 Applied Thematic Analysis: ............................................................................................. 92 Critical Discourse Analysis Theoretical Approach to Analysis: ...................................... 94 Triangulation: .................................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 4: APÚNTATE CONTRA EL RACISMO, THE CAMPAIGN FINDINGS ............... 98 Socio-Political Context of Afro-Peruvian Action ..................................................................... 98 The History in Brief of Afro-descendants in Peru ................................................................. 98 The Contemporary Groundings of the Apúntate Contra el Racismo Campaign ................. 102 The Beginnings of Afro-Peruvian Activism ................................................................... 102 Afro-Peruvian NGO Relations ........................................................................................ 105 LUNDU’s Fight Against Racism .................................................................................... 108 Apúntate Contra el Racismo: Unpacking the Impact of Activist Pedagogy ........................... 110 The Development of ‘Militant Consciousness’ and the Articulation of Oppositional Ideologies and Discourses ................................................................................................... 111 The Development Reports: Afro-Peruvians, the Elephant in the Room ......................... 113 Embodied Learning and Learning from Tensions between Professional/ Academic and Activist Discourses 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