Copyright by Kevin Russel Magill 2017 The Dissertation Committee for Kevin Russel Magill Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Understanding the Relationship Between Critical Pedagogy and Social Studies: Dialectics, Agency, and Solidarity Committee: Cynthia (Cinthia) Salinas, Supervisor Anthony L. Brown Katherina Payne Arturo Rodriguez E. Wayne Ross Understanding the Relationship Between Critical Pedagogy and Social Studies: Dialectics, Agency, and Solidarity by Kevin Russel Magill, B.A, M.P.A, M.A. Understanding the Relationship Between Critical Pedagogy and Social Studies: Dialectics, Agency, and Solidarity Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2017 Dedication To all educators committed to intellectual solidarity and love. To my family, friends, and colleagues. To my mentors, loved ones, and those who inspire: Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Ryan, Arturo, Cinthia, Liz, Blanca, Kent, and Dillon. Acknowledgements Thank you to all who have supported me on this journey. The last four years have been an incredible joy. The love of my family, friends, and colleagues has given me the strength to complete this research project. I am forever grateful for the late night phone conversations, writing sessions, office therapy, and emotional support. To my family, thank you for your unwavering love. Mom, Dad, and Ryan: I love you. You always made me feel like I could do anything. To Liz: I love you- thank you for all your love and support. You have encouraged me to chase my crazy dreams and I could not imagine the last four years without you. Arturo and Cinthia: my love to you both. I don’t know how to thank you for the profound impact you have had on my life. Arturo, my brother: thank you for your intellectual solidarity, friendship, and mentorship; I am the person, scholar, and teacher I am because of you. Working with you has changed my life. Our amazing philosophical conversations pushed this dissertation and my life in countless ways. Only you knew where this journey might lead when we first met all those years ago. Cinthia: I cannot thank you enough for all our amazing experiences over the last four years (more to come!). Working with you has been an incredible joy. You have taught me so much about scholarship, teacher education, and friendship (and beer!). You are so generous with your time and talents- thank you for being an incredible friend, mentor, and chair. We both knew the Nixon library would be the beginning of something special and now we are family! Thank you to the Munich’s, Valine’s, Grunde’s, Harrelson’s, Baca’s (including Criz), Fox’s, Demuro’s (including Cory) and to Bong Rojas and Matt Smith for your lifelong friendship. v To my graduate colleagues, it has been a great joy of my life working and developing friendships with all of you. Amanda: thank you for showing me what it means to be a teacher educator and for your unwavering friendship. Noreen, thank you for being my intellectual sister and my rock during the dissertation process. You both inspire me- I am so excited for our future! To Esther, Neil, and Dee: thank you for being the best roommates a guy could ask for- you are amazing people. Working with you all has been an astonishing experience. To Todd and Anna: thank you for your support and friendship. Todd- good to know there is a “guy for that” and Anna, keep rocking that karaoke. To Scottie, Ryan, Justin, Thea, MJ, Charlotte, Billy, Alice, Chris, Alicia, Stacia, Courtney, Rob, Allina, Jessica, Steven, Ann, Kathleen, the Lara’s, Melissa, and others that I am unintentionally leaving out (my apologies): thank you for your friendship, support, and all the great work we did together. You are all amazing people and scholars. I have been honored to work with some of the finest scholars in the field. To my dissertation committee: thank you for your guidance, love and support. To Professor Brown: thank you for always pushing me intellectually and being so supportive of my work. I enjoyed our time together in class and working together in the Urban Teacher cohort- you are truly a critical pedagogue. To Professor Payne: thank you for always keeping the graduate students and I up on all those things we needed to be doing (and for sending us to all the best food places). I enjoyed discussing democratic and elementary education with you. To Professor Ross: thank you for your kindness and generosity. Our conversations pushed my thinking and dissertation work in important ways. I really appreciate your intellectual solidarity and all your support. Thank you to all the social studies scholars, critical theorists/pedagogues, professors, and staff I have worked with, taken classes with, had conversations with over vi the last four years. I have truly enjoyed our time together. In particular thank you to Professor Busey for all your kindness, support, friendship, and mentorship. To the participants in this study and to all my students: you are some of the finest educators and people I have ever met. Thank you for being you! I appreciate all our discussions, your friendship, and all you have taught me about life and teaching. Never relent- continue the transformational education approach! vii Understanding the Relationship Between Critical Pedagogy and Social Studies: Dialectics, Agency, and Solidarity Kevin Russel Magill, Ph.D The University of Texas at Austin, 2017 Supervisor: Cynthia (Cinthia) Salinas The purpose of this study was to understand how social studies teachers interested in critical theory understood it and how it actually emerged in ideology, pedagogy, and recognition. This critical qualitative case study examined the critical consciousness of the participant teachers and ways they addressed the dialectical tensions situating their social studies teaching experiences. Through ethnographic methods of observation, interviewing and artifact analysis, I describe how the focal teachers understood critical social studies teaching by: centering student experiences as a means of critical social studies teaching; and by utilizing the social studies curriculum to critically enter practice or by utilizing social studies curriculum as a vehicle for criticality. Emerging from these themes I found: dialectical tensions exist which serve to influence the scope of critical teaching; criticality circles content and pedagogy; teachers tend to be more conceptually/abstractly than materially critical; teachers demonstrate a range of reflexivity as praxis and; what unites critical social studies teachers is their desire for social justice and transformation. Participant teachers also taught critically in their engagement with civic instruction by: first, attempting to trouble uncritical ways citizenship is defined through negating the traditional civic archetype. Second, teachers centered issues of race, power, and politics to illuminate inequity inherent to civic discussions. Emerging from these themes I found: critical social studies teachers attempt to make clear temporal connections between citizenship and disciplines; teachers attempt to work through student experiences to support possibilities for current consciousness and future civic transformation and; that teachers believe critical transformative teaching includes dialogue. Third and lastly, the viii teachers demonstrated a range of critical interpretations and pedagogical practices, however each engaged in relational recognition of dialectical positioning and intellectual solidarity with students. ix Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 Foundation for the study ........................................................................................ 5 The need for criticality in the social studies ....................................... 6 Freirian critical philosophy .............................................................. 11 Statement of the problem ................................................................. 13 Conceptual framework: overview .................................................... 16 Methods: overview ........................................................................... 16 General findings ............................................................................... 17 Dissertation overview ....................................................................... 19 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE: CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND SOCIETY ............................................................................................. 25 Social foundations ................................................................................................ 25 Modernity ........................................................................................ 28 The intellectual roots of the critical tradition in education .................................. 31 Freire and dialectics: an overview .................................................. 34 Basic tenants: Freire ........................................................................ 40 Banking .....................................................................