Power, Knowledge and Anti-Racism Education

Born in Asokore-Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, George Sefa Dei did undergraduate education at the University of Ghana, and postgraduate studies at McMaster University and the University of Toronto, Canada. Currently, George is Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Between 1996 and 2000 he served as the first Director of the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at OISE/UT.Professor Dei’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of anti-racism, minority schooling, international development and anti-colonial thought. His professional and academic work has led to many conference and workshop invitations in Canada, U.S., Europe and Africa. He has also appeared on many radio and television shows speaking about my academic and research work.Professor Dei has received several awards for his work, including the African-Canadian Outstanding Achievement in Education; the Community Builder Award. Continuing Education Department of the Toronto Catholic District School Board; and, the Race, Gender, and Class Project Academic Award (at the Annual Race, Gender, and Class Conference, New Orleans). He is the author, co-author, and editor of several books on anti-racism and education, including Anti-Racism Education: Theory and Practice; Hardships and Survival in Rural West Africa; Reconstructing ‘Drop-Out’: A Critical Ethnography of the Dynamics of Black Students’ Disengagement from School and Indigenous Knowledge in Global Contexts.

• : Introduction: Mapping the Terrain: Power, Knowledge and Anti-Racism Education (George J. Sefa Dei and Agnes Calliste) : Towards an Anti-Racism Discursive Framework (George J. Sefa Dei) : Deconstructing Whiteness: Pedagogical Implications for Anti-Racism Education (Gabriel Bedard) : “Whassup Homeboy?” Black/Popular Culture and the Politics of “Curriculum Studies”: Devising an Anti-Racism Perspective (Awad Ibrahim): Rethinking Access: The Challenge of Living with Difficult Knowledge (Carl E. James and Joy Mannette) : Black Women Teachers’ Positionality and “Everyday Acts”: A Brief Reflection on the Work to be Done (Annette Henry): Mapping the Unknowable: The Challenges and Rewards of Cultural, Political and Pedagogical Border Crossing (Evie Tastsoglou): Why Write Back to the New Missionaries?: Addressing the Exclusion of (Black) Others from Discourses of Empowerment (Handel Kashope Wright): Anti-Racism Organizing and Resistance in Academia (Agnes Calliste): Appendix: Bibliography