Books in the Counterpoints series

What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is deeply divided by race? Robin DiAngelo reveals the factors that make this question so difficult: mis-education about racism; ideologies such as individualism and colorblindness; segregation; and the belief that to be complicit in racism is to be an immoral person.

Traditional media literacy models are mostly left-brained, inherited from the legacy of alphabetic literacy, the Gutenberg press revolution, and industrial mass media production. New digital media radically alter the environment: their nonlinear, multisensory, field-like properties are more right-brain oriented. Consequently, rather than focus exclusively on deconstructing the products of design objects (such as an advertisement «text»), digital learning should respond to the design of the system itself, including cultural and cognitive bias. Mediacology proposes a design-for-pattern approach called «media permaculture», which restructures media literacy to be in sync with new media practices connected with sustainability and the perceptual functions of the right brain hemisphere. In the same way that permaculture approaches gardening by establishing the natural parameters of its ecological niche, media permaculture explores the individual¿s «mediacological niche» in the context of knowledge communities. By applying bioregional thinking to the symbolic order, media permaculture redresses the standard one-size-fits-all literacy model by taking into account diverse cognitive strategies and emerging convergence media practices. Antonio López applies a practical knowledge of alternative media, cross-cultural communication, and ecology to build a meaningful theory of media education.

With current surging polarities of perspectives, dangerous culture wars and immanent threats to the human social and ecological fabric, it is a good time to rediscover the true meaning of fear through the eyes of a creative and endearingly outrageous educator who taught ¿Fear is not the enemy.¿ Through a combination of fi ction and non-fiction, this book offers a fi rst documentation of the philosophy and story of Samuel Nathan Gillian Jr. (1939-2006), an African-American educator-activist from the Bronx, New York. Fisher takes readers on a journey of growth and development with a protagonist named Deana, a sophomore college student, as she comes to understand the radical importance of her Uncle Sammy¿s life and work. Embellished with the intellectual rigor of a biography of a wise man, Fisher tracks his own relationship and those who knew and loved Samuel as the tension grows to a pitch in the story. Yet, the real brilliance lies in the psychological, philosophical and spiritual twists Sam Gillian brought forward in two stunning books on fear (2002, 2005) that this book revives. Fisher, who has studied fear systematically since 1989, has never met a unique thinker like Sam Gillian. Through Fisher¿s eyes, the special signifi cance of Gillian¿s work is brought to the general and well-educated reading public. An essential book for post-secondary education on fear management, a resource guide for school teachers, parents, psychologists, policy makers and anyone who seeks to help humanity establish a sustainable, moral and healthy relationship with fear.

Ageing of the Oppressed: A Pandemic of Intersectional Injustice explores what it is like to grow older with accumulating and intersecting discrimination. It condemns ageism and other "isms." Despite its visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, ageism is not a new phenomenon but one that has been ignored for too long by policymakers and the general population. The negative language used to describe population ageing adds fuel to the fire by filling people¿s minds with ageist images that permeate all levels and sectors of society. We should all be recognized as full human rights holders, no matter our age, ability, disability, gender or sexual orientation, race, or socio-economic or any other status. This book combines theoretical models and academic essays by top experts with the real-life experience of older persons and activists. It is a must-read for advocates for human rights; policymakers; service providers; students of social and health sciences, the humanities, and law; and anybody willing to challenge assumptions and practices. The proposed UN Convention on the human rights of older persons will be a step forward to providing older persons with a remedy for daily and often life-long oppression. Silvia Perel-Levin, a highly respected international expert and leading advocate on human rights and ageing, has brought together contributors from around the world and from different disciplines to reflect on ageing, human rights, and oppression in its many forms. The book offers provocative, moving, and powerful stories and analyses of marginalization in older age and the interaction of age and other forms of discrimination in the denial of human rights. The book demands of its readers that they reflect deeply on their own ageism, prejudices, and complacency. A must-have for anyone interested in ageing, human rights, law, and structures of power in our societies.¿Andrew Byrnes, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia As an eminent global advocate for the improvement of human rights of all citizens and most especially older people, Silvia Perel-Levin is well qualified to bring together leading experts in their field to convey through storytelling the manifest urgency for formal recognition and collective action against unjust treatment in all its forms. Each narrative will leave an imprint on your soul of the pain of being human yet most importantly the innate power in voice and meaningful engagement.¿Jane Barratt, Secretary General, International Federation on Ageing

The importance of play for healthy development is undeniable. Aspects of play have been linked to the development of social skills, health and fitness, motivation, curiosity, innovation, imagination, and problem solving. Both theory and research suggest that play of various types is critical for healthy development and that playfulness is an important quality across the life span. However, opportunities to play and quality of play facilities in schools, after-school programs, childcare centers, community parks, and museums are not equitable by race, socio-economic status, and ability. And racial profiling, immigrant status, illness, and incarceration interfere with child¿s play. The first section of the book defines play and social justice and describes disparities in play opportunities in childcare, schools, and communities as well as inequities in how play is interpreted. The next section describes pre-school, elementary, high school, and university programs that use play to liberate, teach, and build community as well as after-school, hospital, and community programs that help to level the playing field of opportunity. The final part of the book discusses ways to ameliorate inequities through research and advocacy. Four research methods are described that are useful for conducting studies on the amount of play children experience, attitudes toward play, and the effect of play on other variables. Finally, a child, a parent, and a teacher describe ways they tried to obtain more recess, using various methods of advocacy. The appendix provides resources indispensable for those convinced that play for all is indeed a social justice issue worthy of advocacy.

This edited book, by Rosalina Díaz, represents a radical form of ethnography, as it presents the voices of academic scholars and scientists side by side with those of grassroots activists, native healers and community herbalists, in addressing issues of cultural and indigenous identity, agroecology, sustainability and self-determination in the Greater Antillean region of the Caribbean. "In Decolonizing Paradise, Rosalina Díaz blends the voices of scientists with local healers and activists to explore a radical ethnography of plants and people in the Caribbean. Through their lived experiences in this crucially important bioregion, herbalists, brujas, and western-trained scientists resurrect and reveal indigenous and diasporic plant wisdom that has long been denigrated. This collection is an important ethnobotanical starting point for the colonized people of the Caribbean to redress centuries of cultural and environmental injustice."¿Robert Voeks, Author of The Ethnobotany of Eden: Rethinking the Jungle Medicine Narrative "At a time when the world is intensely focused on finding solutions to complex and existential environmental issues, Decolonizing Paradise is an indispensable tool for those wanting to engage in collective action in the Caribbean. This timely anthology of scholars, scientists, farmers, grassroots activists and environmentalists provides both historical context and an agenda for the sustainable environmental future of the region, with a particular emphasis on Puerto Rico.Decolonizing Paradise will quickly become essential reading for those interested in the Caribbean¿s environmental struggles, particularly as understood and analyzed by those who are currently in the trenches. Decolonizing Paradise also provides hope and inspiration for all those¿students, policy makers, activists and scholars¿who want to see change happen in the Caribbean."¿Felix V Matos Rodriguez, Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), Author of Women and Urban Change in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1820¿1868 "Decolonizing Paradise is a must-read primer for anyone interested in an insider perspective of environmental stewardship in the Caribbean region, as told by the voices of those currently active in the movement. In recognizing the long-standing environmental conflicts, clashes and actions of local activists and community groups, this book rectifies historical omissions and misperceptions, and challenges the still prevailing narrative of inaction and dependence that has wrongly stigmatized this population for centuries." ¿Alexis Massol-Gonzalez, Founding Director of Casa Pueblo of Adjuntas; Recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize (2002)

This book focuses on what learning our young people need if they are to become capable, responsible adults who are able to respond effectively to the crises we face today, and those that will arrive in the future.

In The Stigma of Genius: Einstein, Consciousness and Critical Education, we muse over ways in which to be, to become, to recognize uniqueness and different paths to genius. Understanding that there is no prescribed procedure, we look at Einstein's life and knowledges to connect our pedagogies and students.

Teacher TV: Seventy Years of Teachers on Television, 2nd Edition examines some of the most influential teacher characters presented on television and attempts to "flip the script" to combat the cynicism of today's television narratives and the way those stories influence public perceptions of education in America.

A History of Progressive Music and Youth Culture: Phishing in America is designed for those who work with or teach young people to understand the nature and origin of musical commitment and devotion.

Learning from Counternarratives in Teach For America utilizes multiple frameworks to analyze the depth and range of TFA corps members' experiences. This book ultimately advocates for a more honest, contextualized, and egalitarian approach to reform - one that openly addresses both individual and systemic realities.

All Children Are All Our Children explores steps we can take in classrooms, schools, neighborhoods and communities to support the health of the children and of the families that send their children to our schools.

Fearless Engagement of Four Arrows offers a unique strong "medicine" for the reconstruction of a healthy, sane and sustainable future for all.

Child beauty pageants are a phenomenon in rural communities throughout the American South. Girlhood, Beauty Pageants and Power: Trailer Park Royalty explores the participants who compete in these pageants and shows that most are from the lower socio-economic bracket

Teaching Double Negatives: Disadvantage and Dissent at Community College is an insightful collection that problematizes the assumptions of instructors and powerfully engages the intersectionality of students, appealing the readers across the educational spectrum.

The Economic Gulag: Patriarchy, Capitalism and Inequality is a trenchant critical analysis of the devastating ravages of capitalist patriarchy in our modern society and its pervasive and increasingly destabilizing negative influence on our views and values regarding power, gender, wealth and inequality.

A Road Less Travelled: Critical literacy and language learning in the classroom -- 1964-1996 takes us through what the Blake calls the "jaunty journey" of the English/English Language Arts.

In this book, H. James Garrett inquires into the processes of learning about the social world, populated as it often is with bewildering instances of loss, violence, and upheaval.

Justice in Search of Leaders: A Handbook for Equity-Driven School Leadership is a guide for educators who are committed to equity-driven teaching, leading, and policy-making, and would like to operationalize socially-just school practices for all children.

Dialectics of 9/11 and the War on Terror: Educational Responses examines how global financial and socio-political systems propagate a lopsided dialectic of current events that influences teachers' pedagogies of 9/11 and the War on Terror.