La Casa De Esperanza: The House That Multicultural Education Built

Authors

  • Francisco Rios University of Wyoming

Keywords:

Multicultural education, multicultural teacher education, Chicano art

Abstract

Using a house (la casa) as a metaphor, this manuscript attempts to provide a broad overview of the field of multicultural education as an academic discipline. It includes viewing multicultural education from a macrolevel perspective (el barrio), describing many paths multicultural educators have taken (los calles), and reading the stories of oppression and resistance which they face (los paredes). It details the icons in the field (la entrada), the people with whom we work everyday (la sala), the places for networking and academic engagement (el patio), the myths and stereotypes as well as our responses to these about multicultural education (la cocina), and the tough issues we have yet to address fully (el ropero). It ends with a description of promising practices and a long-term vision (including the DREAM Act) for multicultural education (el techo). Chicano Art is used throughout.

Author Biography

Francisco Rios, University of Wyoming

Francisco Rios is a Professor in the Education Studies department at the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Learning and Instruction after having taught in secondary and technical schools for 12 years. Francisco then worked for 10 years at the California State University-San Marcos, teaching learning and instruction, multicultural education, and bilingual education. At the University of Wyoming, he has taught courses in second language acquisition, foundations of education, and multicultural education. He has worked with in-service teachers in California, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky. His research interests include teachers of color, Latinos in education, and preservice teacher education with a multicultural focus. His most recent research has focused on teachers of color in rural, isolated communities. His works have appeared in Equity and Excellence in Education, Latinos in Education, Teacher Education Quarterly, and the Review of Educational Research. Francisco is the Senior Associate Editor of Multicultural Perspectives, the Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education. He spent Spring, 2005 as a Fulbright Fellow at the Pontifica Universidad Católica Valparaíso in Chile. Francisco served as Program Chair for Division K, (Teaching and Teacher Education) for the AERA Annual Program, 2007. Francisco was recently named as the first director of the University of Wyoming’s Social Justice Research Center.

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Published

2007-12-16

How to Cite

Rios, F. (2007). La Casa De Esperanza: The House That Multicultural Education Built. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 9(1).

Issue

Section

Articles (Peer-reviewed)