Sofia Villenas
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1996
svillenas@cornell.edu
Office: McGraw 226
Phone: 607-254-5263
Research Interests: Anthropology of education, critical race studies, educational equity and social movement, multiculturalism, Women of Color feminist thought, Latina mothers, narrative, Latina/o diaspora communities; United States
I am a former Spanish bilingual elementary school teacher and adult educator. As a teacher educator and researcher, I have been engaged with the question of how culture, race, gender, ethnicity, class, and and language intersect to shape youths` and parents` experiences in and out of school. I have been interested in documenting the knowledge, values, beliefs and resources of diverse families and communities in order to learn, among other things, how educators may create bridges between the many different sites of teaching and learning. My overall focus on issues of equity, social justice and diversity in education have informed three current research projects. They include an ethnographic study of how diverse families and youths experience inclusion and exclusion in a small town school district, an ongoing study of how immigrant Latino parents navigate parenting, schooling and sites of adult learning in new Latino destinations, and a conceptual project utilizing the knowledge and theories emanating from communities of color to address educational issues and problems. Specifically, I am engaged in perceiving decolonizing and humanizing modes of education through U.S. women of color and Latina/o cultural studies perspectives. My objectives are two-fold: 1) to conduct research that is collaborative towards efforts for inclusive, culturally responsive and socially just education, and 2) to expand theoretical and conceptual lenses in multicultural and Latina/o education to include diverse sites of theory-making.
Instruction Focus
I teach educational anthropology, ethnography, multicultural education, issues of school inequality, the study of race, culture, gender and language in K-12, higher education and adult educational settings, Latino education, multilingual and bilingual education in comparative perspectives, and Women of Color feminist thought in Education. I have taught some of these areas as specific courses, but each of my courses is influenced by the above perspectives, theories and methodological approaches.
Selected Honors, Awards and Appointments
- AESA's (American Educational Studies Association) 2006 Critic's Choice Award for book Chicana/Latina Education in Everyday Life (co-edited with D. Delgado Bernal, C.A. Elenes and F. Godinez). - 2006
- School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in teaching, The University of North Carolina - 2002
- The National Research Council Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship - 2001-2002
- Spencer Foundation Disseration Fellowship - 1995-1996
Selected Books & Edited Volumes
2010
- Handbook of Latinos and Education: Theory, Research and Practice. Co-edited with Murillo Jr. E., Trinidad Galvan, T., Martinez, C., Munoz, J. & Machado-Casas, M. NY: Routledge.
2006
- Chicana/Latina education in every day life: Feminista perspectives on pedagogy and epistemology. Co-edited with Delgado Bernal, D., Elenes, C.A., & Godinez, F. Albany: State University of New York Press.
1999
- Race is...race isn`t: Critical race theory and qualitative studies in education. Co-edited with Parker, L., Deyhile, D. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Selected Articles & Book Chapters
2011
- Critical ethnographies of education in the Latino/a diaspora. (Co-authored with D. Foley). In R. Valencia (Ed.), Chicano school failure and success: Past, present and future, 3rd edition (pp. 175-196). New York and London: Routledge, Taylor and Frances Group.
2010
- Thinking Latina/o Education with and from Latina/Chicana Feminist Cultural Studies: Emerging Pathways, Decolonial Possibilities. In Z. Leonardo (Ed.), Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education (pp. 451-476). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
2008
- Diaspora and the Anthropology of Latino Education: Challenges, Affinities and Intersections. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 38(4).
2006
- Latina Feminist Postcolonialities: Perspectives on Un/tracking Educational Actors' Interventions. The International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(5), pp. 659-672.
2005
- Between the telling and the told: Latina mothers negotiating education in new borderlands. In J. Phillion, M.F. He, and M. Connelly (Eds.), Narrative and experience in multicultural education (pp. 71-91). Thousan Oaks, CA: Sage.
2002
- Chicano/Latino critical ethnography of education: Cultural productions from la frontera. (Co-authored with D. Foley) In R. Valencia (Ed.) Chicano school failure and success: Past, present and future, 2nd edition (pp. 195-226). New York and London: Routledge and Falmer.
- Reinventing educación in new Latino communities: Pedagogies of change and continuity in North Carolina. In S. Wortham, E., Murillo Jr., and E. Hamann (Eds.) Education in the new Latino Diaspora: Policy and the politics of identity (pp. 17-35). Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.
2001
- To valerse por si misma between race, capitalism, and patriarchy: Latina mother/daughter pedagogies in North Carolina. (Co-authored with M. Moreno) International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(5), pp. 595-602.
- Latina mothers and small-town racisms: Creating narratives of dignity and moral education in North Carolina. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 32(1), pp. 3-28.
2000
- This ethnography called my back: Writings of the exotic gaze, "othering" Latina, and recuperating Xicanisma. In E. St. Pierre & W. Pillow (Eds.), Working the ruins: Poststructural feminist theory and methods in education (pp. 74-95). New York: Routledge.
- Other encounters: Dances with whiteness in multicultural education. (co-authored with T. Richardson) Educational Theory, 50(2), pp. 255-273.
1999
- Critical race theory and ethnographies challenging the stereotypes: Latino families, schooling, reilience and resistance. (co-authored with D. Deyhile) Curriculum Inquiry. 29(4), pp. 413-445.
1996
- Villenas, S. (1996). The colonizer/colonized Chicana ethnographer: Identity, marginalization, and co-optation in the field. Harvard Educational Review, 66(4), pp. 711-731.