Neoliberal globalization, racism and education: The model minority thesis in education policy

Abstract

How do education policies intended to create equitable educational opportunities for racial minorities in the US unintentionally exacerbate racial inequality? What can we do about it? “Neoliberal Globalization, Model Minority Politics and Education Policy Research” traces current trends in US education policy research discourse about Asians to argue that prevailing conservative and liberal social justice based paradigms abstract race and, in some critical ways, dematerialize potentially transformative anti-racist strategies in education. (Melamed, 2011; Darder & Torres, 2004; Darder, 2012; McCarthy, 1991) I further argue that patterns of racialization and racism are radically shifting in the most recent period of neoliberal globalization such that the power of race to signify, differentiate, and hierarchically order trajectories of educational opportunity is being actualized to an extraordinary degree even while anti racist strategy and social justice initiatives in education increase. (Pedroni, 2011) My final argument is that an interdisciplinary approach to educational policy research, which I summarize as Wave Theory, can rematerialize anti-racist policy analysis, strategy and social justice based initiatives in education.