(Un)knowing Diversity

Tricia Gallagher-Geurtsen received her Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a former bilingual teacher who collaborates with teachers and administrators to better meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. She carries out research, writes, and speaks about postcolonial interpretations of schooling.

«[...] Sharing with fellow educators 'urgent messages' from young students of color, [this book] reveals how [...] they participate in, resist, question, and re-define the limits of identity, culture, language, and nation. Through thoughtful synthesis of theory (postcolonialism) and method (testimonio) the author unpacks how those who live in and struggle from the margins wrestle with the complexities and contradictions of decolonization, of arriving at hybrid locales. [...] Cultural workers - whether faculty or graduate students or those engaged in community work - who engage postcolonial, multicultural, and transnational perspectives and stories will appreciate and learn from this oeuvre.» (Nina Asher, Ed.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
«Speaking to teacher candidates, teacher educators, teachers, and parents, Tricia Gallagher-Geurtsen brilliantly opens a space for the conversation about the multiplicity and complexity of children's lives. She brings the concept of hybridity into the light and urges us to reconstruct the cultural identities of our students. This volume is a poignant example of the future of multicultural education. Excellently written, grounded in postcolonial theory and testimonio methodology, this visionary text will be useful in graduate educational foundation courses as well as in teacher development workshops.» (Djanna Hill, Ed.D., Professor, William Paterson University)
«'(Un)knowing Diversity' is an inspiring and critical postcolonial project that [...] challenges educators and all Americans to talk to and actually listen to minority students' voices and experiences. The youths' testimonios in this book rightfully highlight the complexity of minority youths' identities, the changing meanings of what it means to be American, and above all, the ever so important need to decolonize a schooling system that does not meet the needs of minoritized students. For anyone