Provocations: The Future of Comparative

Tuesday, April 19, 2022 (1:30-2:45)

Comparison has long been a defining feature of research conducted by members of CIES, but what does comparative work look like today and how might it change in the future? The panelists in this session seek to provoke discussion about this question as they address the meanings of comparison; the disciplines and fields that have shaped their theoretical frameworks, methods, and analysis; and the ways they envision comparison in the research in which they are engaged or plan to be in the future.

Chair and Moderator

Frances Vavrus is Professor of Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee on the Application of the Recommendations Concerning Teaching Personnel. Her scholarship and teaching reflect the goal of social justice through critical, comparative study of the forces that promote and impede educational opportunities with a regional focus on East and Southern Africa. Her most recent book is Schooling as Uncertainty: An Ethnographic Memoir in Comparative Education (2021), and she has a forthcoming volume, Doing Comparative Case Studies, co-edited with Dr. Lesley Bartlett (July 2022).

Lesley Bartlett is Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research and teaching interests include multilingual literacies, migration, and qualitative research methods. She is currently co-editor of Anthropology and Education Quarterly. Dr. Bartlett co-authored, with Dr. Frances Vavrus, Rethinking Case Study Research (2017).

Joan DeJaeghere is Professor of Comparative and International Development Education in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota. Her scholarship is concerned with how education both reproduces and transforms inequalities, and how education needs to grounded in a relational approach that enables young people’s civic engagement, livelihoods and wellbeing. She is currently working on a new book, A Reflexive Approach to Mixed Methods Research: Towards Social Transformation through Education, an effort to rethink research in comparative education to produce knowledge that matters and is used to transform injustices.

Oren Pizmony-Levy an Associate Professor and Program Director of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His scholarship centers on the intersection of education and social movements, specifically the emergence and consequences of movements that challenge schools and education systems worldwide. Much of his work focuses on three global educational movements: International assessment of student achievement, environmental and sustainability education, and sexual orientation and gender identity education. Pizmony-Levy is the Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures where he leads a research-practice partnership with New York City public schools to improve climate change communication and education.

Diana Rodríguez-Gómez is an Assistant Professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. With a regional focus on Latin America, her scholarship examines trans-local processes of state-building and education policy-making in contexts shaped by high levels of violence, armed conflict, forced migration, and states of emergency. Her work has been supported by the Fulbright Commission and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation.

Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams is the inaugural Daria L. & Eric J. Wallach Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies and Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Gettysburg College. He also adjuncts at the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. He received his doctorate in international educational development with a focus in peace education from Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on school/structural violence, youth and community empowerment, and solidarity building. For more information: www.hakimwilliams.com

CIES 2022 appreciates the support of the University of Minnesota’s Global Programs and Strategy Alliance as a partner for this event. We will also hear from Meredith McQuaid, Associate Vice President and Dean at this event.