(No)MAS! Tour: Northeast Movement and Solidarity Tour for Ethnic Studies

CMEI Colloquium
Larsen Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education
November 5, 2012

Speaker Biography: Sean Arce, co-founder and former director of the nationally renowned and now banned K-12 Mexican American Studies Department in Tucson, Arizona, received the first Myles Horton Award for Teaching People’s History from the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) in 2012. ZEP honored Arce "for his instrumental role in nurturing one of the most significant and successful public school initiatives on the teaching of history in the United States." His work has been highlighted on PBS, Democracy Now and National Public Radio. As an activist urban educator who has worked in public schools for nearly 20 years, Arce believes that what made his colleagues and himself effective the was the implementation and continuous development of a “Barrio Pedagogy.” Within this innovative and transformative pedagogy, indigenous epistemologies and social justice based frameworks were utilized where students and teachers in collaboration co-constructed an educational experience that fostered an academic identity and the development of a strong cultural identity. Arce received his Bachelor’s of Arts in Mexican American Studies from the University of Arizona and his Master’s in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Arce is currently teaching high school Xicana/o Studies classes in Azusa Unified School District which fulfill the University of California "A-G" course requirements. He is currently working towards his doctorate in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona.