Ethnic Studies as Social Movement: Resistance in the Face of Public Reaction

The article addresses the struggle to institutionalize K–12 ethnic studies, ethnic studies’ co-optation by the California Department of Education, and the shape of a conservative right-wing backlash. We situate the collective grassroots efforts of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium as a national movement. We show how practitioners struggle to transform schools in the face of hegemonic power and argue that ethnic studies must always speak truth to power and cannot be reduced to multiculturalism. We hope that this knowledge supports efforts across the United States as we share what is at stake for ethnic studies.