Caring in an Unjust World: Negotiating Borders and Barriers in Schools

Looks at the ways in which social structures and relationships within schools define, enable, or constrain an ethic of caring, especially for historically marginalized groups of students.

The contributors to this book tap into an important, but largely unexamined perspective: examining how social structures and relationships within schools help to define, enable, or constrain an ethic of care.

This sociological, critical perspective is used to examine K–12 schooling, focusing upon grounded qualitative studies of student groups currently and/or historically considered marginal or for whom school presents significant barriers (i.e., African Americans and Hispanics; gays and lesbians; and women). The authors have grappled with the difficulties and opportunities presented by considering multiple perspectives of caring and what that means to those living within schools.

Deborah Eaker-Rich is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at North Carolina State University. Jane A. Van Galen is Associate Professor and Program Director in the Education Program at The University of Washington at Bothell. She is coeditor of Home Schooling: Political, Historical, and Pedagogical Perspectives.