Sofia Villenas

My research interests encompass the areas of multicultural education, Latino education, ethnography, educational anthropology and cultural studies. I am a former Spanish bilingual elementary school teacher and adult educator. Currently as a teacher educator and researcher, I am engaged with the question of how culture, race, gender, socio-economic status and language intersect to shape youths` and parents` experiences in and out of school. I have been interested in documenting the knowledge, values, beliefs and resources of diverse families and communities in order to learn, among other things, how educators may create bridges between the many different sites of teaching and learning. My overall focus on issues of equity, social justice and diversity in education have informed three current research projects. They include a qualitative study of how diverse families and youths experience inclusion and exclusion in a college town school district, an ongoing study of how immigrant Latino parents navigate parenting, schooling and sites of adult learning in new Latino destinations, and a conceptual project involving the question of how to think through educational problems with the knowledge and theories emanating from communities of color. Specifically, I am engaged in perceiving issues of identity, pedagogy and research methodology in education through U.S. women of color and latina/o cultural studies perspectives. My objectives are two-fold: 1) to conduct research that is local and collaborative towards efforts for inclusive, culturally responsive and socially just education, and 2) to expand theoretical and conceptual lenses in multicultural and Latina/o education to include diverse sites of theory-making.