Join us for two compelling conversations on race, education, and our Philadelphia communities in anticipation of American Race: A Philadelphia Story* with:
Krista Cortes, Director of La Casa Latina
Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Penn GSE
Van Sam, Community Defense Coordinator of VietLead.
*American Race: A Philadelphia Story, is a new Spring 22 SNF Paideia course. Students will engage with the study of race through Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, Sociology, Urban Studies and through Latin American & Latinx Studies. Readings and methodologies will introduce students to critical issues in education, in literature, in sociology, and with methods in oral history, archival work, and ethnography.
Meet the panelists here:
Dr. Krista Cortes earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of California Berkeley, with a concentration in Critical Studies in Race, Class, and Gender. She holds two graduate degrees from Penn (in Language and Literacy and in Teacher Education). She earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Dr. Cortes taught Introduction to Chican@ History to undergraduates and Language Study for Educators at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, she taught at Furness High School in Philadelphia. At Berkeley, Dr. Cortes undertook research on Afro-Puerto Rican mothers and Puerto Rican identity formation. She also engaged in research and writing analyzing Latinx families’ use of digital media. Dr. Cortes is a member of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, the American Educational Research Association, Puerto Rican Studies Association, and other professional organizations.
Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher is Senior Lecturer in Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division Director, International Educational Development Program at Penn. She is a coeditor of the award-winning volume Refugees, Immigrants and Education in the Global South: Lives in Motion (2013; Routledge), the winner of the 2013 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award of the Comparative and International Education Society. Currently, she is an editorial board member of Contingencies: A Journal for Global Pedagogy, and an Associate Editor for Anthropology and Education Quarterly. She has developed and taught courses at Drexel University and Teachers College, Columbia University.
Van Sam (they/them) have been working with Vietlead Community Defense team since the summer of 2017 as a trilingual volunteer. After they finished their undergraduate degree in Ethnic Studies, they returned to Philadelphia and became our Community Defense Projects Coordinator, working with both our youth and adult base. They are deeply passionate about the work that they are doing to stop all detention and deportation and have supported case management, crisis calls, safety planning, and held community campaigns to free our people. In their free time, they enjoy spending time with their friends, their puppy, Momo (named after Momo in Avatar – the last airbender) and their 13 years old doggo, Bobo. They love cooking, baking, running and rock climbing.
