announcement

Voices of Immigrant Professors: Historical and Contemporary Challenges & Triumphs Call for Book Chapters

Editors: Charles B. Hutchison, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC Kwabena O. Akurang-Parry, Shippensburg University, PA Publication Date: August 2013 Preface & Scope: Normatively, the world of education has been defined by crucibles of osmotic ideas supported by the agencies of both local and foreign scholars. Educational institutions all over the world have continued to attract the able services of foreign-born scholars. Notwithstanding this longstanding tradition of using foreign-born professors to teach in tertiary institutions, there is often an unfathomable silence that beclouds their paths of work. In addition to the oft-expected “culture shock” that immigrants go through, what Hutchison (2005) calls “pedagogical shock” also manifests in the cases of the foreign-born professors. Foreign-born professors often have peculiar experiences that set them apart from other professors. Such experiences certainly differ, but one only needs to talk to a few foreign-born scholars to arrive at similar thematic problems and challenges that confront them, as well as the strategies they apply to cope. Thus, foreign-born professors’ experiences generally occur along several levels, including the following: • • • •

Peculiar socio-cultural encounters Curricular differences and challenges School-systemic differences School sociological differences

In sum, foreign-born scholars often silently face challenges, such as racism; marginalization and outsider-status; difficulties in the classroom; foreign accents that are stereotyped and denigrated; subtle, but systemic questioning of their academic credentials; problems entailed in promotion and tenure; how to negotiate gender, race, and cultural capital in the academic setting; and how to effectively navigate the culture of the host-institution and society. Foreign-born professors may surmount such problems, though some of the problems may compromise the teaching expertise that foreign-born scholars ferry to their host-institutions. Thus, a composite study of foreign-born professors’ lived experiences in academic settings would shed light on the challenges they face and how best to solve them. In sum, the aim of this proposed book is to advance our understanding of historical and contemporary cross-cultural challenges that define the private and professional lives of foreign-born professors across the globe.

Thematic Areas: In consonance with the points above, the proposed book seeks to illuminate some of the key problems and challenges that impact the professional lived-experiences of foreign-born professors worldwide. Apart from exploring such experiences, the proposed book aims to proffer solutions to challenges faced not only by foreign-born professors, but by extrapolation, other immigrant workers who cross national and cultural borders to work. Possible topics framed as questions include, but are not limited to the following: • • • • • • •

What do foreign-born professors have in common? What are some common struggles and challenges that hinder foreign-born professors’ professional success? What challenges do foreign-born professors face as they navigate societal and cultural issues? What are some compelling experiences that define foreign-born professors’ acculturation? How do foreign-born professors socialize with their non-foreign-born professional colleagues? How do foreign-born professors relate to their students, and how do students relate to them? How do foreign-born professors manage to cope with stress that pertains to the above-named issues and others?

Format In concert with the above, this Call for Papers solicits interesting, real-life stories defined by empiricism and theory that illuminate the problems and challenges that face foreign-born professors in their workplaces and host-societies. Such lived-experiences should include the following approaches and format: a) 20-25 pages including notes and bibliography; double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font b) Include sub-headings that address the relevant issues c) Have a section called “Lessons Learned” that would help readers, local-born professors, administrators, institutions, etc. to better understand the challenges faced by foreign-born scholars and how to address them. d) May use the first person narrative, or biographical account, or prosopographical approaches, but should not incriminate any school, individuals, etc. e) For referencing and documentation, use the APA style. Deadlines and Submission Process: Prospective contributors’ abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted by February 15, 2013, and manuscripts must be received by April 30, 2013. Abstracts and manuscripts should be submitted as e-mail attachments to Charles Hutchison, with “International Prof” in the subject line at: [email protected].

If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Charles Hutchison at [email protected] or 704-687-8885 or Kwabena Akurang-Parry at [email protected] 717-4771286 About the Editors: Charles B. Hutchison is Associate Professor of Education at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Having lived, studied, and worked in Africa, Europe, and the U.S., his research on foreign-born teachers was one of the seminal works that systematically conceptualized international instructors’ issues. He is the recipient of Recognition and Key to the City of Boston, and has served in several capacities, including a National Science Foundation panel. He has appeared on, or been featured by, local and international news media, including Voice of America, CBS NightWatch, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and several others. His articles have appeared in several journals, including Phi Delta Kappan, Intercultural Education, Cultural Studies of Science Education, and School Science and Mathematics. With a background of Molecular Genetics and a post-graduate degree in Ministry (Theology), some of his books include What Happens When Students Are in the Minority: Experiences that Impact Human Performance (ed., Rowman and Littlefield, 2009); Global Issues in Education: Pedagogy, Policy, and the Minority Experience (co-edited with Greg Wiggan, Rowman and Littlefield, 2009); and Teaching in America: A Cross-Cultural Guide for International Teachers and Their Employers (Springer, 2005). Kwabena O. Akurang-Parry, a Ghanaian-born historian, poet, sociologist, and political activist, is Professor of African Studies and World History at Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in African history from York University, Toronto, Canada, in 1999. He has published over fifty articles, including topics on education, some of which have appeared in International Labor and Working-Class History, Slavery and Abolition, African Economic History, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, History in Africa, Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, Left History, International Journal of Regional Local Studies, African Identities, Refuge, Ghana Studies, African Issues, Groniek, Journal of Cultural Studies, and International Working-Class and Labor History. He is the co-editor of African Agency and European Colonialism: Latitudes of Negotiation and Containment (University Press of America, 2007). Some of his poems have appeared in Okike,Ufahamu, Ghanaweb, and The Atkinsonian. He has received several teaching awards and research grants. His research foci are African Responses to the Political Economy of Colonial Rule, and Contemporary Education and Social Change. He has held teaching posts at Tulane University, New Orleans, U.S.A., and York University, Toronto, Canada.