A Photo Album
Sunil Bhatia is Internationally known for his work on self and identity within the context of migration, globalization and diaspora, he is a role model for emerging scholars in India and an inspiration to psychologists globally.
Based at Connecticut college, he is regularly on the move in response to invitations. At university, His lectures on “Globalization and Cultural Identity,” “Media, Self and Society” and “Racial and Ethnic Identity Development.” are hugely popular. His publications even more so. These include American Karma: Race, culture and identity in the Indian diaspora and Decolonizing Psychology: Globalization, Social Justice and Indian Youth Identities which has received several awards. Among them the 2018 William James Book Award from the APA and most recently from the International Conference of Qualitative Inquiry.
He has spearheaded the movement for social justice and community welfare for psychology in India. And one of the rare people who have the courage to be the change they want to see in the world. Sorry for repeating the quote from Gandhi, but I do believe that this is one that cannot be overused. Prof. Sunil Bhatia is our own global desi!
There is so much to say in an introduction to Prof. Angela Valenzuela that I really cannot to justice to the wide range of accomplishments. I decided to start with her own description of herself, “I am a professor, researcher, published scholar, community advocate, policy activist, and blogger who blurs the lines between personal, professional, social, and public identities. When I am not doing academic or community work, I like to ride my bike, go on long walks, travel, hang out with my women friends, attend community events, and play with my three-year-old grandson.”
Along with her international recognition, awards and accolades, she remains true to her ethnic identity. In her words again, “as a Mexican American, engagement with one’s roots to honour one’s ancestors and promote a unified sense of self is essential to the reconciliation with one’s own identity”.
Her commitment is to “be the change you want to see in others” the words of Mahatma Gandhi.
Angela Valenzuela is a professor in Educational Policy and Planning at the Department of Educational Administration and has an additional appointment in Cultural Studies at the Education Program of University of Texas at Austin Furthermore, she is also the director of the Texas Center for Education Policy at her University. She has held other important positions both in Mexico and the US.
Her books have earned her several awards and as the director of the National Education Research and Policy project for youth in Latin America, she has made enormous contributions to the understanding of the teaching learning process, sociology of education, minority youth in schools, education policy, feminist scholarship, and urban education.
She is most well known internationally for her work on Subtractive education that refers to curriculum policies, processes, or practices that remove students’ culture or language from classroom contexts as a resource for learning or as a source of personal affirmation. Subtractive education assumes that students’ academic successes depend on the degree to which they give up their own cultures or linguistic practices or traditions to assimilate into mainstream culture, a process often referred to as “Americanization” in the United States. A story that resonates well to school experiences for South Asian children both at home and outside.
Note: Thanks to the different people who shared these pictures with us
