Education Alum Publishes Article on Symbolic Violence
Nahum Jean-Louis, Ed.D.
Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate Nahum Jean-Louis, Ed.D., is celebrating the publishing of his article “Symbolic Violence in The Classroom: How A Eurocentric Curriculum Excludes & Marginalizes Minority Students” in the journal Belonging.
The article was co-written by Mary Clisbee, Ed.D., and focuses on symbolic violence and how it excludes and marginalizes minority students.
Jean-Louis explained that symbolic violence is any violence that isn’t tangible, for example, verbal assault, racism, using disparaging terms and more.
The article came about after Jean-Louis and Clisbee gave a talk at a conference about diversity. After the presentation, the pair was contacted and asked to write an article detailing their research.
In their article, Jean-Louis and Clisbee discussed how Eurocentrism gives priority to European philosophy and history at the detriment of minority students.
“Minority students have their own cultures, experiences and history, and those are put on the back burner in favor of European culture,” Jean-Louis said. “Minority students are forced to learn from a culture or from a knowledge in which they don’t relate to. And as a result of that, because they can’t relate to it and because their experiences are sidelined or marginalized, they suffer in terms of performance.”
They then went on to explain ways to combat symbolic violence and Eurocentrism.
“One way that I suggested, in my research, to mitigate the effects of symbolic violence and the effects of Eurocentrism is to create a diverse curriculum and to have equity in the curriculum,” Jean-Louis said.
The pair hope that a variety of people can learn and benefit from the research.
“Our message was directed to school administrators, policymakers, and the community at large,” Jean-Louis said.
Jean-Louis graduated from NSU with his doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching. He is currently working on several other projects, including a collaborative book on decolonization in education and a book that focuses on the problems minority students face in the United States school system.
Posted 08/13/23