Dear Kwabena,
Congratulations in advance, it sounds like a well-thought out proposal for a book that needs to be written. Adjusting to a classroom environment for the immigrant (of color, especially) is quite the challenge for all the reasons that are stated in your Preface & Scope.
I would only suggest that perhaps there is a considerable disconnect between the book's title, Voices of Immigrant Professors: Historical and Contemporary Challenges & Triumphs, and the implied burdens of the book as stated in the Preface & Scope and Thematic Areas. They are too heavy on the deficit model, it is mostly about the negative, challenges, challenges, challenges. It is as if you are inviting a pity party. What about the triumphs? The vast majority of professors I know are doing extremely well and we could use lessons from their sojourn. I suggest that appropriately phrased, the book would have invited a broader range of thinking on the subject. It is not all doom and gloom ;-)
I think overall, the West has been great for our scholarship and to our scholars. I know that we are doing the West a great service, but it is precisely because for the most part, they have provided an enabling environment. It would be great to read a book on the subject that does not wallow in a culture of despair and entitlement. I don't think your book will, but I hope you get my point and appreciate it in the spirit that it is offered.
Again, good luck, I am sure it will be an expensive book, so this destitute may never lay his ancient eyes on the book. Be well, man.
- Ikhide
Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
From: "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAParr@ship.edu>
To:
Cc: "chutchis@uncc.edu" <chutchis@uncc.edu>; "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAParr@ship.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 9, 2013 8:56 AM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FINAL CFP VOICES OF IMMIGRANT PROFESSORS
To:
Cc: "chutchis@uncc.edu" <chutchis@uncc.edu>; "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAParr@ship.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 9, 2013 8:56 AM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FINAL CFP VOICES OF IMMIGRANT PROFESSORS
Please, post & distribute
FINAL CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS
Voices of Immigrant Professors: Historical and Contemporary Challenges & Triumphs
Editors:
Charles B. Hutchison, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC
Publication Date: December 2013
Preface & Scope:
EDITORS' NOTE: We need additional chapters to complement the ones we have already received. We have secured a book contract with Routledge (Research in Higher Education Series) and publication will begin on December 1, 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 foreign-born professors whose peculiar experiences often 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.
Foreign-born professors' experiences generally occur along several levels, including the following:
· Peculiar socio-cultural encounters
· Curricular differences and challenges
· School-system 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 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 in the long term 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. 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
This Call for Papers (CFP) solicits interesting, real-life stories defined by empiricism and theory that illuminate the problems and challenges encountered by foreign-born professors in their workplaces. Your chapter should mirror 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.
Deadlines and Submission Process:
Prospective contributors' abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted by September 20, 2013, and manuscripts must be received by November 28, 2013. Abstracts and manuscripts should be submitted as e-mail attachments to Charles Hutchison at chutchis@uncc.edu and Kwabena Akurang-Parry at kaparr@ship.edu. Additionally, if you have any questions regarding this project, please contact Charles Hutchison at 704-687-8885 and or Kwabena Akurang-Parry at 717 477 1286.
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