Arcadia University’s School of Education hosts the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS) from March 31 to Thursday April 3 in Grey Towers Castle and the Commons.

The meeting’s theme is “Communities of Dissensus/Engaged Generosity” and includes panel discussions and presentations on topics such as “Lesbian & Gay Educators Functioning in Heteronormative Schools,” “Posthumanism, Animals, and Knowledge,” “Narratives of Praxis: Examining and Enacting the Self in Schooling,” and “In the Pursuit of Peace: Subject Formation and the Teaching of Peaceful Co-Existence in Elementary Schools,” among many others.

Meeting highlights include:

An innovative “Alternative Presidential Address” will be held on Monday, March 31, from 5 to 8 p.m. and moderated by current AAACS President, Dr. Peter Appelbaum of Arcadia’s School of Education. This “Alternative Address” will feature a conversation among local activists and educational scholars to have a facilitated conversation on contemporary challenges to education in a democratic society. All area educators and those interested in support of educational institutions are invited to join us.

Don’t be Fooled by Ignorant Schoolmasters: Educational Emancipation Revisited, One More Time

Dr. Gert Biesta, professor of educational theory and policy, University of Luxembourg, will present at the Culminating Plenary. Dr. Biesta’s work focuses on the theory and philosophy of education, the theory of educational research, teaching, learning, curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education and education policy. He is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society USA and in 2011 he held the International Interuniversity Francqui Professorship awarded by the Francqui Foundation.

Communities of Dissensus

A Town Hall Conversation will be held on Wednesday, April 2, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. with Dr. William Pinar, professor and Canada research chair for the internationalization of curriculum studies, and director of the Centre for the Study of the Internationalization of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia, and Dr. Janet Miller, professor of English education and program coordinator of programs in English education/the teaching of English in the Department of Arts and Humanities at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. James Jupp, associate professor of teaching and learning at Georgia Southern University, and AAACS Vice President Dr. Molly Quinn will moderate.

Internationalization Task Force

The American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies has established a task force to specifically address the complexities of internationalizing a disciplinary field, and the questions of a world community of curriculum dissensus in the light of post-colonialism, globalization, and the dominance in the North American context of European and North American scholarship in the field. This year’s special Internationalization session hopes to connect with Arcadia University’s own emphasis on a “global perspective.”