Research Spotlight: Dr. James Jupp
Q & A with Dr. James Jupp, Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Teaching and Learning
What are your research interests and research achievements?
A public-school teacher in rural poor and urban Title I schools, my first line of research focuses on race and whiteness in education with a special emphasis on White teachers’ understandings of race, class, language, and difference pedagogy. Drawing on my experiences as teacher and researcher, I am currently the Lead Editor of a special issue of Teaching Education titled “What is to be done curriculum studies and educational foundations’ critical knowledges?” and I recently published a conceptual essay on that topic as an overview in the same journal. Additionally, drawing on my experiences living and studying in Spanish language traditions in Mexico and South Texas, my second line of research develops transnational and critical place-based education with an emphasis on decolonial Hispanophone curriculum targeted at Latinx serving institutions, teacher education programs, and preservice and in-service teacher education. Overall, I have published more than forty scholarly articles in a variety of journals, books, and forums including AERA’s Review of Educational Research, Teachers College Record, Curriculum Inquiry, Gender and Education, International Journal of Qualitative Research in Education, Multicultural Perspectives, Teaching Education, and other forums.
How does your work align with UTRGV’s and CEP’s strategic plans?
My research is tied to transnational sensibilities in critical place-based education. With these foci, my research aligns tightly with the UTRGV and the College of Education and P16 Integration’s (CEP) strategic plans. Regarding the UTRGV plan, my research with teachers and teacher leaders seeks to impact the Rio Grande Valley via the study of our transnational borderlands and critical place-based understandings of history, social issues, and ecology. With my focus on the borderlands, much of my teaching also supports the bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate (B3) initiative. Regarding the CEP’s strategic plan, my research supports initiatives for cultural and linguistic sustainability. Moreover, my focus on the borderlands and critical place-based education supports community engagement between the college and public-school educators. Overall, my research emphasizes learning and teaching about and within the Rio Grande Valley community.
The overlap between my doctoral teaching and my research provide space for several emergent projects.
- Race and whiteness studies – This project focuses on history and social issues surrounding teaching and learning of race through conscientized teachers in public school classrooms.
- RGV place-based education – This project focuses on organizing intellectual resources for teaching and learning about our region.
- Conscientization of in-service and preservice Chicana teachers – This project advances in-service and preservice teachers’ engagement with Chicanx studies, with special emphasis on the works of Gloria Anzaldúa as texts for conscientizing our teachers.
- Critical conceptual infrastructure of science teaching – This project leverages local natural and ecological understandings toward science teaching with a focus that supports our region’s resources.