UC Berkeley

In 2014, minoritized students became the majority in U.S. public schools. This demographic shift has not by default translated into equity in education. Amid the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and increasingly visible systemic racism, many universities began emphasizing the use of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements and numerical data of admission rates of minoritized students to signify diversity at their institutions. However, both educators and students have critiqued these measures as being performative and falling short of enacting real social transformation while systems of power, privilege, and oppression remain unchanged. This study argues that merely increasing diversity of some minoritized students and faculty in systems of inequity does not constitute systemic change, especially without creating learning environments that foster equity and inclusion within those institutions. Therefore, my dissertation provides an interdisciplinary analysis of culture changes required to bridge the frequent gap between diversity discourse and equity and inclusion practices in higher education. In this century, we will need to learn new ways of seeing, thinking, and being. Instead of reinforcing limiting paradigms that foster duality, division, and domination, I posit that education must be transformed to cultivate new integrative epistemologies, pedagogies, and practices that prioritize interconnection and cooperation to foster social equity and well-being.

My research draws from critical mindfulness studies, critical ethnic studies, feminist studies, and equity-based and holistic pedagogies. This dissertation first outlines the root causes of systemic inequity, including the fundamental thought paradigms and three major forms of barriers that have enabled social inequities to persist in education. I then present a framework of integrative epistemologies and pedagogies for transforming education to foster social equity and well-being. Integrative here refers to epistemologies based in interconnection, praxis that connects personal and collective liberation, and holistic and equity-based pedagogies that engage the whole person in mind-body-heart-spirit. Rather than presenting a singular, prescriptive way of teaching, my theory of integrative pedagogy emphasizes a dynamic, learner-centered practice that is continually evolving and is necessarily customized according to the context of each class and group of participants.