Asher receives 2014-15 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award

Curriculum and Instruction professor and department chair Nina Asher is a recipient of a 2014-15 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award (Research).  The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Each year, the Fulbright Scholar Program attracts some 800 U.S. faculty and professionals to 140 countries to lecture, teach, and conduct research.

Asher will be traveling to India to research aspects of curriculum, teaching, and teacher education in relation to globalization. She will conduct her research at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and will also give talks at other institutions, including Azim Premji University in Bangalore. Asher plans to explore – through her research with teachers and teacher educators – the effects of India’s “economic liberalization” in terms of education. At the policy level, in the last decade, India has implemented significant national-level education legislation, including the Right to Education Act (RTE). While RTE has its advocates, it has also been criticized as an unfunded mandate and has been compared to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Asher plans to interview educators regarding the significance and implications of the RTE and other policies, especially in the context of globalization and increasing privatization of education.

“As a U.S.-based scholar, I’ve been writing about postcolonialism, and more recently globalization, consumerism, and corporatization. This study, while drawing on those discourses, will be in the context of India,” says Asher. “I want to talk with in-service teachers who are also enrolled in a master’s program and also their faculty about how they are experiencing globalization and privatization in relation to education. What are their thoughts, experiences, and analyses? What is their understanding of the implications?”

Asher’s scholarship focuses on postcolonial and feminist theory, globalization, critical perspectives on multiculturalism, and Asian American studies in relation to education. When asked about her approach, Asher explains, “I look at what structures, in terms of inequities of power, are in operation here (in the U.S.). What are the structures of power in terms of inequities in play there (in India)? What are some of the similarities between here and there, and what are the differences?”

When asked about how this new research project will connect to her other scholarship, Asher says she expects comparisons will inevitably bubble up. “I fully expect the participants will ask me questions about the schools and school systems in the U.S. For instance, one parallel is that while the legacies of colonialism still come into play in India, so do the legacies of segregation come into play here.”

To learn more about Nina Asher’s research, please visit her profile page.