Faculty

Background

Marguerite Wilson (they/them) is an anthropologist of education whose scholarly expertise centers on (1) understanding how schools in the United States under racial capitalism (re)produce the dynamics of privilege and marginalization along the lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality, (2) understanding the learning process of anti-racist education both in and beyond institutional classroom settings, and (3) utilizing the tools of critical ethnography, community-based participatory action research, and autoethnography to blend scholarship and activism in the pursuit of racial justice in schools and society.

The heart of Wilson’s community-based research and praxis centers on two interrelated projects: the CARES Parent Mentor Program and associated programs, and the ßÙßÇÂþ»­ Witnessing Whiteness Community project. The CARES project mobilizes parent engagement from a class- and race-conscious perspective to focus on transforming school-based exclusionary practices (suspensions, expulsions, and arrests) based on race and class, including the marginalization of parents as they advocate for their children, and racially disproportionate disciplining of students of color. This collaborative, long-term critical ethnographic project, in partnership with Dr. Denise Yull and multiple community partners, bridges the gap between theory and practice by creating a mechanism through which community advocacy and equitable collaboration between community and school can begin to take root.

The ßÙßÇÂþ»­ Witnessing Whiteness Community project uses applied critical ethnographic and qualitative action research methods to understand what past experiences, contexts, and relationships motivate white people and people of color to participate in an in-depth anti-racism workshop and to understand what participants learn through the process. The ultimate goal of this project is to build solidarity among a multiracial group of anti-racist activists and advocates in the local area and beyond. In addition, Wilson brings their experiences and facilitation skills from both of these community-based contexts to the university classroom and vice versa.

Wilson’s newest research projects include a collaborative autoethnography of queer solo parenthood in the academy and a qualitative interview project examining the possibilities and limitations of authentic solidarity between white queer anti-racist activists and BIPOC struggles for racial justice.

Wilson teaches courses on critical whiteness studies, gender and sexuality, and research methods.

Education

• BA, University of California - Santa Cruz
• MA, PhD, University of California - Davis

Research Interests

• Race, class, gender and sexuality in schools

• Racially disproportionate school discipline

• Community-based research, critical ethnography and autoethnography

• Racial identity development in individuals and organizations

• Cultural contexts of child development, childhood and parenthood

• Matrescence, solo parenthood and queer parenthood

Awards

• SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2020

• SUNY Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Explorations in Diversity and Academic Excellence Grant, 2019-20

More Info

Selected Publications

Wilson, M. A. F. (2021). A pedagogy of critical consciousness and activism: Possibilities and limitations of a community-based whiteness workshop. Whiteness and Education, 7(2), 194–211.

Wilson, M. A. F., Yull, D., & Massey, S. (2020). Race and the politics of educational exclusion: Explaining the persistence of disproportionate disciplinary practices in an urban school district. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 23(1), 134-157. (International Journal)

Yull, D., & Wilson, M. A. F. (2018). Allies, accomplices, or troublemakers: Black families and scholar activists working for social justice in a race-conscious parent engagement program. Critical Education, 9(8), 1-18. (International Journal)

Wilson, M. A. F. (2017). Problematizing child-centeredness: Discourses of control in Waldorf education. Global Studies of Childhood, 12(2), 118-133. (International Journal)