Cultivating the Activist Life

Abstract

Engaging in activism and sustaining the self at a research university with a diverse student body is no simple task. From marching at Edmund Pettus Bridge as part of engaging in the Bridge Jubilee to the New Mexico Latino Education Task Force, Rick has invested much in activism as a scholar, even as such activities go unrecognized and unrewarded in the academy. In this chapter, Rick discusses his long career standing up for families and children in New Mexico and the origins of that work. He presents the roots of his activism in his life as a white Jewish male in a progressive family that demanded thoughtfulness and action. Starting at 14 years old with involvement with the movement to protect Soviet Jewish refugees to gaining conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War, Rick soon found that education and activism are not often overlapping spheres, but in his work with young children and eventually teachers, students, and families, he found ways to make sure they did.

Citation

Meyer, R.J. (2021), "Cultivating the Activist Life", Rice, M.F. and Dallacqua, A.K. (Ed.) Luminous Literacies (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 36), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720210000036016