Assistant Professor Maribel Santiago was recently selected to receive the 2016 Larry Metcalf Exemplary Dissertation Award from the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Santiago was presented with the award at the NCSS annual conference in December.
Written as three separate articles, Santiago’s dissertation examines how U.S. history classrooms perceive Mexican American contributions, challenging both readers and educators to consider how U.S. history curricula represents Latino/a contributions. Titled “Reconceptualizing the Teaching of Mexican American Contributions in U.S. History: A Case Study on Mendez v. Westminster,” the dissertation details possible ramifications for having a viewpoint that minimizes minority contributions to race and history. Building off this, the final article of the dissertation studies how the unique and complex racial identity of Mexican Americans shapes their own understanding of history.
“My research asks educators to reconsider how they include Latina/o experiences in their history classrooms,” said Santiago, part of the Department of Teacher Education faculty. “The goal is to teach students historical and racial complexity to better understand race relations today.”
Santiago—a daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first-generation college student—earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2015.
As part of the award, Santiago presented her dissertation research in Washington, D.C., during the NCSS annual conference.
Mendez v. Westminster (1947) began after 9-year-old Sylvia Mendez was turned away from a “whites only” California public school. The U.S. courts sided with Mendez, represented by David Marcus, who argued that she did have a right to attend the school. California became the first state to officially desegregate its public schools.