Cultivating religious, racial, and cultural identities: Opportunities and challenges at a Muslim homeschool co-op in the U.S. Midwest

This dissertation study is based on an ethnography I undertook of a Muslim homeschool co-op in the U.S. Midwest. The co-op was founded in 2016 by African American and South Asian American Muslim women and grew to include families from a range of racial and cultural backgrounds. The study examines how identity shapes the motivations and aims of Muslim parents involved in the designing of their children’s education and explores the opportunities and challenges that exist at the co-op as a result. Between February 2020 and July 2022, I spent time in the co-op’s physical and virtual spaces; spoke with its founders, administrators, parents, teachers, and students; attended classes; and surveyed materials authored or used by co-op educators. Using an approach guided by postcolonial theory and focused on questions about identity, I discuss how findings of the study may inform culturally responsive pedagogy within mainstream K-12 schools as well as implications for the educational spaces created and sustained by minoritized communities in the United States.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Doukmak, Noor Alhuda

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dávila, Liv T
• Dhillon, Pradeep
• Kashani, Maryam
• McCarthy, Cameron
• Span, Christopher

• Multicultural Education
• Identity
• Postcolonial Theory
• Homeschooling

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Noor Doukmak

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117570

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F117570