Research Workshop: A Primer to Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Utopian Methodologies

Aireale J. Rodgers, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Dr. Aireale J. Rodgers is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and PI of the Racialization in Learning Environments (RILE) Collective research team. A learning scientist of higher education, she employs cultural historical theories of human learning and development to expose the mundane ways in which teaching and learning in U.S. postsecondary institutions socialize students to perpetuate ideological stances, material practices, and interpersonal arrangements that reify a racial capitalist order. Dr. Rodgers holds a B.S. in Social Policy and an M.A. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy (with a concentration in higher education) from the University of Southern California.

Na Lor, Ph.D. (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Dr. Na Lor is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Teachers College, Columbia University’s Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis, where she teaches Utopian Methodologies, Multi and Mixed Methods Research, Sociology of Knowledge, and Sociology of Higher Education. Her research leverages multiple methods and design based approaches (a) to uncover the nodes and axes where tensions and contradictions arise in student learning processes and (B) to investigate how novel curricula and pedagogical tools can serve as catalytic agents toward self transformation and social transformation in service to equity.