S. Ama Wray named one of the CIES AD SIG Emerging Scholars

(S. Ama Wray, photo by Aliza Rand)

Prof. S. Ama Wray has been named one of the Comparative & International Education Society African Diaspora Special Interest Group’s (CIES AD SIG) Emerging Scholars. The award is given annually to exceptional scholars who are on the cutting edge and have the potential to make a contribution across the African Diaspora. 

The selection committee is comprised of highly accomplished scholars who are members of the CIES AD SIG. One panelist commented on Prof. Wray's works, “This author uses the arts and in particular dance to decolonize the curriculum and challenge traditional western/northern epistemologies. Dance is poorly served by theory that informs how we think about 'race', diaspora and their related politics, yet this scholar not only disrupts the status quo but offers innovative insights and concepts as pedagogical and critical tools.”

The CIES is dedicated to increasing the understanding of educational issues, trends, and policies through comparative, cross-cultural and international perspectives. Its nearly 2,500 individual members--researchers, analysts, practitioners, and students--use different conceptual frameworks to explore topics related to education. These include a focus on schools, students, teachers and administrators, and on issues spanning early childhood and basic education to secondary and higher education, as well as non-formal education and life-long learning.

Since its founding in 1956 as the first comparative education society in the world, the CIES has grown into a dynamic professional association. Nearly half its members are younger scholars and practitioners who are learning to apply theories and methods of the social sciences and history to address the world’s most intractable educational problems. The CIES also sponsors an outstanding peer-reviewed journal in the field, the Comparative Education Review.

The African Diaspora SIG seeks to foster a community of scholars and practitioners to engage with the historical contexts and contemporary educational experiences of Black communities across the globe.  A broader analysis of the educational realities of African descendants within and outside the United States offers the opportunity to review similar and different challenges, lessons, and new possibilities.

Prof. Wray will receive the award at the CIES AD SIG Business Meeting during the CIES Conference in Mexico City, Mexico in March 2018.