Eric DeMeulenaere is a Professor in Clark University\u2019s Education Department. Prior to joining Clark University\u2019s faculty, he taught middle and high school social studies and English and coached soccer in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.\u00a0 He also co-founded and served as the principal of an innovative small public school in East Oakland that focused on social justice and increased academic outcomes for youth of color.\u00a0 Before opening the school, Dr. DeMeulenaere earned his Ph.D. in the Social and Cultural Studies Program at U.C. Berkeley\u2019s Graduate School of Education.\u00a0 Dr. DeMeulenaere consults with educational leaders nationally and internationally to transform their organizational cultures to promote greater racial and social justice. <\/p>\n
A community engaged scholar, his research employs participatory action research and narrative inquiry methods and draws extensively from critical theory to examine how to create more effective and liberatory learning spaces for students of color both in and out of school spaces.\u00a0 Dr. DeMeulenaere is the co-author of Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers <\/em>(2013) and The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change<\/em> (2020).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":38337,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"cu_faculty_f180_userid":"C70175168","cu_faculty_first_name":"Eric","cu_faculty_last_name":"DeMeulenaere","cu_faculty_employment_status":"Full Time","cu_faculty_rank":"Associate Professor","cu_faculty_position":"Professor","cu_faculty_phone":"","cu_faculty_email":"EDeMeulenaere@clarku.edu","cu_faculty_location":"","cu_faculty_about":" Eric DeMeulenaere is a Professor in Clark University\u2019s Education Department. Prior to joining Clark University\u2019s faculty, he taught middle and high school social studies and English and coached soccer in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.\u00a0 He also co-founded and served as the principal of an innovative small public school in East Oakland that focused on social justice and increased academic outcomes for youth of color.\u00a0 Before opening the school, Dr. DeMeulenaere earned his Ph.D. in the Social and Cultural Studies Program at U.C. Berkeley\u2019s Graduate School of Education.\u00a0 Dr. DeMeulenaere consults with educational leaders nationally and internationally to transform their organizational cultures to promote greater racial and social justice.
A community engaged scholar, his research employs participatory action research and narrative inquiry methods and draws extensively from critical theory to examine how to create more effective and liberatory learning spaces for students of color both in and out of school spaces.\u00a0 Dr. DeMeulenaere is the co-author of Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers <\/em>(2013) and The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change<\/em> (2020).<\/p>","cu_faculty_degrees":"Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education,<\/span> University of California, Berkeley, 2003\nM.A. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education,<\/span> University of California, Berkeley, 1999\nB.A. in Sociology, minor in History,<\/span> Wheaton College, 1990","cu_faculty_cv":"https:\/\/faculty180.interfolio.com\/public\/download.php?key=SDRwNCtxSUpsamxBQ213WS9ucHFuNnMwT0hzQU11b2RPQkJ2cWc3amxyUmNRdVVXTkF4MU1sdUtpdlE1MFA5cmFtVEpIekRDckdsL1ZScFlQdnhKTkY2OVFMZmoxeVcwTW9uWFNWZWJYZWNCNTkybmRtNDRGQkRKZ1o4cUh5Q28rUjZGVmR4SGVuYz0%3D","cu_faculty_links":"[]","cu_faculty_scholarly_interests":"","cu_faculty_scholarly_works":"[{\"activityid\":6017,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Chapters in Books\",\"Chapter Title\":\"Critical Autoethnography\",\"Book Title\":\"Critical Qualitative Research & Social Justice: Key Concepts. \",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Year\":2025,\"Date Published\":\"\",\"Publisher\":\"Routledge\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"New York, NY\",\"Country of Publisher\":\"USA\",\"Edition\":\"\",\"Page Numbers\":\"\",\"ISSN\":\"\",\"DOI\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":6017,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2025,\"termid\":\"2024\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Whitnee L. Garrett-Walker\",\"Colette Cann\",\"Eric DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2025-1-01\"},{\"activityid\":11193,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Chapters in Books\",\"Chapter Title\":\"<span style="font-size:10pt;">Community, Care, And Relational Practice: Reimagining Freedom Dreaming in A Difficult Dialogues Program<\\\/span><span style="font-size:medium;"><\\\/span>\",\"Book Title\":\"Repertoires of Racial Resistance: Pedagogical Dreaming from the Classroom to the Streets\",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Year\":2025,\"Date Published\":\"\",\"Publisher\":\"Myers Education Press\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"Gorham, ME\",\"Country of Publisher\":\"USA\",\"Edition\":\"\",\"Page Numbers\":\"\",\"ISSN\":\"\",\"DOI\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11193,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2025,\"termid\":\"2024\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Jie Y Park\",\"Borodine Chery\",\"Eric DeMeulenaere\",\"Elsabet Franklin\",\"Leyla Knight\",\"Zabrina Richards\",\"Wing Ching Yau\"],\"sort_date\":\"2025-1-01\"},{\"activityid\":11195,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Presentations\",\"Title of Presentation\":\"<span style="font-size:10pt;">Praxis for Racial Justice: Undergraduates as Activists and Engaged Scholars<\\\/span><span style="font-size:10pt;">.<\\\/span><span style="font-size:medium;"><\\\/span>\",\"Conference \\\/ Meeting Name\":\"American Education Research Association Annual Conference\",\"Location of Conference \\\/ Meeting\":\"Philadelphia, PA\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"April\",\"Year\":2024,\"Sponsoring Organization\":\"American Education Research Association\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11195,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2024,\"termid\":\"2023\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric DeMeulenaere\",\"Jie Y Park\",\"Mia Davis\",\"Bea Gerber\",\"Anisa Gilmour\",\"Aizoe Okaisabor\",\"Chloe Wing Ching Yau\"],\"sort_date\":\"2024-4-01\"},{\"activityid\":11194,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Other Media (social media, blogs, podcasts, etc)\",\"Title\":\"<p style="font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;">New Books Network\\u2014Podcast<\\\/span><\\\/p>\",\"Episode Title\":\"An interview with Colette Cann and Eric DeMeulenaere, authors of The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change.\",\"Date Published\":\"2024-03-24\",\"Year\":2024,\"Platform\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newbooksnetwork.com\\\/\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/newbooksnetwork.com\\\/the-activist-academic\",\"Description\":\"<p>How can traditional academic scholarship be disrupted by activist academics? How can we make space for those who are underrepresented and historically oppressed to come to academia as their authentic selves? How can the platform of academia create space for change in the world? In\\u00a0<em><a href="https:\\\/\\\/bookshop.org\\\/a\\\/12343\\\/9781975501396" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change<\\\/a>\\u00a0<\\\/em>(Myers Education Press: 2020), Professor Colette N. Cann and Professor Eric J. DeMeulenarare answer these questions. Their work challenges dominant frameworks of what it is to be an academic. They challenge readers to think about their responsibility as academics, and their role not just as researchers and teachers, but as parents, friends and members of the community. This book should be compulsory reading for all scholars, and those that aspire to enter academia. It provides the opportunity\\u00a0to rethink the ways that activism and scholarship can be combined, and the impact that academics have in the spaces that they work.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\\n<p><a href="https:\\\/\\\/www.usfca.edu\\\/faculty\\\/colette-cann" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Colette N. Cann<\\\/a><span>\\u00a0<\\\/span>is the Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Advancement and\\u00a0Professor in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\\n<p><a href="https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/faculty\\\/profiles\\\/eric-demeulenaere\\\/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Eric DeMeulenaere<\\\/a><span>\\u00a0<\\\/span>is\\u00a0a\\u00a0Professor of Education,\\u00a0Director of Community, Youth, & Education Studies and\\u00a0Director of Comparative Race & Ethnic Studies at\\u00a0Clark University.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\",\"Include description in output citation\":1,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11194,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2024,\"termid\":\"2023\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric J DeMeulenaere\",\"Colette N Cann\",\"Jane Richards\"],\"sort_date\":\"2024-03-24\"},{\"activityid\":12180,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Articles in Refereed Journals\",\"Title\":\"Disrupting School Rituals\",\"Journal Title\":\"Urban Education\",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"\",\"Year\":2023,\"Publisher\":\"Sage\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"Thousand Oaks, CA\",\"Publisher Country\":\"USA\",\"Volume\":\"58\",\"Issue Number \\\/ Edition\":\"1\",\"Page Number(s) or Number of Pages\":\"59-86\",\"ISSN\":\"\",\"DOI\":\".o0r.g1\\\/107.171\\\/0770\\\/402004280589519918983388007\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"<p><span>Integrating the theories of Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman, this article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis for conceptualizing school classrooms as ritualized spaces that shape the roles, relationships, and interactions of students and teachers. This analysis is then used to examine the impact of one urban classroom that employed new classroom rituals to disrupt the traditional practices and performative roles of students and teachers. The article argues that disruptive rituals play an important role in efforts to transform patterns of social interactions in urban classrooms.<\\\/span><\\\/p>\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":12180,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2023,\"termid\":\"2022\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2023-1-01\"},{\"activityid\":11197,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Other Media (social media, blogs, podcasts, etc)\",\"Title\":\"<p><span style="font-size:10pt;">The Times\\u00a0Higher\\u00a0Education Podcast:\\u00a0<\\\/span><span style="font-size:13.3333px;">Academia and Activism<\\\/span><\\\/p>\",\"Episode Title\":\"Academia and Activism\",\"Date Published\":\"2023-02-16\",\"Year\":2023,\"Platform\":\"The Times Higher Education Podcast\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.timeshighereducation.com\\\/campus\\\/podcast-academia-and-activism\",\"Description\":\"<p>Academia and activism might seem like a natural pair. Both require grit, persistence and a passionate commitment to a cause. However doing social justice work is often at the expense of other tasks that count towards career progression in higher education.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\\n<p>In this episode, three academic activists discuss the structures within higher education that make this work difficult, and how they balance it with parenthood and other commitments. They also offer advice to anyone hoping to use their research and teaching as a bridge between universities and the community.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\",\"Include description in output citation\":1,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11197,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2023,\"termid\":\"2022\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric J DeMeulenaere\",\"Colette N Cann\",\"John McKendrick\"],\"sort_date\":\"2023-02-16\"},{\"activityid\":11198,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Other Media (social media, blogs, podcasts, etc)\",\"Title\":\"Digical Educartion Podcast: Disrupting School Rituals with Eric DeMeulenaere\",\"Episode Title\":\"\",\"Date Published\":\"2023-01-06\",\"Year\":2023,\"Platform\":\"Digical Educartion Podcast with Erik Ellefsen\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/epellefsen.podbean.com\\\/e\\\/disrupting-school-rituals-with-eric-demeulenaere\\\/\",\"Description\":\"<p>Happy 2023, and I think this is a great conversation to kick-off the New Year and 2nd Semester of school. Dr. Eric Demeulenaere of Clark University wrote a journal article that intrigued me called<span>\\u00a0<\\\/span><a href="https:\\\/\\\/journals.sagepub.com\\\/doi\\\/full\\\/10.1177\\\/0042085919838007" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Disrupting School Rituals<\\\/a><span>\\u00a0<\\\/span>based on a class he co-taught with two other local teachers in Worcester, MA.\\u00a0<\\\/p>\\n<p>I hope this encourages you as you think about this in your classroom and schools and how it might help you reimagine the good (but messy) work that can happen in those spaces.<\\\/p>\",\"Include description in output citation\":1,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11198,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2023,\"termid\":\"2022\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2023-01-06\"},{\"activityid\":6898,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Presentations\",\"Title of Presentation\":\"Community in Uncertainty: Communities of Praxis in a College Major on Social Justice and Education.\",\"Conference \\\/ Meeting Name\":\"American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting\",\"Location of Conference \\\/ Meeting\":\"San Diego, CA\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"April\",\"Year\":2022,\"Sponsoring Organization\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":6898,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2022,\"termid\":\"2021\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric DeMeulenaere\",\"Sarah A. Michaels\",\"Jie Y Park\"],\"sort_date\":\"2022-4-01\"},{\"activityid\":12178,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Presentations\",\"Title of Presentation\":\"Antiracist Teaching in Higher Education: Transforming Ourselves and our Classrooms through Praxis. \",\"Conference \\\/ Meeting Name\":\"American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting\",\"Location of Conference \\\/ Meeting\":\"San Diego, CA\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"April\",\"Year\":2022,\"Sponsoring Organization\":\"American Educational Research Association\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":12178,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2022,\"termid\":\"2021\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Jie Y Park\",\"Laurie B. Ross\",\"Eric DeMeulenaere\",\"Alena G. Esposito\",\"Sarah A. Michaels\"],\"sort_date\":\"2022-4-01\"},{\"activityid\":11199,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Presentations\",\"Title of Presentation\":\"Activist Scholars\",\"Conference \\\/ Meeting Name\":\"The Public Engagement Learning Community at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. \",\"Location of Conference \\\/ Meeting\":\"Tuscaloosa, Alabama\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"November\",\"Year\":2022,\"Sponsoring Organization\":\"The Public Engagement Learning Community at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":11199,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Fall\",\"year\":2022,\"termid\":\"2022\\\/01\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric J DeMeulenaere\",\"Colette N Cann\"],\"sort_date\":\"2022-11-01\"},{\"activityid\":4349,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Articles in Refereed Journals\",\"Title\":\"Helping Homeless Youth: Epistemological Implications of Power in a YPAR Project\",\"Journal Title\":\"Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement\",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Month \\\/ Season\":\"December\",\"Year\":2021,\"Publisher\":\"\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"\",\"Publisher Country\":\"\",\"Volume\":\"13\",\"Issue Number \\\/ Edition\":\"2\",\"Page Number(s) or Number of Pages\":\"\",\"ISSN\":\"\",\"DOI\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":4349,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Fall\",\"year\":2021,\"termid\":\"2021\\\/01\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Eric DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2021-12-01\"},{\"activityid\":567,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Books and Monographs\",\"Title\":\"The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change.\",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Year\":2020,\"Date Published\":\"2020-04-07\",\"Publisher\":\"Myers Education Press.\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"Gorham, ME\",\"Country of Publisher\":\"USA\",\"Volume\":\"\",\"Edition\":\"\",\"Number of Pages\":\"xi-xxv; 1-180\",\"ISBN\":\"978-1-9755-0139-6; 978-1-9755-0138-9\",\"DOI\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/myersedpress.presswarehouse.com\\\/browse\\\/book\\\/9781975501396\\\/The-Activist-Academic\",\"Description\":\"Donald Trump\\u2019s election forced academics to confront the inadequacy of promoting social change through the traditional academic work of research, writing, and teaching. Scholars joined crowds of people who flooded the streets to protest the event. The present political moment recalls intellectual forbearers like Antonio Gramsci who, imprisoned during an earlier fascist era, demanded that intellectuals committed to justice \\u201ccan no longer consist in eloquence ... but in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organizer, \\u2018permanent persuader\\u2019 and not just a simple orator" (Gramsci, 1971, p. 10). Indeed, in an era of corporate media and \\u201calternative facts,\\u201d academics committed to justice cannot simply rely on disseminating new knowledge, but must step out of the ivory tower and enter the streets as activists. The Activist Academic serves as a guide for merging activism into academia. Following the journey of two academics, the book offers stories, frameworks and methods for how scholars can marry their academic selves, involved in scholarship, teaching and service, with their activist commitments to justice, while navigating the lived realities of raising families and navigating office politics. This volume invites academics across disciplines to enter into a dialogue about how to take knowledge to the streets.\",\"Include description in output citation\":1,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":567,\"status\":\"Completed\\\/Published\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2020,\"termid\":\"2019\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":6,\"completionorder\":6}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Colette N. Cann\",\"Eric J. DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2020-04-07\"},{\"activityid\":13207,\"fields\":{\"Type\":\"Books and Monographs\",\"Title\":\"Community of praxis in higher education: Navigating dilemmas in emancipatory teaching and learning\",\"Series Title\":\"\",\"Year\":null,\"Date Published\":\"\",\"Publisher\":\"Myers Education Press\",\"Publisher City and State\":\"\",\"Country of Publisher\":\"\",\"Volume\":\"\",\"Edition\":\"\",\"Number of Pages\":\"\",\"ISBN\":\"\",\"DOI\":\"\",\"CoAuthor\":null,\"URL\":\"\",\"Description\":\"\",\"Include description in output citation\":0,\"Origin\":\"Manual\"},\"facultyid\":\"C70175168\",\"status\":[{\"id\":13207,\"status\":\"Accepted\",\"term\":\"Spring\",\"year\":2025,\"termid\":\"2024\\\/03\",\"listingorder\":4,\"completionorder\":4}],\"userid\":\"C70175168\",\"attachments\":[],\"coauthors_list\":[\"Jie Y Park\",\"Eric DeMeulenaere\"],\"sort_date\":\"2000-01-01\"}]","cu_faculty_awards_and_grants":"","cu_faculty_title":"Professor, Education","cu_faculty_department":"Education","cu_faculty_affiliated_departments":"Education","footnotes":""},"cu_faculty_group":[55],"cu_faculty_department":[10],"cu_faculty_position":[],"class_list":["post-450","cu_faculty","type-cu_faculty","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_faculty_group-africana-studies","cu_faculty_department-education"],"yoast_head":"\n