Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher

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Senior Lecturer

Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division

Director, International Educational Development Program

Contact

agk@upenn.edu

(215) 898-5004

Media Inquiries:
Contact Penn GSE Communications.

Education

Ed.D. (International Educational Development) Teachers College, Columbia University, 2008
P.D. (School Psychology) Fordham University, 2003
M.S.Ed. (Psychology of Bilingual Students) Fordham University, 2003
B.S. (Psychology, International Management Studies) University of Maryland at Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, 1999

Areas of Expertise

(Im)migrants and schooling
Civic engagement
Anti-Muslim racism/Islamophobia
Citizenship and trans/nationalism
Curriculum and pedagogy in international contexts
School climate
Educational development discourse

Programs

International Educational Development M.S.Ed.

Programs

Education, Culture, and Society M.S.Ed.

Education, Culture, and Society Ph.D.

Courses

Education in Developing Countries: Socio-Cultural Perspectives (Fall)

IEDP-M Masters Proseminar: Tools, Techniques, and Ethics of Development Work (Fall)

IEDP-D Doctoral Proseminar (Spring)

Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts (Spring)

Migration, Displacement, & Education (Summer I)

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Biography

Professional Biography

Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher began her graduate studies in the field of School Psychology, earning a Professional Diploma in School Psychology and a Masters in the Psychology of Bilingual Students from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education (New York). As a school psychologist resident, she worked with South-Asian heritage students at a public high school in Rockland County, New York. She further developed her interest in immigrant youth during her studies at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she pursued a doctorate in International Educational Development with a concentration in Curriculum and Pedagogy. At Teachers College, she served as the ethnographer for the Muslim Youth in New York City Project (funded by the Ford Foundation) and was also part of the research team for the African Muslim Immigrants Literacy Initiative (AMILI).

Ghaffar-Kucher is a coeditor of the award-winning volume Refugees, Immigrants and Education in the Global South: Lives in Motion (2013; Routledge), the winner of the 2013 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award of the Comparative and International Education Society. Her work has been published in the American Education Research Journal; Harvard Educational Review; International Journal of Intercultural Relations; Race, Ethnicity & Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education; and The Urban Review. She has served on the board of directors for the Comparative and International Educational Society and the Pennsylvania Council of International Education, and was an advisory board member for MTV's Look Different Campaign.

Currently, she is an editorial board member of Contingencies: A Journal for Global Pedagogy, and an Associate Editor for Anthropology and Education Quarterly. She has developed and taught courses at Drexel University and Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to moving to the United States in 2000, she has lived in Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Germany.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher’s research focuses on the socialization, academic engagement, and civic commitments of migrant children and youth. Much of this research has informed her practitioner work in the areas of curriculum development and school climate issues (particularly related to bias-based bullying and structural Islamophobia). Her latest project (with Thea Abu el-Haj and colleagues) is a national study that examines the civic engagement of youth from Muslim immigrant communities in the United States and is sponsored by the Spencer Foundation.

Along with two colleagues from Teachers College, Columbia University, Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher created an anti-bullying resource pack for educators that targets the bullying of South-Asian American youth In the Face of Xenophobia: Lessons to Address Bullying of South-Asian Youth commissioned by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT). A selection of these lessons has been incorporated into California’s statewide Ethnic Studies curriculum. She was also a co-investigator for the SSRC's "Our Shared Past" grant in which she worked with scholars from several universities across the U.S. and the MENA region on a research-based curriculum project titled Rethinking the Region: New Approaches to 9-12 U.S. Curriculum on the “Modern Middle East.” More recently, she developed a curriculum to accompany South Asian American Digital Archives’ (SAADA) Revolution Remix walking tour of historic Philadelphia. She has consulted on dozens of teacher education and curriculum projects across the world through local and international organizations, USAID, and UNESCO. Currently, she is leading the Teaching Beyond September 11th curriculum project funded by Penn’s Global Engagement grant.

Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher is the co-producer and host of The Parent Scoop podcast, which brings education and knowledge to parents, from parents who are researchers and practitioners in the field of education.

Publications

Featured

Refugees, Immigrants, and Education in the Global South

Teaching Beyond September 11th

Selected Publications

Journal Articles & Papers

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; Abu el-Haj, Thea; Ali, Arshad; Fine, Michelle; Shirazi, Roozbeh. (2021). “The Muslims are finally waking up”: Post-9/11 American immigrant youth challenge conditional citizenship. Ethnic and Racial Studies. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2021.1957491

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2019). Uncertain prospects and ambiguous futures: The challenges & opportunities of educating forced migrants. Background paper for 2019 GEM Report on Migration. UNESCO IIEP.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & El-Haj, Thea R. A. (2018). Exit East? The fight against US anti-Muslim racism. The Assembly: A Journal for Public Scholarship on Education, 1(1),7.

Bartlett, Lesley; Mendenhall, Mary; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2017). Culture in acculturation: Refugee youth’s schooling experiences in international schools in New York City. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 60, 109–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.005

Mendenhall, Mary; Bartlett, Lesley; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2017). “If you need help, they are always there for us”: Education for refugees in an international high school in NYC. The Urban Review, 49(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-016-0379-4

Bajaj, Monisha; Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Desai, Karishma (2016). Brown bodies and xenophobic bullying in US schools: Critical analysis and strategies for action. Harvard Educational Review, 86(4), 481–505. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-86.4.481

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2015). Writing culture; inscribing lives: A reflective treatise on the burden of representation in native research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(10), 1186–1202. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2014.974720

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2015). “Narrow-minded and oppressive” or a “superior culture”? Implications of divergent representations of Islam for Pakistani-American youth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 18(2), 202–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.889111

Hantzopoulos, Maria; Zakharia, Zeena; Shirazi, Roozbeh; Bajaj, Monisha; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2015). Re-thinking the region: New approaches to 9-12 US curriculum on MENA. Social Studies Research and Practice.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2012). The religification of Pakistani-American youth. American Educational Research Journal, 49(1), 30–52. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831211414858

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2006). Editorial introduction: (Re)Framing the education of immigrants. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 9(1).

Books

Bartlett, Lesley; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (Eds.). (2013). Immigrants, refugees, and education in the global south: Lives in motion. Routledge.

Book Chapters

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2020). CIE methodology and possibilities of other futures. In Carly Manion, Emily Anderson, Supriya Baily, Meagan Call-Cummings, Radhika Iyengar, Payal Shah, & Matthew Witenstein (Eds.), Interrogating and innovating comparative and international education research. Brill/Sense.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2018). Learning and assessment at the (heterogeneous) bottom of the pyramid. In Daniel Wagner, Robert Boruch, & Sharon Wolf (Eds.), Learning at the bottom of the pyramid. UNESCO-IIEP.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2017). Love and labor in academia: Dear faculty who mentor doctoral students of color. In Michelle Harris, Sherrill L. Sellers, Orly Clerge, & Frederick W. Gooding, Jr. (Eds.), Stories from the front of the room: How higher education faculty of color overcome challenges and thrive in the academy. Rowman & Littlefield.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2014). Assimilation. In Encyclopedia of educational theory and philosophy. SAGE.

Bartlett, Lesley; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2013). Introduction. In Lesley Bartlett & Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher (Eds.), Immigrants, refugees, and education in the global south: Lives in motion. Routledge.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Mahajan, Anup (2012). Salaam! Namaste! Indian and Pakistani community based efforts towards heritage language maintenance. In Ofelia Garcia, Zeena Zakharia, & Bahar Otcu (Eds.), Bilingual community education for American children: Beyond heritage languages in a global city. Multilingual Matters.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2009). Citizenship and belonging in an age of insecurity: Pakistani immigrant youth in New York City. In Frances Vavrus & Lesley Bartlett (Eds.), Critical approaches to comparative education: Vertical case studies from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Palgrave.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2005). The effects of repatriation on education in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. In Dana Burde (Ed.), Education in emergencies and post-conflict situations: Problems, responses and possibilities, Vol. 2. Society of International Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Essays, OpEds, Blogs

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Iyer, Deepa (2020). Reflecting on the 19th anniversary of 9/11: Resources and teaching tips for educators.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2018). CIE methodology and possibilities of other futures. Conference proceedings of the 2nd Comparative and International Education Symposium. Interrogating and Innovating CIE Research, Arlington, VA.

Bajaj, Monisha; Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Desai, Karishma (2016, December 20). Interrupting Islamophobia: An urgent task for educators. Voices in Education. The Blog of The Harvard Education Publishing Group.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Awan, Ayesha (2013). Pakistan’s education conundrum. East Asia Forum.

Select Curricula

Ghaffar-Kucher, A. (2021/22) [Ed.] Teaching Beyond September 11^th Curriculum. University of Pennsylvania.

Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2020). Revolution remix: The South Asian diaspora of the early 1900s in Philadelphia. South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA).

Hantzopoulos, Maria; Zakharia, Zeena; Shirazi, Roozbeh; Bajaj, Monisha; & Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena (2014). Re-thinking the region: New approaches to 9-12 US curriculum on the Middle East and North Africa. Social Science Research Council and the British Council.

Bajaj, Monisha; Ghaffar-Kucher, Ameena; & Desai, Karishma (2013). In the face of xenophobia. Lessons to address bullying of South-Asian American Youth. South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).

News & Media

Penn GSE News

‘Stories give you a window to talk about concepts and values’

PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz recently joined Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher on The Parent Scoop podcast to talk about introducing kids to the news.

September 29, 2020

Teaching an inclusive history of 9/11

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher and Deepa Iyer argue that 9/11 curricula should include lessons on the Global War on Terror, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism, and community building.

September 11, 2020

How do you homeschool kids? The pandemic has lots of parents asking

In the debut of her Parent Scoop podcast, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher discusses the most important things parents and kids can do while they are stuck at home.

April 22, 2020

In the Media

As 9/11 drifts into history, Colorado has no statewide standards on teaching kids about it September 11, 2021

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher's “Teaching Beyond September 11” curriculum has sparked conversation of the importance of learning about 9/11 in school. Many states, including Colorado, do not have a school curriculum that teaches about the “increasingly distant historic event.” There is hope that students “would understand everything that happened that went into that event taking place and they would work to make sure that event never takes place again.”

The Denver Post | September 11, 2021

How do you teach 9/11 to students too young to remember? Philly-area educators tell how they make it real

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher spoke about “history from the last 20 years that is completely neglected.” The “Teaching Beyond September 11” curriculum “is really speaking to that gap and helping young people understand just how the world has changed as a consequence of that awful day,” she said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer | September 8, 2021

The Redemption of Mohammed Khalid

Ameena Ghaffar Kucher interviewed Pakistani American students in New York and observed that they transformed “the negative experience of being ostracized into a positive experience of solidarity and group membership with other Muslims, both in their immediate community and globally.”

The Washington Post Magazine | February 8, 2021

B.O. No

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher critiques a controversial email about personal hygiene sent by a University of Houston professor, proposing alternative responses that could avoid microaggressions and factual inaccuracies.

Inside Higher Ed | January 21, 2019

The Educator's Playbook

Talking to kids about the attack on the Capitol

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher says to start by listening and use clear language.

Teaching beyond September 11

The history of the September 11 attacks is important. But Penn GSE’s Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher says we should show students how 9/11 has shaped our world.

Awards & Honors

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher and Thea Abu el-Haj (Penn GSE Alum) received an award of $42,945 from the Spencer Foundation for the project, “Unequal Citizens: Documenting the Civic Lives of American Muslim Immigrant Youth.” This national study focuses on the ways in which young people from diverse Muslim immigrant communities develop a range of understandings and practices in relation to civic identity and civic actions by examining the nature and development of civic identities and engagement across the domains of education, family, and community.

Posted on January 22, 2018

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher has been elected to the Comparative and International Educational Society (CIES) Board of Directors. She will serve a three year term. The society's over 2,500 members conduct research that focuses 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.

Posted on April 7, 2017

Journal Editorial Boards

Anthropology and Education Quarterly

Associate Editor

Contingencies: A Journal of Global Pedagogy

Editorial Board