Min Yu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education & Social Studies Education
313-577-0990
minyu@wayne.edu, fy7865@wayne.edu
313-577-4091 (fax)
Office Hours: By Appointment
213 Education Building
Min Yu, Ph.D.
Degrees and Certifications
- Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Policy Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
- M.A., Curriculum and Instruction
Beijing Normal University
- B.A., Chinese Language and Literature
Beijing Normal University
Responsibilities
- American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division B: Curriculum Studies
Communication Officer (2016-2017)
Program Section Co-Chair (Section 4, 2014-2016)
- Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) East Asia SIG
Chair (2020-2023)
Program Chair (2022-2023)
- Chinese Education & Society
Associate Editor (2024-2027)
- Educational Studies
Editorial Board (2022-2025)
Area of Expertise
Migration/Immigration and Education, Curriculum Studies, Comparative and International Education, Social Studies Teacher Education
Research Interests
My lines of inquiry draw on scholarship from migration studies, education, and sociology to examine the roles of community organizing and the impact of changing social, political, and economic conditions on the education of children from migrant and immigrant families. My research investigates how historical contexts, social structures, and educational policies shape local practices and examines the impact of migration on families and children across time and space. I use ethnographic research, along with archival research and policy analysis, to develop critical understandings of how social structures impact experiences of students and teachers and the ways in which communities mobilize for educational equity.
Awards
- 2024
Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) East Asia SIG
Best Paper Award (Honorable Mention)
- 2023
College of Education
Kathleen Reilly Koory Endowed Faculty Development Award
- 2022
American Educational Research Association (AERA) International Studies SIG
- 2019
Wayne State University Academy of Scholars
Junior Faculty Award
- 2019
College of Education
Faculty Scholarship Award
- 2018
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division B: Curriculum Studies
Outstanding Book Recognition Award
Grants
External Grants
- Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
$65,000 (2022-2024)
Bridging the Gap: Archives in the Classroom and Community
Co-Principal Investigators:
Christopher B. Crowley, Min Yu, Dan Golodner, Meghan Courtney
Co-Director:
Sean McBrady (Macomb Intermediate School District)
- National Archives and Records Administration
National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC)
$83,100 (2020-2024), with additional $93,839 Wayne State University cost share
Bridging the Gap: Archives in the Classroom and Community
Co-Principal Investigators:
Min Yu, Christopher B. Crowley (College of Education), Meghan Courtney, Dan Golodner (Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs)
- Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)-Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (CCKF) Summer Institute in Chinese Studies and Global Humanities
$50,000 (2018-2019); with additional $9,950 Wayne State University grant project support
Space in Two Cities, Detroit and Shenyang
Co-Principal Investigators:
Haiyong Liu, Yunshuang Zhang (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences), Min Yu (College of Education)
Internal Grants
- University Research Grant
$10,000 (2021-2022)
The Worthwhile Knowledge: Re-imagining Curriculum and Community Mobilization in China’s Migrant Communities
- Educational Development Grant
$3,000 (2019-2020)
Archives in the Classroom and Community
Co-Principal Investigators:
Min Yu, Christopher B. Crowley (College of Education), Meghan Courtney, Dan Golodner (Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs)
- University Research Grant
$10,000 (2018-2019)
Educating Left-behind Children in Transnational Migrant Families
Featured publications
Education as Capital? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Investment Discourse in International Research on Chinese Rural Education
Xiang, X., Lou, J., Yu, M., & Teng, J. (2024). Education as Capital? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Investment Discourse in International Research on Chinese Rural Education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education.
This article examines the rise of human capital theory and the investment discourse in education with a focus on Chinese rural education. We carry out Critical Discourse Analysis on 38 research articles published in highly cited English-language social science journals between 1978 and 2022. We demonstrate that Chinese rural education boomed as a topic of international research in the 21st century due to intensified academic internationalisation in China, which is intertwined with China’s pursuit of global influence and rising nationalism. The articles in our sample respond more to mainstream discourses dominated by the Global North than to the concerns of local communities, thereby reinforcing the dominance of western social theories and discourses like the human capital theory and the investment discourse. Amidst increasingly antagonistic global politics, we call for the critical ‘double negation’ (this issue) of both coloniality and nationalism to open up possibilities of plural knowledges.
Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~ Re-imagining alternate Nows~ Invigorating otherwise futures
He, M. F., Sharma, S., & Yu, M. (2024). Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~ Re-imagining alternate Nows~ Invigorating otherwise futures. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 1-7.
Keywords
Asian diaspora
Interdisciplinary theorizing
Subaltern consciousness
AsianCrit
The Pedagogy of Place in China’s Migrant Community
Yu, M. (2024). The Pedagogy of Place in China’s Migrant Community. ECNU Review of Education.
This article examines the curriculum and pedagogy of place for migrant children in China and advocates the recognition of migrant families’ and communities’ knowledge as necessary, relevant, and impactful curriculum. This article is based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted in various migrant settlements in Beijing. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with migrant parents, teachers, and community activists and participant observations in schools, community meetings, and other gatherings in the communities. Data were coded on themes related to place-based connection, attachment, and belonging and then analyzed. Findings demonstrate that pedagogical practices can be developed to re-center the knowledge and experiences of Chinese migrant communities. This pedagogical work recognizes and reflects the undervalued and unrecognized knowledge of migrant communities while investigating the meaning of “place” for migrant children. This is the first study putting special emphasis on the discussion of what “place” means for migrants and what knowledge is worthwhile for their children in China. A key contribution of this article is that it documents the challenges and benefits of creating a place-based curriculum and pedagogy for migrant children as they construct a sense of belonging.
Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism
Crowley, C. B., Powell, S., Reynolds, A., & Yu, M. (2024). Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Critical race theory ought to be central to analyses of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary educational landscapes in the United States. Neoliberalism finds grounding in the rule of law, particularly as it relates to the role of contracts, contractual relationships, and by extension forms of licensure. Parallel to this, critical race theory also finds conceptual grounding in law, most notably as it pertains to understandings of linkages between property rights and whiteness. We explore the implications of considering whiteness as an institutionally-sponsored, state-sanctioned form of licensed property. The identification of neoliberalism as a dominant form of institutionalized whiteness centers understandings of the racialized contractual terms operating discursively under the auspices of white supremacist neoliberal regimes. Though Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” principle in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), we argue that neoliberalism continues to operationalize the maintenance of racial inequity in US schooling.
Ignored Subjectivity in the Informational Panopticon: Restricted Classroom Interaction Under Technical Discipline
Chang, Y., Gao, M., & Yu, M. (2024). Ignored Subjectivity in the Informational Panopticon: Restricted Classroom Interaction Under Technical Discipline. ECNU Review of Education.
This article aims to provide a portrait of classroom interactions supported by information technology and discuss the complex impact of technical elements on teaching and the time–space distance of student subjectivity in a technology-dominated world. Based on Foucault's panopticism, this study examines a smart classroom in East Asia to observe classroom teaching and learning processes; conducts semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders; and analyzes the hidden mechanism of the smart classroom on interaction from the perspective of perceivers. The smart classroom has the distinctive structural features of a Panopticon. Artificial intelligence, which coalesces cultural capital through technological authority, has a significant capital advantage over students, producing a false spectacle of efficient learning. Panoramic surveillance causes the “backstage” of students’ roles to be gradually consumed by the “front” and makes students exhibit “make-work” behavior. Refined information management mechanisms produce invisible digital walls that separate interactive groups, making it difficult for students to obtain sufficient information about the gestures and behaviors of their classmates to interact effectively. This study reveals the ignorance of human subjectivity in the orientation of instrumental rationality by understanding the expressions of witnesses.
Promoting educational equity for migrant children in China
Yu, M. (2024). Promoting educational equity for migrant children in China. In P. Downes, G. Li, L. Van Praag, & S. Lamb (Eds.),The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education (pp. 389-400). Routledge.
Keywords
Educational equity
Migrant children
Minjian society
Situating within the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban Chinese cities, this chapter aims to demonstrate the mobilization in migrant communities as community members and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children. Although excluded from the urban public realm for decades, migrant communities in China’s large urban cities never stopped their mobilization toward providing education for their children and making their voices heard. Grassroots migrant organizations function as centers of collective actions that address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant children and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that community members and activists utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. The spaces created as a result of the collective actions encouraged the formation of a sense of solidarity among migrant children, their families, as well as activists from outside the communities. These activities not only challenged the stereotypes of migrant children and their families but also provided opportunities to mobilize people from outside the communities to support migrant children’s education.
Community-Based Education and Child Development Work for Migrant Children in China: A Multi-dimensional Citizenship Approach
Yu, M. (2024). Community-Based Education and Child Development Work for Migrant Children in China: A Multi-dimensional Citizenship Approach. Chinese Sociological Review.
Keywords
Community-based education
Migrant children
Multi-dimensional citizenship
The primary focus of this article is to investigate the impact of community-based efforts to provide education and child development programs and service in China’s migrant communities, specifically as it pertains to the prospects of addressing sociocultural and socioeconomic inequalities in education and child development in urban China. Building on frameworks of dimensions of citizenship, this article examines the work of migrant educator-activists who provide community-based education and child development service in Beijing’s migrant communities. Their efforts to address inequalities in child development for migrant children enrich the understanding of citizenship in the Chinese context.
Critical Thinking for Transformative Praxis in Teacher Education: Music, Media and Information Literacy, and Social Studies in the United States
Miller, R., Liu, K., Crowley, C. B., & Yu, M. (2023). Critical Thinking for Transformative Praxis in Teacher Education: Music, Media and Information Literacy, and Social Studies in the United States. Educational Philosophy and Theory.
Keywords
Critical thinking
Teacher education
Transformative praxis
The notion and practice of critical thinking (CT) has moved from its speculative formation by John Dewey to a standard element in teacher education curricula and standards. In the process, CT has narrowed its focus to the analysis and articulation of logical thought, and lost transformative value. In this paper, we examine the conception and implementation of CT in three teacher education domains primarily in the United States–music, media and information literacy, and social studies–asking how CT has deformed education in those domains, and how domain-specific approaches could reinvigorate CT. We further suggest refocusing the purpose of CT in teacher education on accomplishing transformative education for equity in school and society, by implementing a critically reflective, transformative praxis based on the insights of domain-specific approaches to CT.
Chinese Primary School Teachers’ Working Time Allocation after the Enactment of “Double Reduction” Policy: A Mixed-methods Study
Teng, J., Yang, Z., Yu, M., Crowley, C. B., Jing, X. (2023). Chinese Primary School Teachers’ Working Time Allocation after the Enactment of “Double Reduction” Policy: A Mixed-methods Study. Teaching and Teacher Education.
Keywords
Teachers’ working time
This study uses mixed methods to explore Chinese primary school teachers’ working time allocation after the enactment of the “Double Reduction” Policy. Data were collected from 364 questionnaires and six subsequent in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that despite having brought about some benefits, the “Double Reduction” Policy has increased Chinese primary school teachers’ working time. Moreover, the teachers’ working time is unevenly allocated, with disproportionately more time devoted to subject teaching and less time devoted to professional development. As a result, the nature of the different types of Chinese primary school teachers’ working time further affect the teachers’ perceived workload and work-related stress. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers receive greater support and time for their ongoing professional development.
Dissecting Anti-Asian Racism through a Historical and Transnational AsianCrit Lens
Yu, M., Coloma, R. S., Sun, W, & Kwon, J. (2023). Dissecting Anti-Asian Racism through a Historical and Transnational AsianCrit Lens. Sociological Inquiry.
* equal authorship
Keywords
AsianCrit
Transnational funds of knowledge
Asian youth’s activism
The primary focus of this paper is twofold: to demarcate the epistemic erasure of societal knowledge and narratives of Asian Americans as braided with other forms of anti-Asian racism by tracing its historical roots in orientalism, colonialism, and imperialism; and to redress such erasure by foregrounding transnational perspectives and Asian American Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit). By attending to historical and ongoing experiences of migration and racialization, this paper highlights the transculturality of Asian American histories, epistemologies, and communities, along with the multi-stranded connections that they share with diasporic Asians in other countries. It expands the dominant framing of racialized minorities in the United States that indexes and limits their experiences within the geopolitical boundaries of the nation-state. By situating Asian Americans within critical historical and transnational contexts, this paper generates a fuller and more complex understanding of the past and present conditions of Asian Americans and anti-Asian racism. It also deliberately highlights the agency of Asian American youth and their strategies in contesting anti-Asian racism.
Reimagining Education and Community Mobilization in China’s Migrant Communities: Towards an “Asia as Method” Framework
Yu, M. (2023). Reimagining Education and Community Mobilization in China’s Migrant Communities: Towards an “Asia as Method” Framework. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Keywords
Asia as method
Inter-referencing
Critical syncretism
This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric theories onto Southern and Eastern examples. Specifically, I reflect on the examination of educational issues faced by marginalized migrant communities within Chinese contexts and explore the application of an “Asia as Method” conceptual framework to reimagine education opportunities for migrant children and community mobilization as it pertains to a politics of recognition and redistribution. The politics of location and identity shaped by Chinese society’s historical and contemporary power structures highlight both the needs and potential of theoretical conceptualizations from within. The goal is not simply to replace the West/North with the East/South nor is it to generate a wholly new theoretical concept to be applicable to all contexts; instead, the task undertaken in this work is to foster historically grounded relational explanations in order for communities in previously-decentered contexts to become one another’s multifaceted reference points
Challenges and Opportunities for Reshaping International Research on Chinese Rural Education
Xiang, X., Teng, J., Yu, M., Lou, J., Jiang, Z., Zhou, J., Gong, F. (2023). Challenges and Opportunities for Reshaping International Research on Chinese Rural Education. Tsinghua Journal of Education, 44(4), 11-22.
Keywords
Academic discourses
International power relations
In order to clarify the status quo of international research on Chinese rural education research and explore possible strategies for moving forward, we conducted systematic content analysis on 173 research articles published in 41 high-impact English-language international academic journals between 1978 and 2022. Though articles related to Chinese rural education make up a quarter of all articles on Chinese education published in these journals, they make up less than 0.5% of all articles published in these journals. Though this tiny field has grown substantially since 2010, there are two major problems constricting its healthy development: the dominance of positivism and quantitative methodologies, and the dominance of western classical social theories. Currently, changing international relations and the prominence of rural development issues present unprecedented opportunities for reshaping international research on Chinese rural education. Researchers also need to develop cultural and theoretical reflexivity in order to break out of the current theoretical conundrum.
Educational policies and schooling for migrant children in China
Yu, M. & Crowley, C.B. (2023). Educational policies and schooling for migrant children in China. In Pinson, H., Bunar, N., & Devine, D. (Eds.), Research handbook on migration and education (pp.480-495). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Keywords
Chinese education policies
Migration
Population control
This chapter discusses what kinds of schooling is worthwhile for China’s migrant children, examines the development of educational policies concerning migrant children and documents the collective experiences of securing access to schooling for migrant children in Chinese cities. It critically analyses policies directly related to the education of migrant children living in and around China’s largest urban centres, with a specific focus on those implemented in Beijing. It argues that these education policies have an underlying agenda of population control that extends beyond that of simply addressing the educational needs of migrant children. This chapter also raises important questions about who is best served by these policies and for whom are these policies intended.
Activism and Resistance from the Trenches: Crisscrossing Comparison and Undocumented Migrant Experiences in China and the United States
Rodriguez, S., Bennett, C.*, Yu, M.*, & Acree, J. (2023). Activism and Resistance from the Trenches: Crisscrossing Comparison and Undocumented Migrant Experiences in China and the United States. Comparative Education Review, 67(1).
* equal authorship as 2nd author
Keywords
Activism
Immigration
Comparative and international education
This article explores critical ways that migrant groups engage in diverse forms of resistance. In this comparative case study, we draw on our longitudinal ethnographic research on migrant groups, particularly those that are characterized as undocumented, with a focus on the ways in which they engage in activism and resistance in China and the United States, respectively. We aim to expand the literature about comparison by asking: how is comparison understood differently through the lens of crisscrossing, and what productive insights can be uncovered through this theoretically informed approach? What implications might crisscrossing have for studying grassroots level resistance from migrants across borders?
Starting a dialogue in difficult times: Intersectionality and education work
Robert, S. A., Yu, M., Sauerbronn, F. and Özkazanç-Pan, B. (2022). Starting a dialogue in difficult times: Intersectionality and education work. Gender, Work, & Organization.
Keywords
Intersectionality
Education Work
Teaching
Empowerment from what? Teacher ‘citizenship talk’ practices for migrant children in China
Yiu, L. & Yu, M. (2022). Empowerment from what? Teacher ‘citizenship talk’ practices for migrant children in China. Comparative Education.
Keywords
Empowerment
Critical Pedagogy
Teacher Practice
Drawing on two multi-site ethnographic projects in Beijing and Shanghai, we explore how teachers in both public schools and schools for migrant children have responded to state policies that restrict educational opportunities for migrant students. We argue the importance of political context in re-conceptualising empowerment by raising the question ‘empowerment from what?’ By making explicit what is normalised, we problematise the ways in which the predominant definition of empowerment has marginalised and trivialised the experiences of educators who are also engaging in powerful acts of empowerment in China. Importantly, this study sheds light on the ways in which Chinese teachers use ‘citizenship talk’ practices to engage in empowerment processes for migrant students. We contend that the value of this piece lies in pushing critical scholars to think more deeply about empowerment as socio-cultural transformation and advancing the field by generating debate on how context matters.
Remember. (Re)member. Re-member: Theorizing the Process of Healing, Sustaining, and Transforming as MotherScholars
Yu, M., Edwards, E., Gonzales, S., Robert, S. A., & DeNicolo, C. (2022). Remember. (Re)member. Re-member: Theorizing the Process of Healing, Sustaining, and Transforming as MotherScholars. Peabody Journal of Education.
Keywords
MotherScholars
Remember
Circle methodology
Invoking abuelita epistemologies for academic transformation in the coronavirus age: Autoethnographic reflections from a motherscholar collective
Edwards, E.B., Robert, S.A., DeNicolo, C.P., Gonzales, S.M., & Yu, M. (2022). Invoking abuelita epistemologies for academic transformation in the coronavirus age: Autoethnographic reflections from a motherscholar collective. In J. Beoku-Betts, A. Darkwah, M. Heath, & B. Purkayastha, (Eds.), Global feminist autoethnographies during COVID-19: Displacements and Disruptions (pp. 162-175). New York, NY: Routledge.
In response to the diverse challenges that we faced as Motherscholars of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the varied positionalities we occupy as faculty members on the tenure spectrum, we began to meet as a collective to seek meaning from our lives in these perilous times and to offer each other holistic support for the many roles we fulfill. As Motherscholars working from within the colonial settler, white supremacist, capitalist, and patriarchal society, while employing the power of a restorative circle and abuelita epistemologies, we have asked: How might invoking ancestral epistemologies as a collective translate into self-preservation and transformation in the coronavirus age? Our focus is on the past as a foundation to remember what has happened to our ancestors, to (re)member their experiences as a sustaining practice in the present, and to re-member ourselves and our communities anew as a result.
Rethinking Teacher Education for Ethnic Diversity in China
Crowley, C. B., Hadeer, R., & Yu, M. (2021) Rethinking Teacher Education for Ethnic Diversity in China. Educational Studies. DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2021.1994974.
*Equal authorship. Authors are listed alphabetically.
Keywords
Teacher education
Ethnic diversity
China
In this article, we discuss the current state of research on Chinese teacher education as it directly pertains to issues of ethnic diversity. Drawing on an extensive review of the research literature published over the past 20 years, we highlight some of the limitations present within the contemporary research literature on teacher education in China. By paying close attention to studies discussing both structural considerations and instructional/practice-based considerations, we raise key questions about the need for future research to explore how to better prepare teachers to serve ethnic minority students. Through a careful examination of current dominant epistemologies in Chinese teacher education research, this study argues that diversity in China remains significantly and woefully underdeveloped in the understandings and analyses of teacher education and much of the existing research in teacher education presents diversity as regional differences in social and economic development in China. There is a need for how ethnic diversity is conceptualized and supported within Chinese teacher education.
Intersectionality for Contextualizing Teachers’ Work in Transnational Education Policy Research
Robert, S. A., Yu, M., & Lewis, D. (2021). Intersectionality for Contextualizing Teachers’ Work in Transnational Education Policy Research. Educational Studies. DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2021.1904930
The article argues for intersectionality as analytical concept for transnational education policy analyses of teachers’ work. We first lay out the conceptual and methodological groundwork, and then revisit two case studies of teachers’ work to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework for intersectional transnational education policy analysis. The multi-scaled (individual-relational-systemic) nature of policy processes melds with intertwined oppressive systems to shape who teaches whom what where and why. We draw attention to teaching as work, labor, an occupation, whose contours are being dramatically altered by never-ending crises and neoliberal education projects. We find that the demands of the framework are quite demanding, but promising to theorize change to teachers’ work and their role in policy processes.
Education as Community Mobilization: Minjian Society and the Education of Migrant Children in China
Yu, M. (2021). Education as Community Mobilization: Minjian Society and the Education of Migrant Children in China. Educational Studies. DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2021.1892688.
Keywords
Community mobilization
Minjian
Collective action
Grassroots migrant organizations, especially schools serving migrant children, function as centers of collective action which address the needs of the community and counter the deficit notions of migrant students and their families, by illuminating the powerful ways that migrant teachers and students utilize various forms of community cultural wealth. Situating in the context of migrant communities’ social and political struggles in urban cities, this article aims to demonstrate the mobilization in China’s migrant communities as teachers and activists work to provide educational opportunities for migrant children and to explore the ways in which their actions changed community members’ perceptions of who they are, what they can do, and how they can do it.
Curriculum of migrant communities in mainland china
Yu, M. (2021). Curriculum of migrant communities in mainland china. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press.
Keywords
Migrant children schools
Curriculum
Community
The establishment of the community schools for migrant children and the development of curriculum for migrant children in China’s migrant communities speak to the critical questions concerning whose knowledge counts and what is worthwhile for children from underserved communities. The spaces provided by the migrant children schools encouraged the formation of a sense of solidarity among migrant students, their families, and teachers, as well as active members outside the communities. The sense of solidarity was reflected by the blurred boundary between schools and familial spaces. Located inside migrant communities, migrant children schools contributed to the formation of a sense of collectivity among the students, their teachers, their families, and other members of the migrant communities. Many of the schools, regardless of size, number of teachers, with permits or without official recognition, organized various activities and opportunities to bring personal, family, and community experiences into school curriculum and extracurricular activities, or to encourage everyone to join community events.
The Discursive Politics of Education Policy in China: Educating Migrant Children
Yu, M., & Crowley, C. B. (2020). The Discursive Politics of Education Policy in China: Educating Migrant Children. The China Quarterly, 241, 87-111.
This article explores the discursive functioning of education policies, bringing into consideration community perspectives regarding policy enactment in contemporary China. With the intention of building upon ongoing discussions surrounding both the conceptions and purposes of policy sociology, we critically analyse policies directly related to the education of migrant children living in and around China's largest urban centres, with a specific focus on those implemented in Beijing. We emphasize two important aspects that previous studies of China's education policies have tended to underplay given their focus on social-economic perspectives. The first argument is that education policies have an underlying agenda that extends beyond that of simply addressing the educational needs of migrant children – evidenced through the discursive functions of policy texts. The second argument is related and seeks to raise questions about who is best served by these policies and for whom these policies are intended.
Publications
Book
- Yu, M. (2016). The Politics, Practices, and Possibilities of Migrant Children Schools in Contemporary China*. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
*2018 American Educational Research Association Division B-Curriculum Studies Outstanding Book Recognition Award
Special Issues
- Wang, T., You, Y., & Yu, M. (Eds.). (forthcoming). Transcending Western-Centrism and Nationalism: China and beyond [Special issue]. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
- He, M. F., Sharma, S., & Yu, M. (Eds). (2024). Asian diaspora theorizing: Defying racism~re-imagining alternate nows~invigorating otherwise futures [Special issue]. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 18(4). https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hdim20/18/4?nav=tocList
- Seeberg, V. & Yu, M. (Eds.). (2024). Research on rural and migrant education in China [Special issue]. Chinese Education & Society, 57(1-2). https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/mced20/57/1- 2?nav=tocList
- Robert, S. A., Yu, M., Sauerbronn, F., & Özkazanç-Pan, B. (Eds.). (2023). Intersectionality and education work during COVID-19 transitions [Special issue]. Gender, Work & Organization, 30(2). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14680432/2023/30/2
Translated Book
- Tan, C. (2024). The Aesthetic View of Moral Education (W. Huang, & M. Yu Trans.). New York, NY: Routledge. (Original work published 2021).
Selected Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- Xiang, X., Lou, J., Yu, M., & Teng, J. (2024). Education as Capital? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Investment Discourse in International Research on Chinese Rural Education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2024.2429836
- Yu, M. (2024). Community-Based Education and Child Development Work for Migrant Children in China: A Multi-dimensional Citizenship Approach. Chinese Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2024.2356557
- Chang, Y., Gao, M., & Yu, M. (2024). Ignored Subjectivity in the Informational Panopticon: Restricted Classroom Interaction Under Technical Discipline. ECNU Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/20965311241266
- Crowley, C. B., Powell, S., Reynolds, A., & Yu, M. (2024). Licensing whiteness: property, privilege, and (re)centering the politics of race within neoliberalism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2024.2365185
- Yu, M. (2024). The Pedagogy of Place in China’s Migrant Community. ECNU Review of Education, 7(3), 554-572. https://doi.org/10.1177/20965311241264570
- He, M. F., Sharma, S., & Yu, M. (2024). Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~ Re-imagining alternate Nows~ Invigorating otherwise futures. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 18(4), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2024.2392916
- Yu, M. (2024). Reimagining Education and Community Mobilization in China’s Migrant Communities: Towards an “Asia as Method” Framework. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 37(7), 2023-2036. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2258109
*2024 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) East Asia SIG Best Paper Award (Honorable Mention)
- Teng, J., Yang, Z., Yu, M., Crowley, C. B., Jing, X. (2024). Chinese Primary School Teachers’ Working Time Allocation after the Enactment of “Double Reduction” Policy: A Mixed-methods Study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104385
- Yu, M., Coloma, R. S., Sun, W., & Kwon, J. (2024). Dissecting Anti-Asian Racism through a Historical and Transnational AsianCrit Lens. Sociological Inquiry, 94(2), 330-350. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12572
* equal authorship
- Miller, R., Liu, K., Crowley, C. B., & Yu, M. (2024). Critical Thinking for Transformative Praxis in Teacher Education: Music, Media and Information Literacy, and Social Studies in the United States. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 56(8), 801-814. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2023.2286884
- Robert, S. A., Yu, M., & Edwards, E. (forthcoming). Intersectionality for Educational Policy Research. In L. Cohen-Vogel, J. Scott, & P. Youngs, (Eds.), American Educational Research Association Handbook of Education Policy Research (2nd ed). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
- Yu, M. (2024). Promoting educational equity for migrant children in China. In P. Downes, G. Li, L. Van Praag, & S. Lamb (Eds.),The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education (pp. 389-400). Routledge.
- Xiang, X., Teng, J., Yu, M., Lou, J., Jiang, Z., Zhou, J., Gong, F. (2023). Challenges and Opportunities for Reshaping International Research on Chinese Rural Education. Tsinghua Journal of Education, 44(4), 11-22. https://doi.org/10.14138/j.1001-4519.2023.04
- Rodriguez, S., Bennett, C., Yu, M., & Acree, J. (2023). Activism and Resistance from the Trenches: Crisscrossing Comparison and Undocumented Migrant Experiences in China and the United States. Comparative Education Review, 67(1), 6-30. https://doi.org/10.1086/722832
* equal authorship as 2nd author
- Robert, S. A., Yu, M., Sauerbronn, F., & Özkazanç-Pan, B. (2023). Starting a Dialogue in Difficult Times: Intersectionality and Education Work. Gender, Work & Organization, 30(2), 628-637. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12896
- Yu, M., Edwards, E., Gonzales, S. Robert, S. A., & DeNicolo, C. (2023). Remember. (Re)member. Re-member: Theorizing the Process of Healing, Sustaining, and Transforming as MotherScholars. In Olson Beal, H. K., Cross, C. J., & Burrow, L. E. (Eds.), MotherScholaring During the COVID-19 Pandemic. New York, NY: Routledge.
* equal authorship
- Yu, M. & Crowley, C. B. (2023). Educational policies and schooling for migrant children in China. In Pinson, H., Bunar, N., & Devine, D. (Eds.), Research handbook on migration and education (pp.480-495). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
- Yiu, L. & Yu, M. (2022). Empowerment from what? Teacher ‘citizenship talk’ practices for migrant children in China. Comparative Education, 58(4), 526-541. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2022.2088691
* equal authorship, authors listed in alphabetical order
- Yu, M., Edwards, E., Gonzales, S. Robert, S. A., & DeNicolo, C. (2022). Remember. (Re)member. Re-member: Theorizing the Process of Healing, Sustaining, and Transforming as MotherScholars. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(2), 199-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2022.2055892
* equal authorship
- Crowley, C. B., Hadeer, R., & Yu, M. (2022). Rethinking Teacher Education for Ethnic Diversity in China. Educational Studies, 58(1), 74-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2021.1994974
* equal authorship, authors listed in alphabetical order
- Edwards, E., Robert, S.A., DeNicolo, C., Gonzales, S., & Yu, M. (2022). Invoking abuelita epistemologies for academic transformation in the coronavirus age: Autoethnographic reflections from a motherscholar collective. In J. Beoku-Betts, A. Darkwah, M. Heath, & B. Purkayastha, (Eds.), Global Feminist Autoethnographies During COVID-19: Displacements and Disruptions (pp.162-175). New York, NY: Routledge.
* equal authorship
- Robert, S. A., Yu, M., & Lewis, D. (2021). Intersectionality for Contextualizing Teachers’ Work in Transnational Education Policy Research. Educational Studies, 57(6), 607-628. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2021.1904930
- Yu, M. (2021). Education as Community Mobilization: Minjian Society and the Education of Migrant Children in China. Educational Studies, 57(3), 299-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2021.1892688
- McBrady, S. & Yu, M. (2021). Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence. In Roberts, K. & Brugar, K. (Eds.), Real classrooms, real teachers: The C3 inquiry in practice (pp.101-104). Charlotte, NC: IAP.
- Yu, M. (2021). Curriculum of Migrant Communities in Mainland China. In He, M. F. & Schubert, W. H. (Eds.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1155
- Yu, M. & Crowley, C. B. (2020). The Discursive Politics of Education Policy in China: Educating Migrant Children. The China Quarterly, 241, 87-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305741019000742
- Yu, M. (2018). Rethinking Migrant Children Schools in China: Activism, Collective Identity, and Guanxi. Comparative Education Review, 62(3), 429-448. https://doi.org/10.1086/698404
- Robert, S. A. & Yu, M. (2018). Intersectionality in Transnational Education Policy Research. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 93-121. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X18759305
- Apple, M. W., Crowley, C. B., Kang, H., Kang, M., Lam, S., Lim, L., Sung, Y., Takayama, K., Wong, T., & Yu, M.* (2018). A Response to Edward Vickers. London Review of Education, 16(2), 341-344. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.16.2.12
* equal authorship, authors listed in alphabetical order
- He, M. F. & Yu, M. (2017). Education for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the United States in Hard Times. Curriculum Perspectives, 37(2), 205-210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-017-0027-5
- DeNicolo, C. P., Yu, M., Crowley, C. B., & Gabel, S. L. (2017). Reimagining Critical Care and Problematizing Sense of School Belonging as a Response to Inequality for Immigrants and Children of Immigrants. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 500-530. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X17690498
- Yu, M. (2016). Social Movements and Educational Change in China. In L. Lim & M. W. Apple (Eds.), The Strong State and Curriculum Reform: Assessing the Politics and Possibilities of Educational Change in Asia (pp.94-112). New York, NY: Routledge.
- He, M. F. & Yu, M. (2016). The Education of Ethnic Minorities in the People’s Republic of China. In D. K. Sharpes (Ed.), Handbook on comparative and international studies in education (pp.441-450). Charlotte, NC: IAP.
- Yu, M. (2015). Revisiting Gender and Class in Urban China: Undervalued Work of Migrant Teachers and Their Resistance. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 9(2), 124-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2015.1011781
- Knoester, M. & Yu, M. (2015). Teacher as Cultural Workers. In M. F. He, B. D. Schultz, & W. H. Schubert (Eds.) The Sage Guide to Curriculum in Education (pp.190-197). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Yu, M. (2012). History, Struggle, and the Social Influence of Migrant Children Schools in Contemporary China. In M. Knoester (Ed.) International Struggles for Critical Democratic Education (pp.31-47). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Courses taught by Min Yu, Ph.D.
Winter Term 2025 (future)
Fall Term 2024 (current)
Fall Term 2023
Fall Term 2022
Recent university news spotlights
- Wayne State University College of Education and Walter P. Reuther Library host free two-day conference to help K-12 teachers and librarians use archives to enhance student learning
- College of Education and Walter P. Reuther Library awarded grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission to improve classroom access to primary sources