University of Toronto

Faculty Member, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

Associate Professor

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

About

Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where he is also editor of the journal Curriculum Inquiry. He teaches courses in curriculum theory, arts and society, and popular culture. His articles have been published in education journals like the Harvard Educational Review, The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, the Review of Educational Research, and the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy. His book, The Best of the Best: Becoming Elite at an American Boarding School (Harvard University Press, 2009) is based on a two-year ethnographic study of the lives of students at an elite boarding school in the US. This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (USA), and a Research Training Grant form the Spencer Foundation. He is co-editor of the  collections Cultural Studies and Education: Perspective on Theory, Methodology, and Practice (with Heather Harding and Tere Sordé-Martí, 2003, Harvard Education Press), Curriculum Work as a Public Moral Enterprise (with James Sears, 2004, Rowman and Littlefield), and most recently, Educating Elites: Class Privilege and Educational Advantage (with Adam Howard, 2010, Rowman & Littlefield). His current research focuses on the experiences of young artists attending specialized arts high schools in cities across Canada and the United States. He is also the Principal Investigator of Proyecto Latin@, a participatory action research project with Latin@ youth in the Toronto District School Board. His theoretical work focuses on the relationship between creativity and solidarity. He is particularly interested in the creative possibilities that arise from the social and cultural dynamics of urban centers. The movements and encounters that define urban spaces generate particular cultural dynamics with the potential to reshape human relations. He lives in Toronto with his wife Bonnie, and his children, Mercedes Irene, 11 and Alejandro Tomás, 6.

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