Asgedet Stefanos
Biography
Professor Stefanos has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at UMass Boston since 1989. Currently, she teaches Sociocultural Foundations of Education at Curriculum and Instruction Department, CEHD. She also teaches the following human services courses in the College of Liberal Arts: Professional Responsibility & Ethics, History of Social Welfare, and Case Management in Human Services and Cultural Diversity and Cultural Competence.
Area of Expertise
Planning and Social Policy in Education; Human Service and Social Welfare Policies and Practice
Degrees
EdD, Harvard University
Professional Publications & Contributions
- “Women and Education in Eritrea: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis," in Education and War, eds. Elizabeth E. Blair, Rebecca B. Miller, Mara C. Tieken. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review Reprint Series, 2009.
- “Planning for Iraqi Women’s Empowerment in the Midst of Social Upheaval and Armed Conflict: Lesson from Eritrea," in Rebuilding Sustainable Communities in Iraq: Policies, Programs and International Perspectives, ed. Adenrele Awotona. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009.
- “Women and Education in Eritrea: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis,” in International Education for the Millennium: Towards Access, Equity and Quality, eds. Benjamin Piper, Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Yong-Suk Ki. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press reprint, 2006.
- “An African Vantage Point on Feminist Research: Contemporary Eritrean Women and Revolution,” in Sharpened Edge: Women of Color, Resistance and Writing, ed. Stephanie Athey. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
- “Gender Equity and Nationalism in Eritrea: Challenges to Women's Consciousness and Emancipation,” Journal of Post-Colonial Education, Foundation Volume, Fall 2002.
- “Eritrean Women: Defending National Borders and Challenging Gender Boundaries,” SAIS Review: A Journal of International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, Summer-Fall, 2000, No.2 (2000).
- “African Women and Revolutionary Change: A Freirian and Feminist Perspective,” in Mentoring the Mentor: A Critical Dialogue with Paulo Freire eds. Paulo Freire with James Fraser, et. al. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1997.
Additional Information
Courses that Professor Stefanos offered in the past were in the areas of education, gender, economic development and national politics, and the literature of immigration and exile. Her research interests and published work has concentrated on education in third world societies, with a focus on Africa and gender concerns. Professor Stefanos has published several articles and book chapters on Eritrean official educational policies based on written documents and interviews with relevant Eritrean policy makers. She has coupled this investigation into official policies with extensive field research, in which Eritrean women delineated their experience with and an assessment of their nation’s educational system. Professor Stefanos has published work that analyzes Guinea Bissau’s effort to incorporate women in its formal and non-formal educational systems, guided by Amilcar Cabral’s worldview and Paulo Freire’s ideas of pedagogy.