Marquita D. Foster, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the department of Curriculum & Instruction. Dr. Foster earned a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s in educational leadership from Lamar University, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Texas.
Dr. Foster’s areas of teaching include issues in diversity, instructional design and qualitative research. Her teaching philosophy speaks to acknowledging uncomfortable space and recognizes that discomfort in K-16 education protects individuals from learning difficult histories and developing a historical understanding of diversity and cultural instructional approaches. She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, National Association of Multicultural Education and is on the Board of Directors for the National Council of Teachers of English, Early Childhood Education Assembly.
Dr. Foster’s primary research interests include Black feminist epistemologies, Black childhood from the antebellum era to the present, the principles of resistance and critical caring within the Black Teaching Tradition, and more recently, Black and Indigenous methodologies that center storytelling, freedom dreams, and narrative (re)mapping. Dr. Foster's publications focus on urban elementary education and Blackness as a disruptive pedagogy to affirm Black students’ humanity and academic potential. She is currently working on a paper that explores the critical caring and othermothering practices of Black professors in higher education online doctoral programs. Dr. Foster enjoys researching and publishing with her students, research participants, and colleagues.
Afrofuturism
Black Girlhood and Childhood
Black Feminist Epistemologies
Geographies of Resistance
Othermothering in Education
Urban Education
Looking for trouble and causing trauma
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, published Looking for trouble and causing trauma in Bank Street Occasional Paper Series, Issue 43, p. 10-21, April 16, 2020.
Socio-emotional learning
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, published Socio-emotional learning in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Critical Perspectives on Mental Health, 01/23/2021.
Unpolicing childhood: Cultural approaches to disciplinary violence in the elementary setting
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, published Unpolicing childhood: cultural approaches to disciplinary violence in the elementary setting in Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education, Vol. 6, Issue 1, p. 27-66, March 8, 2021, with co-author(s) Catherine Smith.
“Step by courageous step”: A preservice teacher’s understanding of the story of Ona Judge
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, published “Step by courageous step”: A preservice teacher’s understanding of the story of Ona Judge in Teaching Difficult Histories in Difficult Times, p. 55-67, February 11, 2022, with co-author(s) Dr. Dr. Amanda E Vickery, University of North Texas, and Shalicia Hobby, University of North Texas.
Re)constructing performative anti-racist education courses: From the experiences of Black feminist graduate assistants
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, published Re)constructing performative anti-racist education courses: From the experiences of Black feminist graduate assistants in Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. DOI 10.1108/SSRP-10-2022-0025, December 29, 2022, with co-author(s) Danelle Adeniji, University of North Texas.
Will work for food: The lack of ethics and the crisis of hunger in America’s public schools
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, presented Will work for food: The lack of ethics and the crisis of hunger in America’s public schools at 16th Annual American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies Conference, held April 27, 2017, in San Antonio, TX.
Bad for education? Alternatively certified teachers
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, presented Bad for education? Alternatively certified teachers at 24th Annual American Association for Teaching and Curriculum Conference, held 10/07/2017, in Denver, CO.
First world applications of social justice education and critical pedagogy: Misconceptions of Paulo Freire
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, presented First world applications of social justice education and critical pedagogy: Misconceptions of Paulo Freire at 2019 Annual American Educational Research Association Meeting, held 04/07/2019, in Toronto, Canada.
The revolution will not be standardized: The Black Panther Party education movement’s embodiment of critical pedagogy
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, presented The revolution will not be standardized: The Black Panther Party education movement’s embodiment of critical pedagogy at 2019 Annual American Educational Research Association Meeting, held April 5, 2019, in Toronto, Canada.
The Precarity of Care: mothers, othermothers, and toddlers at the borders of consciousness
Dr. Marquita D. Foster, lecturer, Dr. Tran Templeton, University of North Texas, and Dr. Suzie Verdin, University of North Texas, presented The Precarity of Care: mothers, othermothers, and toddlers at the borders of consciousness at 27th International Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, held November 19, 2019, in Las Cruces, NM.