Eric DeMeulenaere

Professor, Education

Eric DeMeulenaere is a Professor in Clark University’s Education Department. Prior to joining Clark University’s faculty, he taught middle and high school social studies and English and coached soccer in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.  He also co-founded and served as the principal of an innovative small public school in East Oakland that focused on social justice and increased academic outcomes for youth of color.  Before opening the school, Dr. DeMeulenaere earned his Ph.D. in the Social and Cultural Studies Program at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education.  Dr. DeMeulenaere consults with educational leaders nationally and internationally to transform their organizational cultures to promote greater racial and social justice.

A community engaged scholar, his research employs participatory action research and narrative inquiry methods and draws extensively from critical theory to examine how to create more effective and liberatory learning spaces for students of color both in and out of school spaces.  Dr. DeMeulenaere is the co-author of Reflections from the Field: How Coaching Made Us Better Teachers (2013) and The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change (2020).

Degrees

  • Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education, University of California, Berkeley, 2003
  • M.A. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education, University of California, Berkeley, 1999
  • B.A. in Sociology, minor in History, Wheaton College, 1990

Affiliated Department

Education

Scholarly and creative works

  • Chapters In Books

    Critical Qualitative Research & Social Justice: Key Concepts.
    Chapter: Critical Autoethnography

    Published by Routledge
    2025
    Whitnee L. Garrett-Walker, Colette Cann, Eric DeMeulenaere
  • Chapters In Books

    Repertoires of Racial Resistance: Pedagogical Dreaming from the Classroom to the Streets
    Chapter: Community, Care, And Relational Practice: Reimagining Freedom Dreaming in A Difficult Dialogues Program

    Published by Myers Education Press
    2025
    Jie Y Park, Borodine Chery, Eric DeMeulenaere, Elsabet Franklin, Leyla Knight, Zabrina Richards, Wing Ching Yau
  • Presentations

    Praxis for Racial Justice: Undergraduates as Activists and Engaged Scholars.

    American Education Research Association Annual Conference
    Philadelphia, PA
    April
    2024
    Sponsored by American Education Research Association
    Eric DeMeulenaere, Jie Y Park, Mia Davis, Bea Gerber, Anisa Gilmour, Aizoe Okaisabor, Chloe Wing Ching Yau
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    New Books Network—Podcast

    Eric J DeMeulenaere, Colette N Cann, Jane Richards
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    Disrupting School Rituals

    Published in Urban Education
    2023
    Vol. 58
    Issue #1
    Eric DeMeulenaere
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    The Times Higher Education Podcast: Academia and Activism

    Eric J DeMeulenaere, Colette N Cann, John McKendrick
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    Digical Educartion Podcast: Disrupting School Rituals with Eric DeMeulenaere

    Eric DeMeulenaere
  • Presentations

    Community in Uncertainty: Communities of Praxis in a College Major on Social Justice and Education.

    American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
    San Diego, CA
    April
    2022
    Eric DeMeulenaere, Sarah A. Michaels, Jie Y Park
  • Presentations

    Antiracist Teaching in Higher Education: Transforming Ourselves and our Classrooms through Praxis.

    American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
    San Diego, CA
    April
    2022
    Sponsored by American Educational Research Association
    Jie Y Park, Laurie B. Ross, Eric DeMeulenaere, Alena G. Esposito, Sarah A. Michaels
  • Presentations

    Activist Scholars

    The Public Engagement Learning Community at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
    Tuscaloosa, Alabama
    November
    2022
    Sponsored by The Public Engagement Learning Community at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
    Eric J DeMeulenaere, Colette N Cann
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    Helping Homeless Youth: Epistemological Implications of Power in a YPAR Project

    Published in Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement
    December
    2021
    Vol. 13
    Issue #2
    Eric DeMeulenaere
  • Book

    The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change.

    2020
    ISBN #978-1-9755-0139-6; 978-1-9755-0138-9
    Gorham, ME
    USA
    Colette N. Cann, Eric J. DeMeulenaere