Joan DeJaeghere

Profile

As the oldest daughter of parents who had to leave secondary school due to financial needs, I am committed to concerns related to educational equity and wellbeing. Critical feminist and capabilitarian approaches—because they are concerned with challenging inequities and power relations and promoting justice and wellbeing — are perspectives I use to understand these issues. My work contributes to these bodies of scholarship; for example, I recently completed a grant funded (Aus Aid) research study on minoritized women who had little access to education in Vietnam, and we published a piece on aspirations and empowerment in World Development.

This work also illustrates another one of my commitments: collaborative knowledge production and use. I have worked for more than 15 years with colleagues in Vietnam, co-researching and publishing with them. I have also collaborated with colleagues and CIDE alums in conducting research related to gender equity, youth livelihoods, and life skills in India, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South Africa. I have learned that the wicked problems we face in education require collaborative research using many approaches and methods. For that reason, I enjoy working with large research teams and using longitudinal mixed methods.

My research and engagement inform all my teaching, and I bring these perspectives and methodologies into my courses. Students experience hands-on research projects in my courses, and I aim to connect them with internships and other opportunities in education and development so they can further advance their interests and skills outside our program.

I welcome students who are interested in:

• gender and other social inequalities in education
• using a capabilities approach to questions of equity and wellbeing
• qualitative longitudinal and mixed methods
• feminist perspectives on knowledge production and scholarship

Selected Courses Taught

• 5107 Gender, Education and Development
• 8101 International Development and Education
• 8103 Comparative Education
• 8105 Qualitative Longitudinal Research in Education

Selected Research Projects

• Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) for ethnic minority women in Vietnam, sponsored by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and CowaterSogema (2019-2021)
• Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), Vietnam, sponsored by Department for International Development, UK (2016-2022)
• Evaluation of Life skills Program and Girls’ Progression through Secondary School, Rajasthan, India, sponsored by Department of Labor (2015-19)
• Learn, Earn and Save Initiative for Youth Livelihoods in East Africa, sponsored by The MasterCard Foundation [co-PI with David Chapman] (2011-2018)

Selected Honors

• Global Engagement Award, UMN Global Programs and Strategy Alliance (2018)
• CEHD Excellence in Research Award (2015)
• Fulbright Scholar, Vietnam (2013)
• CEHD’s Women’s Philanthropic Circle Leadership Award (2009)
• Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Minnesota, Faculty Fellow (2009)

Professional Affiliations

• Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), Awards Committee Chair (2018-2020)
• Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), member
• Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA)
• Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF) – Advisory Expert
• Affiliated Faculty – ICGC and Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), and MDF and MHR programs