Maryland Population Research Center

Dance's research interests include the sociology of education, urban sociology, youth cultures, U.S. race and ethnic relations, intersectional and critical theory, and qualitative methods (with an emphasis on ethnographic research). Her most recently completed research project, funded by a grant from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, was a pilot study on national belonging and ethnic identity among ethnic minority teenagers in Sweden. Findings from this pilot study are reported in “The ‘Land of the Free?(U.S.), The ‘Conscience of the World?(Sweden), and the ‘Miseducation?of Ethnic Minority Students: A Social Capital Perspective,?in the edited volume Utbildningens dilemma: demokratiska visioner och andrafierande praxis (The Educational Dilemma: Democratic Visions and Othering Praxis), SOU 2006:40, edited by Lena Sawyer & Masoud Kamali, Stockholm: Fritzes (2006). Dance’s most recently completed U.S. research, funded by a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, was conducted on site at two inner city schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She interviewed students, teachers, and community members to better understand the impact of small learning communities on ninth grade educational performance. Findings will be reported in book form. Dance has also been working with colleagues in Sweden to build institutional links between the University of Maryland and Swedish Universities (Kalmar University College, Väjx?University, and Göteborg University), links that would facilitate cross-national research projects.

Funded Research

During the 2006/2007school year, Dance is working as a research fellow in Sweden on a project titled, “Promising Schooling Practices for Children of Immigrants.?Dance’s work on this project is part of a larger six-nation study (that includes the U.S., Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland, and Sweden) on the Children of Immigrants in Schools funded by the National Science Foundation (Richard Alba, Principal Investigator). The Swedish project compares and contrasts four innovative promising practice schools—two in Sweden and two in New York City--responding to the educational needs of diverse immigrant origin youth. This research project seeks to shed light on the challenges, opportunities, and solutions that teachers, students and administrators face as they attempt to meet the educational demands of preparing immigrant origin youth for this global era.

Future Research Plans

Dance will continue conducting cross-national research on immigrant and ethnic minority populations in Sweden and the U.S. Building upon her previous research in the U.S., Dance will focus primarily upon “at risk?ethnic minority and immigrant students who live in low income, segregated communities (i.e., inner-city communities in the U.S and suburban communities in Sweden). However, more so than in the past, Dance will examine the social capital connections and networks of these students and their parents; and the implications that the presence or lack of these networks have for access to good jobs and first class citizenship in Western nations.

Maryland Population Research Center
0124N Cole Student Activities Building (#162)
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-6403
Fax: 301-405-5743