A Multicultural learning community seminar as a site of Praxis

The Multicultural Learning Community (MLC) Seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison operates under the direction of the authors as faculty director and teaching assistant. The seminar offers the students and faculty the opportunity to act on Freire’s and Leistyna’s conceptions of praxis. A culturally relevant approach to assessment is employed to discuss the progress of the students and the seminar as a site of praxis. Praxis is the relationship between theoretical understanding and critique of society (that is, its historical, ideological, sociopolitical, and economic influences and structures) and action that seeks to transform individuals and their environment (Leistyna, 1999, p. 224). Praxis: Reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it (Freire, 1970, p. 36).