The Mapping of a Framework: Critical Race Theory and TESOL

In this article, I attempt to elucidate some key intersections between critical race theory (CRT) in synthesis with English language learning as a way to examine linguistic and racial identity in English language teaching. I ask: How does critical race theory apply to English language learners when language rather than race is fore-grounded? What aspects of CRT would assist in theorizing the relationship between language and race for teachers of English to speakers of other languages? In looking to CRT to inform and expand critical approaches to English language teaching, I hope to more closely tie English language learning to issues of race as a way to better understand the intersectionality of these identity factors in the educational context of language teaching and learning. Such inquiry could work to broaden teachers’ knowledge of the ways that linguistic and racial membership inform student learning, and raise awareness about the range of perspectives and cultural interpretations that linguistic minorities may hold.     

The Relevance of Critical Race Theory to Educational Theory and Practice

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has its origins in legal analysis but increasingly has been used by educational researchers to analyse the continued salience of institutional racism in educational settings. After providing a brief overview of the history of CRT and the educational issues addressed by critical race theorists, I review two books that explicitly engage critical race theory (CRT). Delgado and Stefancic's (2001) primer on the CRT literature provides an important backdrop for situating Guinier and Torres' (2002) ambitious argument for building grassroots social movements around the concept of political race.     

Developing a critical consciousness of race in place-based environmental education: Franco’s story

Environmental education (EE) has a history of support for critical place-based pedagogy as a means of learning through engagement in space, both cultural and biophysical. In this paper I tell the story of how Franco – a non-white, non-American undergraduate – engaged with local discourses in a watershed-focused EE program in the rural Midwestern US. I examine how the five tenets of critical race theory (CRT) can be used to interpret Franco’s experience, where he encountered multiple instances of racism and xenophobia. I argue that without a critical analysis of race in place-based EE programs, instructors may (a) privilege their own ways of knowing in local settings, (b) rely on ‘grit’ narratives as mechanisms for mediation of racism, and (c) send non-white students home having learned that they cannot effect meaningful change for sustainability. I conclude with recommendations for faculty in predominantly white institutions on how CRT might foster the development of critical consciousness of race in place-based EE programs.     

The new one-drop rule: challenging the persistence of white supremacy with in-service teachers

ABSTRACT

The one-drop rule refers to the process of being racialized Black when someone contains any amount of Black ancestry, i.e. one drop of Black blood. In this article, I use what I call ‘the new one-drop rule’ to explain how even the smallest presence of white discourse can disrupt racial equity work in schools. Based on a critical race study in a racially desegregated elementary school, I illustrate how one drop of white discourse from even one less racially literate white teacher can cause usually more racially literate white teachers to support white supremacy. I also share how collaborative research utilizing critical race theory (CRT) can help schools build greater racial literacy and resist white discourse. I argue that critical research on race with in-service teachers should not forefront the consciousness-raising of resistant white teachers but rather center the wants, needs, and racial knowledge of racially literate teachers and especially teachers of color.     

A Critical Co-Constructed Autoethnography of a Gendered Cross-Cultural Mentoring Between Two Early Career Latin@ Scholars Working in the Deep South

Multicultural mentoring has been suggested to support Latin@ faculty success in their careers, yet current literature on effective mentorships of Latin@ faculty is limited. This critical co-constructed autoethnography draws on critical race theory (CRT) and latin@ critical race theory (LatCrit) frameworks to highlight the lived experiences and key elements of an effective gendered cross-cultural mentoring relationship in a Latin@ pretenure faculty dyad working in a predominantly White institution of higher education located in the Deep South of the United States. Drawing upon a methodological rhythm of sorts, a Black scholar acts as a muse providing testimonios and interpretations of a relationship existing among Latin@ scholars in predominantly White intellectual spaces. Findings from this critical co-constructed autoethnography note that a safe colored space supports effective mentoring, familismo, personalismo, enabling effective cross-cultural mentorship.     

Critical Race Parenting: Understanding Scholarship/Activism in Parenting Our Children

Parenting is often discussed in the field of education, but frequently in terms of family or community deficiency, rather than strengths (Bonilla Silva, 2006; Few, 2007), particularly when communities of color are being examined. In this conceptual article, we advocate for the use of critical race theory (CRT) in discussions of parenting and utilize counterstorytelling to validate the lived experiences of parents like ourselves, who are critical race scholars as well as mothers of children of color. Our counterstories will be embedded throughout the discussion as a way to highlight the relationships between academic research and lived experience. Through reviews of academic research and counterstorytelling, we explain the relevance of critical race parenting and the ways in which the inclusion of CRT can support more historically situated, contextual, and complex engagements with the interplay between race and parenting of children of color.     

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

This paper reviews the existing literature to discuss how critical race theory has been applied as a theoretical framework to higher educational research in the United States and what its contributions are. To provide necessary context, I will discuss race and racism in the United States, the background of US higher education in relation to race, the emergence of critical race theory and its application in US higher education.     

“Students Should not be Your Friends”: Testimonio by a Latina on Mothering One's Own,Othermothering, and Mentoring Students in the Academy

This article is an autoethnographic account of how I negotiated intersectional identities as a Latina, mother, and professor, mentoring students of color. Specifically, I examine the ways mothering shaped my relationships with the students I mentored. I engaged in “othermothering” and utilized “pedagogies of the home” by creating reciprocal relationships of caring and nurturing. Utilizing critical race theory (CRT) and testimonio, I argue that my identity as a mother of color successfully negotiating the tenure track impacted the ways in which I mentor(ed) students of color.     

Education policy as an act of white supremacy: whiteness,critical race theory and education reform

The paper presents an empirical analysis of education policy in England that is informed by recent developments in US critical theory. In particular, I draw on ‘whiteness studies’ and the application of critical race theory (CRT). These perspectives offer a new and radical way of conceptualizing the role of racism in education. Although the US literature has paid little or no regard to issues outside North America, I argue that a similar understanding of racism (as a multifaceted, deeply embedded, often taken‐for‐granted aspect of power relations) lies at the heart of recent attempts to understand institutional racism in the UK. Having set out the conceptual terrain in the first half of the paper, I then apply this approach to recent changes in the English education system to reveal the central role accorded the defence (and extension) of race inequity. Finally, the paper touches on the question of racism and intentionality: although race inequity may not be a planned and deliberate goal of education policy neither is it accidental. The patterning of racial advantage and inequity is structured in domination and its continuation represents a form of tacit intentionality on the part of white powerholders and policy‐makers. It is in this sense that education policy is an act of white supremacy. Following others in the CRT tradition, therefore, the paper’s analysis concludes that the most dangerous form of ‘white supremacy’ is not the obvious and extreme fascistic posturing of small neo‐nazi groups, but rather the taken‐for‐granted routine privileging of white interests that goes unremarked in the political mainstream.     

Critical race theory in India: theory translation and the analysis of social identities and discrimination in Indian schooling

This article examines ethical and philosophical considerations in theory translation, i.e. translating a theoretical framework from its original place to another national context. Critical race theory (CRT) was developed in the United States through significant struggle in order to analyze everyday racism. Marginalized groups have historically shared postcolonial critiques, conceptualizations of social justice, and methods for mass resistance across national borders. Through an analysis of the literature on CRT and contemporary India, this article explores whether CRT’s principles and methodology can be employed to research discrimination within India’s school system. Can CRT be sensitive to the differences in context and still retain its philosophical center? This analysis reveals that CRT may be particularly helpful in highlighting the educational discrimination experienced by Dalits via use of CRT’s social construction thesis to conceptualize caste and intersectionality to understand caste’s relationship to gender and class.     

Black male teachers,white education spaces: Troubling school practices of othering and surveillance

The absence of male teachers in primary schools has been an ongoing concern for policymakers and schools in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, and as schools have become more ethnically diverse so have concerns that the teacher workforce should reflect the communities it serves. Pre-service teacher training plays a critical role in this aim, by identifying, recruiting, retaining and training those who demonstrate potential to become teachers in English primary schools. As one of a few studies to explore the racialised and gendered experiences of black male teachers in England, I adopt the use of critical race theory (CRT) to examine how black male teachers are characterised and constructed in white education spaces. Drawing on a larger study, this paper utilises counternarrative, a key precept of CRT, to draw attention to processes of exclusion, othering and surveillance through the experience of David (the main character). Interview and documentary data illuminate institutional processes of overt and covert racism, as well as racialised and gendered stereotyping. David’s story reveals how his voice is muted as it is woven into processes of othering, hyper-surveillance and disciplinary power.     

Recognizing respondents’ ways of being and knowing: lessons un/learned in researching Asian immigrant and Asian‐American teachers

Critical race theory (CRT) offers educational researchers a compelling way to view racism in education by centering issues of race and using counterstories to challenge dominant views in both research and practice. This article provides an overview of CRT and illuminates the dilemmas for white researchers wishing to incorporate CRT into their work. The author argues that while CRT may not be fully open to white researchers, their strategic use of CRT can help legitimize its use in fighting racism in educational settings. Building on her participation in CRT discussions in a mixed-race setting, the author suggests that white researchers must work to center race in their personal lives and work, engage in the strategic and sensitive use of CRT, and join in the effort to legitimize research that utilizes alternative methods such as CRT.     

The Race for Class: Reflections on a Critical Raceclass Theory of Education

This article is intended to appraise the insights gained from Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education. It is particularly interested in CRT's relationship with Marxist discourse, which falls under two questions. One, how does CRT understand Marxist concepts, such as capital, which show up in the way CRT appropriates them? The article argues that Marxist concepts, such as historical classes, class-for-itself, are useful for race analysis as it sets parameters around the conceptual use of historical races and a race-for-itself. Two, how does CRT understand the role of capitalism, therefore shedding light on its position regarding the class problem? It is no doubt attentive to class power, but this is not the same as performing an immanent critique of capitalism. As a result, within CRT class achieves a color whereby class becomes a variant of race, better known as classism. Race becomes the theory with class vocabulary superimposed on it. Last, I suggest areas where CRT could combine with Marxism in order to forge a Critical Raceclass Theory of Education.     

Black on black education 2.0: critical race perspectives on personally engaged pedagogy for/by black pre-service teachers

ABSTRACT

Public schools have increasing numbers of its teachers fitting into one demographic, white and female, while the numbers of Black/African American teachers decrease. This trend has not changed since the publication of Black on Black Education: Personally Engaged Pedagogy for/by African American Pre-Service Teachers. Furthermore, African American collegiate students who decide to enter teaching may face a chilly climate because of their cultural and educational experiences as they encounter devaluation in the classroom. This work provides a critical race reflective examination into the teaching and learning experiences and dilemmasI using personally engaged pedagogy as a means of enhancing the quality of the learning experiences for African American pre-service teachers. Critical race theory (CRT) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) will be used as the theoretical framework for understanding the role of race and gender in teacher education. Critical autoethnography is the methodological approach used to examine the subject phenomenon. Field notes, research journaling, and student memoirs provide data for this critical autoethnography. This work highlights the significance of CRT/CRF’s unique voice of color and CRF’s multidimensionality to engaged pedagogy, creating a personally engaged pedagogy.     

Interrogating Positive Youth Development Through Sport Using Critical Race Theory

ABSTRACT

Sport has the potential to serve as a context in which youth can develop as players and people. Positive youth development (PYD) through sport is a prevalent strength-based approach that aims to promote life skills acquisition in youth participants. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the utility of critically interrogating PYD through sport using critical race theory (CRT). Select key tenets of CRT serve as analytical tools that can highlight potentially problematic assumptions that underline current approaches to PYD through sport. Interrogation of PYD through sport using CRT exposes its limitations in theory, research, and practice. This race-centered perspective can help to reimagine sport coaching for positive development from a more socially responsible, critical praxis.     

Whose interests and under whose control?: Interest convergence in science-focused school–community collaborations

In this dialogue with Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick’s Whose banner are we waving?: exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth, I engage the critical race theory (CRT) tenet of interest convergence. I first expand Derrick Bell’s (1980) initial statement of interest convergence with subsequent scholarly work in this area. I then explore ways CRT in general and interest convergence specifically have been applied in the field of education. Using this framing, I examine how interest convergence may be shed new insights into Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick’s study. For example, the tenet of interest convergence is used to frame why it was beneficial for the White artist, Jacob, and the Achievement Scholars to collaborate in the service-learning mural. Then the idea of interest divergence is brought into explore the ways in which Jacob benefitted from his participation in the service learning project while the Achievement Scholars were left with an unfinished project which they had to problem solve. To conclude, I provide future directions for the application of interest convergence and divergence to issues facing science education.     

For whose benefit? Black and Minority Ethnic training programmes in higher education institutions in England,UK

Inequalities continue to exist in higher education, with Black and minority ethnic (BME) academics less likely to be professors or occupy senior decision-making roles compared to their White colleagues. In order to increase BME representation in senior decision-making roles, specific programmes targeted at BME groups have recently been introduced in higher education institutions (HEIs). This article draws on research carried out on two such programmes in England. By using principles of critical race theory (CRT), I argue that racism continues to play a key role in the lack of BME groups in senior leadership roles and that such programmes benefit HEIs rather than contributing to a commitment to inclusion, equity and creating a diverse workforce. Furthermore, such programmes work for the benefit of HEIs to perpetuate and reinforce White privilege, rather than addressing structural inequalities.     

Institutional Microaggressions at a Hispanic Serving Institution: A Diné (Navajo) Woman Utilizing Tribal Critical Race Theory through Student Activism

From private to public, from small to large, campus protests and demonstrations have risen across the country to address institutional racism regarding a range of issues including offensive Halloween costumes, university/college seals, lack of faculty color, and racist vandalism. One such example occurred at Southwest University where Native American students were protesting the university seal, which represents settler colonialism and genocide. In this article, we provide a case study of Joy, a Diné (Navajo) young woman, and describe her student activism in regards to the seal and how she utilizes it to connect to her culture, language, and identity. We utilize critical race theory (CRT) and tribal critical race theory (TribalCrit) to analyze the institutional microaggressions that Joy experienced on campus. Our main conclusions explain how student activism enables students to address systemic racism and provides a vehicle to create better conditions on university campuses.     

Latcrit Educational Leadership and Advocacy: Struggling Over Whiteness as Property in Texas School Finance

In this article, the author seeks to re-imagine the political and policy roles of educational leaders of color, offering an alternative method for educational leadership, advocacy, and policy analysis. The author uses critical race theory (CRT) and Latina/o critical (LatCrit) theory to problematize the way politically-active Mexican American educational leaders used personal and professional experiences to conceptualize racism and organize politically in the context of the debate over school finance equity in Texas. The findings suggest that a prevalent negation of critical raced leadership, analysis, and advocacy among the participants disadvantages Latina/o communities and de-legitimizes Latina/o political voices. The author envisions an alternative educational leadership framework centered on LatCrit theory's call for contextualized, historical, and critical analysis.