Countering the Idea of Color-Blind Leadership: A Reflection on Race and Growing Pressures of Principalship

• In Event: Roundtable Session 45
  In Roundtable Session: Sites of Struggle and Possibility: Reflections, Lessons, and Tools From the Field

Abstract

Paper reports on the use of critical race theory as an analytical tool to examine how race and racism impacts mainstream, under or (un) interrogated depictions of African American principals in movies, media, and academic literature. Movies that primarily inform this research are Lean on Mean (1989) and Heart of Stone (2009). Paper argues that these depictions are quite powerful and influence policies and practices in schools. Hence, a well-done identification and analysis of race and racism in this context can have broad implications for how we come know what we know in education and beyond.

Author

• Mark A. Gooden, The University of Texas - Austin