Putting Race on the Table, but It Spoils: Professional Pedagogy and Desegregation Policy

• In Event: Black Bodies: Visuality, Discourse, and Antiracist Justice

Abstract

In 1999, State of Minnesota policy makers developed the Minnesota Desegregation Rule as a way to address discrimination lawsuits. Since the development and implementation of the Rule, racial inequity and segregation persists in most school districts that receive integration revenue. Although noble in theory, there is a disconnect in district practices related to the Rule. In order to better understand this disconnect we used anti-oppressive education and racial literacy as theoretical frameworks, as well as critical discourse analysis, to examine the Minnesota Desegregation Rule. Results include discourses of compliance and control, as well language that dichotomizes racial “Others” in need of protection. Implications include the need for professional pedagogy on race and racism that engage anti-oppressive education and racial literacy.

Authors

• Tanetha Jamay Grosland, University of South Florida

• Sharon I. Radd, St Catherine University