The Macabre Maintenance of Misogyny: A Counternarrative of a Latino Educator in Teacher Education

• In Event: Applying Critical Methodologies to Curriculum by Male Educators in Predominantly Female Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

Problem
As hook (2004) posits, “Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social dis­ease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation. Yet most men never think about patriarchy—what it means, how it is created, and sustained…” (p. 17). As a male educator it is imperative that I vaccinate myself from the deleterious disease of patriarchy; despite knowing that doing so would determinedly and explicitly undermine the unearned male privilege that I have benefited from my entire life. Nonetheless, for true equity to transpire, male pedagogues must engage in this patriarchal cleansing. This continual cleansing is necessary to illustrate for my female students, who are primarily white and middle-class, what true allyship entails. Ironically, as a Latino educator, in a predominantly white institution (PWI), I am simultaneously experiencing marginalization and racialization from the same female students I advocate for. Yet, in order to solidify their understanding of racist and discriminatory societal norms I strategically begin with sexism as it creates the cognitive and emotional foundation necessary to engage in broader and more nuanced white supremacy conversations.

Using critical race theory (CRT), critical whiteness studies (CWS), and feminist epistemologies this theoretical, critically self-reflexive counternarrative demonstrates the pedagogical strategies I implemented in a foundations course in an urban-focused teacher preparation program predominate with white female teacher candidates. However, to demonstrate how the strategic use of sexism is used to introduce racism, and whiteness to my white teacher candidates, I include surveys and “Session Reflections” to highlight the macabre maintenance of misogyny despite my feminist pedagogies.

Theoretical Framework
This paper employs CRT, CWS, and critical feminist epistemologies. Since CRT acknowledges the endemic nature of race and racism inside American schools, it best situates the saliency of racism in teacher education programs (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). CRT also highlights the centrality of race in social and institutional relations, while remaining committed to racial justice (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Dixson & Rousseau, 2005). Critical whiteness studies focuses on the hegemonic nature of whiteness and how its exertion maintains a system of race (Allen, 2001; Leonardo, 2009; Lipsitz, 2006). This is an essential topic for this narrative, especially since the majority of administrators, professors, and students are white and routinely see no relevance of race for understanding their white lives (Allen, 2001; Leonardo, 2009;). Finally, a feminist approach aims to dismantle all forms of oppression, and also demands purposeful examinations across and through modes of domination, including but not limited to race, gender, class, and sexuality (hooks, 2000; Collins, 2000; Thandeka, 2007).
Scholarly Significance
Drawing on CRT’s counterstorytelling (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002), critical whiteness studies (Allen, 2004; Leonardo, 2009), and critical feminism (hooks, 2000; Collins, 2000), this counternarrative explicates the necessity of critical male allies to adopt feminist pedagogical strategies to counter misogyny in education. Since counterstorytelling reveals a nuanced understanding of sexism and racism, it becomes an applicable tool that informs racially just research. This paper modestly offers a narrative highlights the macabre maintenance of misogyny despite strategic feminist pedagogies.

Author

• Roberto Montoya, University of Colorado - Denver