Whiteness as Property: Innocence and Ability in Teacher Education

• In Event: 73.051 - Race(ing) Teacher Education: Critical Race Theory as a Transformative Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper explores the dispositions of teachers in juvenile incarceration settings in order to understand how they make sense of overrepresentation of young women of color with disabilities in their care. I ask, “What are the dispositions of teachers in juvenile justice regarding the education and incarceration of young women of color with disabilities?” Teacher education suffers from a lack of theoretical grounding; this positions the field to subscribe to unspoken norms of whiteness and ability (Brantlinger, 1997; Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 1998). Therefore Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its branch, Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit; Annamma, Connor & Ferri, 2013), frame the study, and the tenet of whiteness as property provides a focused racial analysis of the dispositions of teachers.
Drawing on critical phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty, 1962), data are culled from a yearlong qualitative study in two juvenile incarceration settings. Participants include 16 teachers with varying licenses (e.g., emergency, intermediate, professional), and certifications (e.g., content areas, special education). Fourteen of the teachers are white and two are African American; teaching experience ranges from one year to over 20. The primary data sources are interviews (one-three per teacher) and observations (105).
Findings indicated that teachers invest in whiteness, both as an identity and as property (Harris, 1993). Whiteness as an identity emerges in a hesitancy to engage in substantive discussions of race in the classroom and interviews. Instead, teachers often subscribe to the myth of meritocracy to explain why there are racial inequities in incarceration. Whiteness as property manifests when discussing the intangible benefits of innocence. Teachers wanted to build relationships but were limited by the subscription to the girls’ identity as criminals and the commitment to surveillance. Instead of a status that elicited support, teachers constructed disability as another thing to surveil, perpetuating the right to exclude students from innocence as part of a commitment to whiteness as property.
The school-to-prison-pipeline has garnered significant attention in the last five years (Kim, Losen & Hewitt, 2010). Though statistics illustrate the overrepresentation of students of color with disabilities, we still know very little about the processes that give rise to the Pipeline (Ferguson, 2001; Winn, 2011). Much of the literature suggests that special education is tied to the Pipeline and that females of color with disabilities have unique experiences (Meiners, 2007). What remains an empirical question is: what can teachers of incarcerated young women of color with disabilities tell us about the processes and practices that contribute to the school-to-prison-pipeline? Ultimately, this study addresses how to disrupt the Pipeline through teacher education and should be of interest to all in education.

Author

• Subini Ancy Annamma, The University of Kansas