Critical Race Theory, Agential Realism, and Curriculum Studies: Lessons From Studying Resegregation as Hidden Curriculum

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Abstract

Since its introduction to the field of educational research in the mid 1990’s, critical race theory (CRT) has become a major influence on research that examines racial oppression in schools. There are concerns, however, that in the move from legal studies to social scientific research on education, CRT’s critique of neutrality and objectivity might become domesticated and stripped of its politically provocative force. This paper specifically examines the promise of agential realist ontologies for putting critical race theory’s racial realism to work in the social sciences without surrendering its more transformative agenda. The paper draws on a ten year study of the way the racial resegregation of a school district functioned like a hidden curriculum to illustrate this promise.

Author

• Jerry L. Rosiek, University of Oregon