Whiteness as Narrative for Preservice Teachers

• In Event: Roundtable Session 45
  In Roundtable Session: Antiracist Reading Practice in Curriculum

Abstract

With a focus on the ways that pre-service teachers talk about their own identities and multicultural curriculum, this paper addresses the tropes pre-service teachers use related to race and culture. Using critical race theory and critical literacy theory, this exploration looks at language employed to discuss cultural contexts. This research suggests that many white pre-service teachers resist multicultural curriculum, due to a lack of exposure to content raised by educators of color. This study suggests that many white pre-service teachers assume a collective experience with other white educators, based on race and geography. This sentiment reveals complex meanings related to assumptions of “community” and “diversity”, and has significant implications for how we prepare teachers for multicultural classrooms.

Author

• Emily Gleason, Castleton University