How Power Relations Take Shape for Students With Historically Marginalized Identities in History Classrooms

• In Event: 56.075 - Affirming Diversity in the Social Studies

Abstract

This post-intentional phenomenological (Vagle, 2014) study examines the experiences of students with historically marginalized identities (specifically race, gender, and sexuality) within the history classroom. The research question asks: How do power-relations take shape within history classrooms in the lived experiences of historically marginalized students? Using Foucault (1977, 1980, 1990), Omi and Winant (2015), and the author’s self-reflexive position, interviews with three students were analyzed using whole-part-whole analysis and narratives constructed. Each student’s lived experience suggests their identities were challenged by normative forces from their relations to school and content. Students attempted to resist normalization by creating homeplaces. The author concludes by re-evaluating history classroom safety in the context of identity intersectionality.

Author

• Ryan Oto, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities