Reading, Writing, and Discussing the Word to Read the World: Racial Literacy Through Ethnic Studies

• In Event: 29.058 - To Build a Better World: Enacting Ethnic Studies as Power, Pedagogy, and Praxis

Abstract

Objectives & Research Questions
Though the institutionalization of Ethnic Studies bodes well for K-12 students of color in several California districts, implementation of effective Ethnic Studies in those classrooms will depend on more than teachers’ subject-matter competencies (Tintiangco-Cubales, Kohli, Sacramento, Henning, Agarwal-Rangnath, & Sleeter, 2014). Without teachers who can implement pedagogy informed by a critical perspective on race and racism, the purpose of K-12 Ethnic Studies for students of color is not achievable (de los Rios, López, & Morrell, 2015). The objective of this paper, then, is to increase the understanding of effective Ethnic Studies pedagogy by investigating how students’ critical consciousness—their ability to understand their experiences with race and racism through a critical lens and to apply this knowledge in the transformation of the social conditions in their world(s) —unfolds in a high school Ethnic Studies classroom. This investigation’s guiding questions were, 1) In what ways does the pedagogy of Ethnic Studies teachers contribute to the development of students’ critical consciousness? and, 2) how does the pedagogy of the Ethnic Studies teachers encourage and/or prepare students to transform their world(s)?

Theory
This research employs critical pedagogy, an offshoot of critical theory (Horkheimer, 1982), that offers an analysis of power inherent in traditional schooling models (Freire, 1970; Giroux 2012). Specifically this presentation underscores, critical consciousness, a key aspect of critical pedagogy that challenges conformity to inequity through the development of an awareness of disenfranchising socio-political conditions and a radical transformation of those conditions (Freire, 1970; Giroux 2012). Furthermore, the framework of racial literacy, a skill that allows individuals to examine the individual and institutional existence of racism and its effects on their experiences (Guinier,2004; Sealy-Ruiz, 2013), was paired with critical pedagogy to understand teacher’s characterization of the purposes and goals of that pedagogy and the pedagogy itself.


Methods/Sources
This exploration of Ethnic Studies pedagogy was undertaken through a qualitative methodological approach that took place in a 9th grade social studies/history classroom at a public high school in California comprised of more than 98% Latinx students. Data were collected from participant observations (Merriam, 2014; Spradley, 1980) and semi-structured phenomenological interviews (Seidman, 2013) of students in two different classrooms and the teacher of the course.

Findings
Findings point to the central role of racial literacy in the development of students’ critical consciousness and its intentional incorporation in the teacher’s pedagogical approach. Racial literacy was found to be key in students’ practice of interrupting racism and in their envisioning of themselves as educators around the needs of their community and in their critical approaches to addressing the manifestations of institutional racism and oppression their communities face.

Significance
The study increases our understanding of effective Ethnic Studies pedagogy and practice by examining how the critical consciousness of Latinx students attending a large public high school develops in a K-12 Ethnic Studies classroom. Currently, few studies examine what effective Ethnic Studies pedagogy and practice looks like at the classroom level, and there are no studies that highlight racial literacy in the K-12 Ethnic Studies context.

Author

• Arturo Nevarez, University of California - Riverside