"Even With the Diversity, It's Still White-Dominant": Reinforcing Normativity at a Multicultural School

• In Event: 32.056 - Expanding the Table: Schools as Inclusive Spaces

Abstract

This paper explores how schools can reinforce dominant ways of being even when students and teachers have commitments to diversity and equity. It draws on critical theories of racism and inequality, especially colorblind racism and intersectionality. I analyze data collected over 16 months as part of a critical school ethnography at a racially and socioeconomically diverse public high school in a mid-sized, Midwestern city. I argue that while the diversity of the student body and social justice commitments of students and teachers offer some important opportunities and possibilities, structures of power and privilege ultimately remain in place. This paper highlights that there is still significant work to be done to dismantle systems of oppression in schools.

Author

• Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong