Complicating the Focus: Nine White Teachers Instruct Multicultural Young Adult Literature

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting Privilege in Social Justice Education: Evaluating Teacher and Research Positionality

Abstract

This phenomenological study examined how nine White secondary English teacher participants described their (dis)comfort with their Whiteness when they instructed multicultural young adult texts in culturally diverse, urban classrooms. The study used Critical Whiteness Studies as a theoretical framework to analyze the insider perspectives of the teachers. Findings revealed that one participant experienced no discomfort with his Whiteness while the other eight participants described instances of discomfort during specific moments of instruction along with an overall discomfort with using these texts. The study intimates that teachers’ comfort with their Whiteness during the instruction of multicultural young adult texts influences their text selection and instructional decisions, and this is likely to impact whether and how these texts are taught in schools.

Author

• Ricki Ginsberg, Colorado State University