In but Not of the Institution: A Critical Racial Affinity Approach for Educators of Color

• In Event: Impossible Sanctuary, Necessary Refuge: Institutional Limits and the Possibilities of Community in Serving Marginalized Students

Abstract

As the teacher diversity gap widens and the teaching profession remains over 80% White (Hrabowski & Sanders, 2015), critical Educators of Color (EoC) committed to social justice remain at the margins, teaching in solidarity with the most vulnerable communities they serve. The overwhelming presence of whiteness continues to hijack critical conversations regarding racism, sexism, heteropatriarchy, xenophobia, etc. within schools (Kohli, 2018; Martinez, Valdez & Cariaga, 2015). While there are national efforts in place to recruit more EoC, the root issues impacting people of color through schooling are exacerbated through structural violence (Kohli & Pizarro, 2016). Dr. Bettina Love’s work highlights how structural violence kills the spirits of people of color navigating schooling: “spirit murdering within a school context is the denial of inclusion, protection, safety, nurturance, and acceptance because of fixed, yet fluid and moldable, structures of racism” (Love, 2016, p. 2). What then happens to the spirits of EoC when they are expected to normalize and facilitate oppressive schooling practices and policies everyday? How do radical EoC resist oppression and social toxicity and still remain in schools?

This three year ethnographic case study (Yin, 2003) explores how twelve EoC situated within a racial affinity group engaged in fugitivity (Harney & Moten, 2013; Patel, 2016) to reclaim their “professional” learning by centering critical and healing praxes to restore their spiritual wellness within the field. Through the regular practice of testimonio writing and sharing, group members wrote about and collectively shared “urgent life stories that compel action in authentic relationships with commitment and responsibility” (Prieto & Villenas, 2012, p. 425).  I audio-recorded meetings that lasted between 2-2 ½ hours monthly and audio-recorded interviews twice with each member for 1-1½ hours over the course of three academic years. I relied on participant observation and interviewing (Jorgensen, 1989; Wilson, 1977) and utilized grounded theory analysis and inductive approaches (Straus & Corbin, 1998) to engage in a systematic process of discovery of important categories and themes from the data guided by the overarching research questions:  a) How are educators of color impacted by social toxicity in schools? and, b) How does a grassroots critical racial affinity group approach to learning contribute to their resistance within the field?

Findings from this study reveal how group members utilized their monthly meetings to reconnect with their own and one another’s humanity, spirituality, cultural knowledges and political commitments. The group collectively engaged in a variety of activities, including reflective writing exercises, spontaneous discussions and check-ins, themed discussions based on theoretical frameworks and the development of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) action plans. Recurring themes in the data pointed to the value of being part of a critical, asset-based learning space exclusively for people of Color; the need to seek refuge from whiteness and white supremacy; and the impact of healing collectively for sustainability within the field. Through this space, group members found inspiration through one another’s professional and personal practices and stories, which reinvigorated their commitment to social justice in education and to healing from the impacts of oppression. 

Author

• Farima Pour-Khorshid, University of San Francisco