Rereading Racial Literacy: Centering Black Feminist Scholarship in Racial Literacy Research and Practice

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Racial Literacies and Antiracism in Social Education

Abstract

Racial literacy’s (Guinier, 2004) conceptual foothold continues to grow stronger in the social studies, but its central element, intersectionality, remains underexplored in extant literature (Duncan, 2018; Epstein & Gist, 2015; King, 2016). This paper situates racial literacy in Black feminist epistemologies to trouble current understandings of racial literacy by productively critiquing Guinier’s theory and its contemporary articulations. Using re-reading (Kumashiro, 2002) of a past empirical study, the author examines their own racial literacy, reflecting on the limitations of understanding race and racism without intersectionality at the heart of these justice projects. Implications for this intervention suggest that social studies needs to seek solidarity with those outside of the field to ensure the best possible chance of working toward racial justice.

Author

• Ryan Oto, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities