The Politics of Racial Discourse in Classrooms: Moving Beyond Apolitical and "Controversial" Beliefs

• In Event: Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education: Power and Politics

Abstract

Development of racial discourse in the classroom is often constrained by in-service teachers’ apolitical beliefs toward teaching and their own personal biases and racism (Pour-Khorshid 2018). This study analyzes how in-service teachers discuss race in their classrooms and what racial discourses are/not engaged. Findings suggest that many teachers use content and literature as the impetus for racial discourse, but this instruction is not frequent, often relegated to compartmentalized units of study (i.e. Black History Month or when reading Othello). Many teachers are holding race discussions limited to a Black-White dichotomy, and White participants showed evidence of white fragility, such as discomfort, avoidance, and circumlocution. Implications highlight the need to dismantle racial issues as “controversial” and teaching as apolitical.

Authors

• Kelli Ann Rushek, Miami University - Oxford

• Tamar Bernfeld, University of Iowa