A False Binary: A Racial Affinity Group’s Impact on White Teacher Identity and the Capacity for Leadership

• In Event: Teacher Agency for Critical Consciousness

Abstract

This autoethnography details how my experience in a race-based caucus as a preservice teacher impacted the narratives I held of myself and others, how that impacted my teaching identity, and ultimately, what implication that had on my potential teacher leadership in dismantling White supremacy. Utilizing the theoretical frames of “ignorance” and “afterwardsness” from psychoanalysis layered with literature on narratives, I was able to interrogate the impact made by the race-based caucus. This research articulates the necessity of White teachers looking to be co-conspirators (Love, 2019) doing internal work to question their narratives of self and others and their capacity to build relationships. This study highlights the potential of teacher leaders who have nuanced understandings of identity.

Author

• Abby C Emerson, Teachers College, Columbia University