Tolerance or Transformation? A Review of Racial Literacy in K–12 Educational Research

• In Event: Developing Critical Consciousness in Turbulent Times: Challenges and Possibilities for Academic Success for Black Youth

Abstract

Dismantling white supremacy continues to demand scholarship that employs critical race theory (CRT) in educational research (Howard & Navarro, 2016). This review of extant literature examines a recent trend of employing the concept of racial literacy (Guinier, 2004) to understand how educators and youth make sense of racism in K-12 contexts. Using an iterative and recursive methodology to narrow our original search results by grounding our analysis in CRT in education (Howard & Navarro, 2016), we examine 31 the possibilities for anti-racist transformation of teaching and schooling and the needs for racial literacy to continue to destabilize white supremacy. This paper concludes with a discussion of concerns about ways racial literacy might be co-opted by white supremacy.

Authors

• Ryan Oto, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Abigail Rombalski, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Justin Grinage, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities