Accepting Educational Responsibility: The Power of Collaborative Self-Excavation in Dismantling Educational Inequities

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

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative project is to explore the invasive nature of Whiteness and how we participate in reproducing inequities and oppressive practices. The intended outcome of this collaborative research is to engage educators in a self-excavation process to better identify actions needed to dismantle inequities in the United States educational system. This project utilized the methods of Scholarly Personal Narrative and dialogic inquiry to engage in collaborative self-excavation of personal experiences with race, class, and ethnicity and critically examine educational practices and policies that reflect a White supremacist perspective. Inherent to the self-excavation process is accepting individual and collective responsibility to break the cyclical reproduction of educational inequities that plague our schools and society.

Authors

• Tiffany Renee Wheeler, Transylvania University

• Sherry W. Powers, Eastern Kentucky University

• Miriam Elizabeth Stroder, Tusculum University