Code Words: How Othering Is Concealed Through Institutional Policies and Everyday Discourse

• In Event: Leveraging the Power of Identity

Abstract

This paper investigates how a predominantly white middle-class suburban community constructed a local knowledge of othering historically minoritized students and families. Drawing from the structural theory of race relations and utilizing critical discourse analysis, I analyzed interviews with community members and extensive documents. “Too many apartments” or “needy kids” are more than just informal conversations among the residents. They are code words used to conceal racialized intention to otherize racially and economically marginalized students and families. This paper situates code words as inseparable from the networks of socio-spatial-historical relations. The result shows that code words are deeply embedded in organizations of suburbs and are rooted back in the legacy of housing discrimination.

Author

• Dian Mawene, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author