Exploring the Public Discourse on Shifting Color Lines: The Case of Wilhelm Elementary

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Ten
  In Roundtable Session: Notes From the Field: Community-Based Perspectives on Race and Opportunity (Table 12)

Abstract

We are proposing a paper based on our investigation into the public comments given during the 2019-2020 school year regarding the rezoning of Wilhelm elementary's attendance zone. Using a critical race spatial perspective, we challenge neutral ideas of race in the construction of boundaries and spaces. The public comments are then about the preservation or reconstruction of Wilhelm elementary’s color-line. A grounded theory approach, this study uncovers the strategies (coded language, interest convergence, god and devil terms) used during the genre of public comments. This helps in expanding the critical ways of analyzing policy discourse and lifting the veil on the work these strategies are doing to maintain white supremacy.

Authors

• Carlos Nicolas Gómez Marchant, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Alexandra Aguilar, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Emma Carene Gargroetzi, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Catherine C. Riegle-Crumb, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author