How White Teachers Navigate Racial Difference: Social-Emotional Processes and the Role of Workplace Racial Composition

• In Event: How Race Matters in School and Community Contexts

Abstract

Current research on racialized emotions and racialized organizations informs our understanding of how racial inequality persists in workplace settings. However, little of this research has been applied to the k12 education context. We extend this research by mapping the stages of belonging/unbelonging white teachers go through when they encounter instances of racial discomfort or perceived prejudice in the school workplace. Drawing on interview data with 56 white teachers in the U.S. Southeast, we document a process whereby white teachers experienced varying degrees of surprise, confusion, frustration, and fear resulting from interracial experiences with coworkers as well as students. We note how the process is informed by racialized imprinting prior to workplace entry and followed by racialized emotions and racialized coping.

Authors

• Jennifer Lauren Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Tiffany D. Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology
  Non-Presenting Author