Affinity Space Organizing in Higher Education: Racialized and Gendered Care Work of Sustaining Institutional Activism

• In Event: We Make the Road by Walking: Emancipatory Teacher Preparation and Activism

Abstract

Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the purported commitment to social justice in teacher education programs, as well as a call for more approaches to prepare and support pre-service teachers of color. Within this context, this year-long qualitative study investigates the personal and professional experiences of 18 pre-service teachers of color involved in a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) affinity group within their teacher education program. Findings elucidate the various interpersonal and institutional tensions that emerged within the BIPOC affinity group. Implications include the limitations of institutionalized racial affinity groups in teacher education programs, and provide a glimpse into how to better structure such a support space for pre-service teachers of color.

Authors

• Kristen Jackson, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Rubén A. González, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Daniel P. Moore, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Kia Turner, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie Robillard, St. Mary's College of California
  Non-Presenting Author