Confronting Individualism in Preservice Teachers' Theories of Justice

• In Event: How Do Teachers Understand Authenticity, Justice, and Praxis?

Abstract

Through this study, the researcher explored how 41 future teachers enrolled in a mandatory course on diversity and equity theorized justice. Data were generated through relevant course materials and participant-created zines. Through the theoretical frame of pleasure, oppression, and activism, and using thematic analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, and content analysis, the researcher found that pre-service teachers’ theories of justice were implicitly rooted in and unintentionally maintained individualism. The data suggest that participants abstracted and individualized oppression, positioned “diversity” through a binary oppositional frame, and neglected to engage with liberation as either a collective effort or a community responsibility. The researcher offers anarchy theory and pleasure activism as a response to the findings.

Author

• Alexandria Hollett, California State University - Northridge
  Presenting Author