Undergraduates as Research Partners: Investigating Race Consciousness Amid Educational Censorship in Texas

• In Event: Transformative Ruptures in Education: (Re)Constructing Frameworks of Leadership, Research, and Action in South Texas

Abstract

Objectives or Purpose
I will share findings from a project that drew on undergraduates as research partners. Students researched the rise in a political movement in Texas which produced “anti-CRT” legislation. They investigate the impact of this political discourse by interviewing peers and teachers, and then provide early examples of how teachers negotiated these new mandates in their classrooms. Finally, they critically examine the central claims of the law, which suggest that discussions of race are “divisive topics”.

Perspective(s) or Theoretical Framework
The theory behind using undergraduates as researcher partners draws from Mezirow’s (1997) work on “Transformational Learning” who found the value in undergraduate research in educational studies (Rand, 2016). This research also draws on a “legal consciousness theory ” (Chua & Engel, 2019), and work on discourse and power which recognizes that power does lie in the law itself (Foucault, 1975; Rose 1998), but rather circulates and becomes known and real by the way it becomes embodied and enforced. Finally, this scholarship draws on “critical discourse analysis” (VanDijk, 1992), examining how political interests are reproduced, maintained, or resisted through language.

Methods, Techniques or Modes of Inquiry
Eight undergraduate students enrolled in my research course called “Story Lab: Culture Wars in School,” which sought to expand the transformational potential of undergraduate research (Henderson & Kose, 2018). The goal of this undergraduate research was to investigate how educators and students made sense of the emergent backlash against the 2020 racial reckoning. Divided into four parts - 1) literature review, 2) research training on qualitative research (Atkison & Flint, 2001, Gerson K & Damaski, 2020), 3) research, and 4) paper presentations, students then chose a single topic that emerged from the collective research to present to a public panel.

Data Sources
Over the course of this work, 48 people were interviewed through a combination of individual and focus group interviews. These data represent the bulk of my data.

Results & Conclusions
Anti-CRT laws in Texas were justified by the assumption that conversations on race in schools produce “discomfort and anguish” for students. In the undergraduate research that was conducted, White interviewees suggest that a critical view of history did not make them feel bad. However, interviews with students of color did reveal a recurring sense of discomfort. Some suggested that these conversations should start with a content warning to create a safe learning environment. Moreover, they reported that teachers lacked the skills to engage diverse classrooms in an appropriate manner. While teacher interviewees welcomed engaging with historical narratives that challenged White supremacy, the law produced a “chilling effect” leading to modifications of instructional materials.

Scholarly Significance
This scholarship contributes to research that is documenting the ways in which schools have become targets for broader culture war and how political polarization has produced polarized curricular norms in the teaching of race and current issues in the United States. It also advances strategies for harnessing the social capital of undergraduate students in conducting research in a statewide project.

Author

• Habiba Noor, Trinity University