The Power of Partnerships: Critical Race Praxis and a Racial Justice Institute

• In Event: Collectively Grasping: Lessons and Limits in Pursuing a Racial Justice Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
This conceptual paper discusses the purpose and promise of gathering as a collective in pursuit of a liberatory and antiracist education. Freire (1970/2018) argued that liberation does not occur through chance, but rather through a critical praxis. Such praxis involves moving beyond dialogue and toward action. Yamamoto (1997) extended this notion through what he referred to as critical race praxis (CRP). This framework consists of 4 conceptual starting points: the conceptual, the performative, the material, and the reflexive, in pursuit of “reflective antisubordination practice” (p.878). Using a case study approach, this paper will overview the ways in which a yearly racial justice in teacher education institute involving various stakeholders across the country embodies a critical race praxis.

Methods/Sources

Since 2021, this yearly institute has been held at a large research institution located in the midwest. The participants have consisted of classroom teachers, school/district administrators, and teacher educators from four distinct regions across the country. Guided by Garces and Gordon da Cruz’s (2017) strategic racial equity principles (i.e., (1) attending to the dynamic relationship among power, race, and identities, (2) actively naming and addressing hidden contributors to inequity; and (3) generating power among marginalized communities of color toward transformative policies), this paper discusses how the institute exemplifies the possibilities of forming a critical race praxis.

Findings and Significance

Here, we briefly review each year as evidence of the conceptual starting points (Yamomoto, 1997). Conceptual (Y1). The conceptual starting point “examines the racialization of a controversy… [and] aims to break apart distorted cultural representations undergirding intergroup tensions” (Yamomoto, 1997, pp.878-879). At the inaugural institute, participants named the racialized nature of schooling and the role of multiple stakeholders (teachers, administrators and teacher educators) to disrupt intergroup tensions (i.e., US schooling). Performative (Y2). The performative starting point involves action. More specifically, answering the questions of “what” and “who” should act within the system (Yamomoto, 1997). The second year of the institute involved gathering the participants from Year 1 and engaging them in role -alike group scenarios informed by the elements of CRT studied in Y1. Material (Y3). During the material starting point of CRP, individuals must “inquire into changes in the material conditions of racial oppression” (Yamomoto, 1997 p. 880). In Y3 of the institute, participants from Y1-Y2 engaged in intentional problem posing and goal setting within their respective local contexts. In addition to interrogating the racialized nature of each of their geographic contexts, participants noted themes across each area to better understand the ways in which the system has changed and remained the same over time.

As teachers and teacher educators work toward enacting racial justice policies and practices in K-12 schools, a critical race praxis framework has the potential to be a useful tool in the design and implementation of cross-institutional partnerships centered on racial equity in education. Learnings from the yearly institutes offer a promising roadmap for future antiracist efforts in education.

Authors

• Terrance Burgess, Michigan State University

• Terry K. Flennaugh, Michigan State University