Culturally Relevant Teachers Are Antiracist Teachers: Enacting Socially Just Pedagogies in Rural Appalachian High Schools

• In Event: Embracing Place and Identity: Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Pedagogies in Rural Education

Abstract

Since its introduction three decades ago, Ladson-Billings’s theory of culturally relevant pedagogy has become so ubiquitous that its meaning has often been obscured, with its principle of developing critical consciousness—especially with regard to countering racism—all but ignored. Given the cruciality of educating students about race and the influence of structural racism on identity and history, it is essential to understand the complexities of enacting critical, antiracist, and culturally relevant pedagogies in different geographic contexts. Accordingly, this study examines four rural Appalachian high school teachers’ race-focused instruction through the lens of culturally relevant pedagogy with specific attention to the ways in which the teachers’ instructional choices promote racial literacy and antiracism within their specific rural contexts.

Author

• Rachelle Kuehl, Virginia Tech