Restoring our Roots: Racial Affinity Spaces for Teachers of Color

• In Event: Refuge, Resistance, and Reimagination: Racial Affinity Spaces for Educators of Color Across the Pipeline

Abstract

1. Objectives
This study investigates the experiences of teachers of Color in predominantly white-staffed schools in the upper Midwest, focusing on the role of affinity spaces in navigating racialized barriers and sustaining them. This brings about three research questions:
Within a context of structural racism in K-12 schools, how does engaging in multiracial racial affinity groups play a role in the retention, agency, and thriving of teachers of Color?
What are the racialized barriers that teachers of Color confront and navigate?
How do affinity spaces mitigate or support their navigation and challenges to racism?

2. Theoretical framework
Critical Race Theory (CRT) underpins this research, highlighting racism as an everyday reality for people of Color and advocating for counter-stories that challenge dominant white norms and amplify marginalized voices (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017; Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso, 2000). CRT explores how teachers of Color experience racism and share counter-stories in affinity spaces that serve as counterspaces of resistance and communal support. Tuck and Yang (2014, p.11) advocate for desire-based research that acknowledges pain while envisioning futures utilizing the collective agency of teachers of Color.

3. Methods and Data sources
This research focused on teachers of Color from a state in the upper Midwest where despite a growing student diversity, the percentage of teachers of Color has remained stagnant at 4% over the last two decades (TOCAIT, 2021). Participants were recruited from a statewide affinity group whose members attended a national teacher racial affinity group. Through in-depth interviews over Zoom, we used CRT to promote counter-storytelling and desire-based research to acknowledge the cumulative harm experienced while also reimagining the system. With consent, we recorded and transcribed the interviews. We also analyzed a grant report of districts utilization of state-issued funds to retain and support teachers of Color. This provided context of the structuralized barriers affinity groups face.

4. Results
Racial affinity groups serve teachers of Color by addressing their intersectional, racialized experiences and re-centering their knowledge, leadership, and sense of agency. This shifted teachers of Color’s sustainment and catalyzation to reimagine beyond dominant whiteness. A critical race analysis showed that these affinity spaces help teachers navigate structural barriers embedded within a system that does not serve communities of Color. As counterspaces, they provide a pathway toward liberation, action, and community care. They extend the nationwide affinity space critical professional development and community building to local contexts. Despite neoliberal agendas influencing state grant funding and district expectations, affinity groups persist in meeting the critical needs of teachers of Color.

5. Scholarly significance
Racial affinity groups amplify teachers of Color as knowledgeable visionaries, fully address racialized experiences, and build a critical consciousness towards liberation. Teachers of Color deserve to thrive in our education system and affinity groups contribute to this. As efforts to increase and retain teachers of Color grow, affinity groups must be included. As a study participant remarked, “We just want space to be.” This research around affinity groups continues to amplify humanizing spaces for teachers of Color to exist, heal, and just be.

Authors

• Emily Dech, University of California - Riverside

• Verna Wong, University of Minnesota

• Angelina Momanyi, University of Minnesota