Discourse as Resistance: A Reconstructive Analytical Framework for Education Policy Discourse

• In Event: Challenging Power in Education: Policy, Discourse, and Resistance in Local and Global Contexts

Abstract

Critical discourse analysts have crafted a variety of analytic frameworks to study how power is both reflected and constructed through discourse (Bloome et al., 2005; Foucault, 1982). However, few scholars utilize specific frameworks for discourses of resistance, and even fewer study resistance in education policy discourse. In this conceptual paper, we present an analytical framework that might be used to study discourses of resistance in education policy. We demonstrate the utility of this analytical tool in an education policy context, using our analytical framework to examine resistance to anti-CRT and anti-DEI bills in the Texas legislative context. To conclude, we present a research agenda for uses of the framework and discuss how it might support equitable educational policy formation.

Authors

• Lauren M. Shook, University of Texas - El Paso

• Lizeth I. Lizarraga, University of Texas at Austin

• Katelin G. Trautmann, Pennsylvania State University