Beyond Patriarchal Redemption: What Intersectionality Means for Efforts to Empower Boys of Color in Schools

• In Event: Rethinking and Imaging Futures Within and Beyond Intersectionality, Patriarchy, and the Borderlands

Abstract

In response to their educational marginalization, there has been considerable effort to support boys and men of color in schools. These efforts include local and nationwide initiatives, school-based mentorship programs, and the recruitment of men of color teachers. While these efforts remain popular, there is growing concern for the ways this trend can reproduce patriarchal logics about the role of men in society. This conceptual paper calls for a move beyond patriarchal redemption—a response to the marginalization of boys of color through educational support aimed at restoring and redeeming traditional masculinity and patriarchal capacity. Instead, I argue that intersectionality, as a lens and a politics, offers different pathways toward justice-centered approaches to challenging racism and patriarchy in schools.

Author

• Michael V. Singh, University of California - Davis