The Study's Race Theory in Education

• In Event: How Schools Make Race: Teaching Latinx Racialization

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
Panelist #2 aims to discuss the themes/issues and connections of sociology to the education field’s understanding of racialization as a sociocultural process and a product of schooling that shapes the racial categories. The panelist will comment on how the first Speaker answers sociologists’ calls for studies of school processes, practices, politics, and outcomes that inform the construction and transformation of racial boundaries and hierarchies. The comments also focus on the first Speaker’s relational racialization analysis and its focus on understanding the construction of racial categories in relation to other racialized categories. The panelist will discuss the theme of schooling being a racial project that creates racial categories and constructs. The Panelist will comment on findings regarding the contradictory ideas about race held by students and teachers.
Perspective(s) Theoretical Framework:
Panelist #2 will draw from critical theories of race and sociological frameworks such as racial formation and racial projects. The perspective will focus on how schools contribute to racialization processes and the ambivalence of race, which involves orientations that are simultaneously pro-race, anti-racist, even anti-race. Comments will center on the concepts of racial projects, racialization, and race ambivalence as presented by first Speaker.
Methods/Modes of inquiry
The inquiry employs a thematic analysis of key concepts and a case study, providing theoretical comments on the symposium’s interventions and tensions. The commentary will draw from the study’s qualitative ethnographic research methods (interviews of teachers, students, staff, and parents; ethnographic field notes; document analysis).
Data sources/Evidence
Evidence will be drawn from the study presented by Speaker #1, including empirical data and case studies from an ethnographic study demonstrating how racial projects are constructed and maintained through educational policies and practices. The Panelist will also draw on other conceptual scholarship (e.g., Leonardo, 2013; Omi & Winant, 2001) to discuss these recent interventions in race research.
Conclusions
Panelist #2 will address the contention that understanding racial projects and race ambivalence are crucial for education research and developing a more equitable education system. Conclusions will highlight the need to recognize schools’ role in perpetuating racial hierarchies and to pursue ambitious teaching that embraces the complexity of race, including a critical ambivalence toward it. This includes acknowledging contradictions within racial categories and striving to dismantle racist structures while questioning the role (and limitations) of fostering critical racial consciousness among students. As part of race-conscious research, it interrogates the future of the race concept as an organizing principle of society even as it uses race organizing against current forms of racism.
Scholarly Significance:
The scholarly significance lies in advancing racial theory/concepts and examining how race is taught and reified in schools. Panelist #2 will advocate for a critically aware approach to teaching about race, focusing on the racialization process, rather than just identity. Additionally, comments will advance the theorization of race ambivalence and link this to fostering a more anti-racist and equitable environment in classrooms. Panelist #2 will highlight the significant contributions made by panelist #1’s work of linking the concept of race ambivalence with bilingual education.

Author

• Zeus Leonardo, University of California - Berkeley