“The Only Spokesperson On The Entire Campus”: Palestinian American Teacher Identity and Critical Consciousness

• In Event: Teachers’ Decision Making in Precarious Contexts

Abstract

This case study examines Amina, a Palestinian American teacher navigating identity in a predominantly white West Coast public school. Using nepantla (Anzaldúa, 2007) as our theoretical framework, we analyze how Amina's experiences inform her critical consciousness and teacher identity. Through three interviews, findings reveal constant displacement, "world traveling" (Lugones, 1987, p. 9) as a survival strategy, and questioning dominant U.S. foreign policy beliefs. Amina experiences tokenization as the sole Palestinian educator while strategically navigating identities in white dominant spaces. This research addresses the gap in Palestinian American teacher literature, adding to how educators of Color resist whiteness in schools while maintaining agency despite challenges and tokenization.

Authors

• Hanadi Shatara, California State University - Sacramento

• Rebeca Ayala, California State University, Sacramento