Dog Whistles and White Tears: Whiteness, Power, and the Public Pedagogy of CRT Book Reviews

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Pedagogies of Power, Community, and Freedom

Abstract

Amid escalating anti-CRT legislation and curriculum bans, Amazon reviews of CRT books have become consequential sites of public pedagogy. Analyzing 103 long-form reviews of five widely targeted texts (e.g., Crenshaw et al., 1995; Delgado & Stefancic, 2017; DiAngelo, 2018; Kendi, 2019; Reynolds & Kendi, 2020), this study uses Critical Discourse Analysis, grounded in Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and abolitionist pedagogy, to identify five interlocking discursive strategies that re-center white grievance and delegitimize race-conscious education: victimhood inversion, credentialed colorblindness, civility-as-governance, moral universalism-as-cover, and panic-based indoctrination narratives. These strategies operate as a public curriculum that teaches readers to fear, pathologize, and punish equity work. Findings illuminate how informal digital spaces reproduce racial power and what educators need to do to counter it.

Author

• Paul G. Sauberer, University of South Florida