The Double Bind of District-Institutionalized Racial Affinity Spaces for Teachers of Color

• In Event: Remaining Critical in the Midst of (Neo)Colonial Censorship

Abstract

1. Objectives

This study investigates the experiences of teachers of Color in predominantly white-staffed schools in the upper Midwest, focusing on the structuralized racism and institutionalization surrounding racial affinity spaces in school district settings. This brings about research question:
How are teachers of Color naming and responding to the double bind and hyper (in)visibility in district institutionalized racial affinity groups?

2. Theoretical framework

Critical Race Theory (CRT) underpins this research, highlighting racism as an everyday reality for people of Color and advocating for counterstories that challenge dominant white norms and amplify marginalized voices (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). We utilize interest convergence (Bell, 1980) where social progress occurs when the demands of marginalized groups intersect with dominant groups interests, adding nuance to how reform, grants, and policies reinforce a broader systemic structuralized racism (Davila, 2024). We put CRT in conversation with the double bind, in which teachers of Color face tensions of hyper(in)visibility between their racialized identities and community commitments and the whiteness in educational norms and expectations (Bettini et al., 2022).


3. Methods and Data sources

This research focused on teachers of Color from an upper Midwestern state where despite a growing student diversity, the percentage of teachers of Color has stagnated at 4% over the last two decades (TOCAIT, 2021). Participants teach in predominantly white-staffed schools and facilitate or are involved in district-institutionalized racial affinity spaces funded by a state grant. Participants were recruited from a statewide affinity group whose members attended a national teacher racial affinity group. We recorded and transcribed in-depth, semi-structured interviews over Zoom, that elicited counterstorytelling. We also analyzed the grant report of districts utilization of the aforementioned state-issued funds to retain and support teachers of Color. This provided context of the structuralized barriers affinity groups face.

4. Results
The creation of district-institutionalized racial affinity spaces exemplifies the constraints of the double bind, serving as another space where teachers of Color experience hyper-invisibility and visibility. A critical race analysis of their counterstories showed that teachers of Color navigate the double bind within liberal education systems that exacerbate the marginalization of Teachers of Color. Our findings reveal how their labor of facilitating district-institutionalized racial affinity spaces is placed in conflict with institutional demands for teacher diversity and retention. This leads teachers of Color to engage in acts of resistance within and outside of their district racial affinity spaces to navigate teacher push-out, build racial literacy, and meet their own critical needs in establishing counterspaces.


5. Scholarly significance

Research has highlighted the need for racial affinity spaces to address teachers of Color isolation and retention. Existing research has focused on racial affinity spaces at a grassroots level. We contribute to existing research on racial affinity spaces by speaking to the complexity of district institutionalization. As district-institutionalization of racial affinity spaces continues to develop alongside the rise of nationalism and racial backlash, we look to the experiences of teachers of Color to navigate the current sociopolitical climate.

Authors

• Emily Dech, University of California - Riverside

• Verna Wong, University of Minnesota

• Angelina Momanyi, University of Minnesota