Great Suburban Neighborhoods, Great Suburban Schools: The Suburban School and the Maintenance of Suburban Advantage

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Shifting Demographics and Policy in Rural and Suburban Contexts

Abstract

Scholarship on the suburbs often overlooks the suburban school. Similarly, work on suburban schools often overlooks the suburbs. The goal of this paper is to consider the suburban school within the "white spatial imaginary" that constitutes the suburb. Leveraging the Cedric Robinson's concept of racial capitalism in conversation with Stuart Hall's theory of the "articulation" of race with economic structures, the paper interrogates how policies and practices within the suburban school protect suburban economic advantages and racial segregation. In this research on "Playa Linda," a wealthy, predominantly White Los Angeles suburb, findings illustrate how a diverse suburban school serves as an alibi against charges of racism in a town with a long history of racial exclusion.

Author

• Suneal H. Kolluri, University of California - Riverside