Analyzing how calls to ‘restore community’ erase legacies and student of color experiences of racism

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Erased, Buried, and Precarious Accountings of U.S. Students' Racialized Experiences

Abstract

While suburban schools continue to experience increased racial diversity, they struggle to create inclusive community for students of color. This critical qualitative study investigates one suburban high school’s response to a racist event through attempts to restore school culture and community. Findings highlight how students of color made sense of these restorative actions through their previous experiences with the racial climate of the school and exclusions from the community. As a result, the school’s restorative actions worked to further entrench racial divides in the school and maintain whiteness. Implications of this research include the need for practitioners to ground responses to racist events in building new community as opposed to healing existing communities that were designed to uphold whiteness.

Authors

• Manali J. Sheth, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Jason Salisbury, University of Illinois at Chicago