Politicized Care: Marginalized Teachers’ Justice-Oriented Relationship Building with Students

• In Event: Radical Acts of Care in Teaching

Abstract

Utilizing politicized care as the theoretical framework, this critical qualitative study investigates how marginalized teachers build justice-oriented relationships with their students. Fifteen teachers, who identify themselves as marginalized in terms of their racial and sexual identities, were interviewed individually. Findings suggest that these teachers practiced politicized care by building relationships through vulnerability, encouragement, communication, and recognition. They were also driven by a politicized sense of purpose, and resisted societal norms by redefining success for their students. These practices helped both marginalized teachers and students feel seen, valued, and empowered. This study expands existing scholarship on teacher–student relationships by foregrounding care as a political and relational practice grounded in resistance, collective agency, and critical awareness of systemic injustice.

Authors

• Ji Y. Hong, University of Arizona

• Qian Wang, University of Oklahoma

• Dionne Cross Francis, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill