The Counter-Deficit Lens in Educational Research: Interrogating Conceptions of Structural Oppression

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Methodologies: Ethnodrama, Storying, and Listening

Abstract

Deficit framings of marginalized communities, though maintaining widespread social influence, have been thoroughly condemned by much recent educational scholarship. The goal of this “counter-deficit” scholarship is to challenge racism in schools and thus improve educational opportunities for marginalized youth. To meet the lofty ambition of racial equity in education, how this scholarship understands racial oppression in schools is a central concern. Scholars of race and racism have emphasized that racism is both ideological and structural. However, in this review of the counter-deficit literature, we find that racism is primarily understood by way of ideology, and seldom by way of structures. This framing has important implications for how schools can support racially minoritized students to overcome racism and succeed in school.

Authors

• Suneal Kolluri, San Diego State University

• Antar A. Tichavakunda, University of Cincinnati