Problematizing Partnership: Equity in Education as Substitutionary Reparation in the Neoliberal University

• In Event: University/K-12 Collaborations

Abstract

This paper critiques and problematizes the popularized concept of the research-practice partnership (RPP), often formed by universities and their local surrounding school districts. By scrutinizing key policy documents and local news related to a RPP in the southeast U.S., this critical document and media analysis examines the discourses of reparation, deficiency, and mutual benefit used to characterize and portray the university-school district partnership. Drawing on a critical history of higher education and racial capitalism, this paper argues that educational programs have become a form of substitutionary reparation that exonerates universities from contributing material reparations for historical wrongs.

Author

• Christopher Hu, University of Virginia