“Don’t get killed in the ghetto”: Racialized Understandings of Criminality, Community Gardens, and Service-Learning Pedagogy

• In Event: Teaching Critical Criminology: Directly Engaging Students with Critical Themes

Abstract

Research suggests that many Americans hold deeply racialized understandings of criminality and dangerousness. Critical criminological work, while contributing to this body of knowledge, also prioritizes finding ways to change or disrupt these colorblind (i.e. coded) racist logics. Scholarship—especially that which focuses on public accessibility—is one way to address the issue. Teaching tactics are another. In this paper, we examine the role service-learning pedagogy might play in the process. Drawing on three years of data from a research/teaching/community engagement project that involves sending (mostly white, materially privileged) students into high-poverty, predominantly black neighborhoods in Louisiana to work in community gardens, we examine the impact service-learning experiences have on students’ conceptions of race, crime, and community. Findings indicate that like many service-learning courses, the pedagogical approach carries the potential to both challenge and further entrench the individualistic interpretations of structural inequality that help reproduce racism.

Authors

• Sarah Becker, Louisiana State University

• Crystal Paul, Louisiana State University