Disrupting Dehumanization in Social Studies Classrooms: Engaging Racial Literacy and Humanizing Pedagogies in Teacher Education

• In Event: Reconceptualizing Humanity and Solidarity in Teacher Education: Confronting and Transforming Its Structural Violence

Abstract

This paper examines the prospects of engaging racial literacy and humanizing pedagogies as frameworks for examining, critiquing and transforming curricula and practice in social studies teacher education. Despite increased efforts to prepare a predominantly white pre-service teaching populace to address racial inequity in schools and enact culturally relevant and responsive pedagogical practices in increasingly diverse classrooms (Gay & Kirkland, 2003; Hollins & Guzman, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 2008), the majority of teachers either continue to reinforce and/or are ill-equipped to address racially disproportionate practices in discipline & curriculum in their classrooms (Brown & Au, 2014; Gregory & Weinstein, 2008; Skiba et al, 2011; Skiba et al, 2002; Sleeter, 2011).

Utilizing the frameworks of racial literacy (Guinier, 2004; Twine, 2010; Stevenson, 2014) and humanizing pedagogies (Bartolome, 1994; Camangian, 2015; Freire, 1979; Salazar, 2013), this paper analyzes data collected over the course of two years - across two social studies teacher education programs in courses focused on issues racial inequity in social studies curriculum and practice, and through observations of student teachers in their classrooms. Data collected includes student-teacher essays, journals, and semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. Preliminary findings indicate that social studies teachers often perpetuate structural violence in schools through the acts of silencing curricular topics around issues of race, an act which is most often tied to feelings of self-doubt, fear and anxiety (Stevenson, 2014). Doing so also silences the humanity of students by denying them access to a curriculum that provides them opportunities to understand and contextualize their cultural selves and experiences. Another finding suggests that implementing dehumanizing and culturally irresponsible classroom management tactics and strategies resulted in the racially disproportionate physical and psychological abuse of Black and Brown youth, which was often tied to “strategies” learned through teacher education methods courses. An additional finding suggests that actively teaching racial literacy and humanizing pedagogical approaches to pre-service teachers can disrupt dehumanizing habits of mind and heart in ways that may translate into transformative curricula and pedagogy in their classrooms.

This paper presents initial findings from an ongoing study about the prospects of engaging racial literacy and humanizing pedagogies in social studies education and concludes by arguing how examining, critiquing and transforming the curriculum and pedagogy in social studies teacher education through the frameworks of racial literacy and humanizing pedagogies can: (1) help to more critically assess the treatment of race and racism in social studies curriculum, content and practice; (2) help to illuminate schools and social studies curricula as historical and contemporary sites of dehumanization, while also providing a lens through which to identify and recognize examples of humanizing pedagogies and practices in action; and (3) provide pre-service teachers with a lens and approach through which to engage in critical self-reflection with regard to one’s relationship to systemic and social inequities, as well as a framework with which to approach curriculum development and cultivation of one’s classroom culture in ways that acknowledge, honor and dignify young people and their lived experiences.

Author

• Christina "V" Villarreal, Teachers College, Columbia University