Social Justice as Positionality Not Position: The Embedded Critical Consciousness of Teachers of Color

• In Event: Critical Teachers and Teacher Educators: Lessons From the Resisters

Abstract

This paper aims to broaden discourse of how justice-oriented teachers of Color develop their critical consciousness. Interviews with veteran women of Color social justice teacher leaders reveal critical consciousness embedded in their positionality, across all domains of their life, is not something cultivated just in their teacher education. Through their families and communities, critical educational experiences, and continued access to critical discourse, they view critical consciousness as a foundational and continuous process to their goals for social transformation. By understanding the complex and continuous labor of developing as a justice-oriented teacher, we argue that to better supply schools with culturally sustaining teachers, teacher education must consider the recruitment and admission of teacher candidates already committed and engaged in this labor.

Authors

• Rita Kohli, University of California - Riverside

• Yu-Chi Lin, University of California - Riverside

• Nhung Cam Ha, University of California - Riverside

• Amarilyz Jose

• Chadi Shini