The Racial Discourses of Preservice Teachers and the Spectrum of Race Consciousness

• In Event: 51.078 - MTCC Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 51.078-10 - Cultivating Critically and Culturally Competence Curriculum for Preservice and In-Service Teachers

Abstract

This article is based on a qualitative study focused on gaining a better understanding of the racial discourses and ideologies of preservice teachers in the urban Southwest. Findings based on in-depth, dialogic interviews with 17 participants made evident that racial discourses varied from the use of problematic racial ideologies such as colorblind and meritocratic ideologies, while others resisted. What emerged was a spectrum reflecting the various stages of an individual’s understanding of race. The stages ranged from Noncritical to Actively Antiracist. The spectrum of race consciousness can be used as a tool to help individuals understand their position in regards to their understanding of race and to help them in their development in gaining a more critical race consciousness.

Author

• Virginia Necochea, University of New Mexico