Examining the geopolitics of critical race theory in [Global South] educational research

• In Event: Black internationalisms: Theory, research, policy, and pedagogy

Proposal

Critical race theory (CRT) continues to proliferate in educational research as both an analytic framework and wellspring for theorizing the reproduction of race and racism relative to educational systems. Given the platitude of CRT scholarship, one might suggest that CRT has become the default theory for all things race in education (Leonardo, 2013, 2014). As educational scholars reciprocate other trends of globalization, so too has CRT become omnipresent in educational research that aims to critique white supremacy, and especially anti-blackness, from its global domain (Gillborn, 2006). In fact, we would argue that CRT now adopts a transnational character (Yao, George Mwangi, & Malaney Brown, 2019).

While we agree with CRT’s utility to speak to global concerns of racism, we also echo Ladson-Billings’ (1998, 2013) original entreaty for scholars to proceed with caution, or else risk CRT becoming the darling of the radical left. Moreover, we argue that there is more to take into consideration than the appropriation of CRT. Scholars must also be attentive to the geopolitics of CRT knowledge production which if not careful, will continue to reproduce the subjugation of critical theories of race from the Global South and privilege U.S. Black critical thought (Laó-Montes, 2016). In this conceptual manuscript, we will briefly review recent literature that uses CRT in a global context, namely Latin America and the Global South. Second, we situate CRT within extant discussions of the geopolitics of knowledge production relative to the Global South. Finally, we draw from Afro-Latin American feminist scholarship as an exemplar for scholars of education who intend to move forward with transnational conceptualizations of CRT.

Authors

• Christopher L. Busey, University of Florida

• Chonika Coleman-King, University of Florida

• Tianna Dowie-Chin, University of Florida

• Carolyn Silva, University of Florida