An Intersectional Approach to Emotion Labor and Language Teacher Identity: The Case of a Black American Woman Educator Teaching English Abroad in South Korea^†

Abstract

Emotion labor is so rooted in power structures of English learning and teaching that it pervades the everyday lives of language teachers and shapes their language teacher identities (LTIs). However, few studies have documented the emotion labor of Black women educators as they teach English abroad. Adopting an intersectional approach to emotion labor, this study addresses this gap by examining how one Black American woman educator, Kayla, engages in emotion labor to make sense of her LTIs over three years, teaching English in Korea. The analyses of the interview data show that Kayla's emotion labor regarding her intersectional positions (e.g., race, language, gender, nationality, age) encouraged her to reflect upon her overseas teaching experiences and search for avenues to navigate emotional job demands in the classroom and beyond, over time. Based on these findings, we conclude with implications for TESOL teacher education research and practice that considers using intersectionality to help all language teachers, and particularly those with intersectionally marginalized identities, to trace and understand the structures and history that bear upon their emotional and professional lives.