In-Service Educators Making Sense of Risky Literature: The Cultural Politics of Positioning (Con)Texts During a Yearlong Antibias, Antiracist Book Club

Abstract

Amidst the backdrop of rising censorship legislation, it is important to understand the influence of teachers’ particular contexts on their perceptions of potentially controversial texts and subsequent instructional choices. This study explores five in-service teachers’ acts of positioning observed in year-long antibias antiracist professional book club, which facilitated educators’ access to such texts and opened space for imagining ways to incorporate them into classroom practice. The findings illuminate how teachers positioned their school’s moral framework, their responsibilities towards families, and specific texts as possible for classroom use. Furthermore, this study prompts critical reflection on the role of facilitators in revising contextual storylines while highlighting the persistent challenges of breaking free from entrenched storylines in pursuit of antibias antiracist pedagogy.