Racial literacy in a second‐grade classroom: Critical race theory, whiteness studies, and literacy research

Abstract

S There is a pervasive silence in literacy research around matters of race, especially with both young people and white people. In this article we illustrate that young white children can and do talk about race, racism, and antiracism within the context of the literacy curriculum. Using a reconstructed framework for analyzing “white talk,” one that relies on literature in whiteness studies and critical race theory and draws on critical discourse analytic frameworks, we illustrate what talk around race sounds like for white second‐grade students and their teachers. This research makes several contributions to the literature. We provide a detailed method for coding interactional data using critical discourse analysis and a lens from critical race theory and whiteness studies. We also illustrate the instability of racial‐identity formation and the implications for teachers and students when race is addressed in primary classrooms. Ultimately, we argue that racial‐literacy development, like other literate process in the classroom, must be guided. Existe un silencio persistente en la investigación en alfabetización en cuanto a las cuestiones de raza, especialmente con jóvenes y con blancos. En este artículo mostramos que los niños blancos hablan de raza, racismo y anti‐racismo en el contexto del currículo de alfabetización. Mediante un marco reconstruido para analizar el “habla de los blancos” basado en la literatura sobre los estudios de la “blancura”, la teoría crítica de la raza y el análisis crítico del discurso, ilustramos cómo se percibe el hablar sobre la raza entre estudiantes blancos de segundo grado y sus docentes. Esta investigación hace varias contribuciones a la literatura. Proporcionamos un método detallado para codificar los datos de la interacción usando el análisis crítico del discurso y una perspectiva de la teoría crítica de la raza y los estudios de la “blancura”. También ilustramos la inestabilidad de la formación de la identidad racial y las implicancias para docentes y estudiantes cuando se toca el tema de la raza en la escuela primaria. Por último argumentamos que el desarrollo racial de la alfabetización, como otros procesos educativos en el aula, debe ser guiado. Es besteht ein hartnäckiges Schweigen in der Schreib‐ und Leseforschung über Rassenangelegenheiten, besonders sowohl bei jungen Leuten als auch unter Weißen. In diesem Artikel zeichnen wir auf, dass junge weiße Kinder über Rasse, Rassismus und Anti‐Rassismus innerhalb des Schreib‐ und Leselehrplankontextes sprechen können und auch sprechen. Durch Anwendung eines rekonstruierten Rahmenwerkes zum Analysieren von „weißem Gerede”, welches aufs Schreiben und Lesen von Studien darüber weiß zu sein und auf einer kritischen Rassentheorie beruht und sich auf den kritischen Diskurs analytischer Rahmenbedingungen beruft, illustrieren wir wie Gespräche um Rassenzugehörigkeit unter weißen Schülern der zweiten Klasse und ihren Lehrern klingen. Diese Untersuchung besteht aus verschiedenen Beiträgen zur Literatur. Wir vermitteln eine detaill...

Artifactual Critical Literacy: A New Perspective for Literacy Education

“…Critical literacy has also drawn on Freire's (1970) concept of critical consciousness-raising in relation to conditions of employment and thereby has been linked to literacy with a wider move for social justice for disenfranchised groups (Lavia & Moore, 2010;Rogers et al, 2009). Critical race theory (CRT) can be used to interrogate theories of race and critique norms of representation to challenge taken-for-granted legal and representational structures (Ladson-Billings, 1998;Rogers & Mosley, 2006). CRT builds on storytelling and a focus on voice in education to foreground identities that are often made voiceless (Ladson-Billings, 1998).…”

Body Talk: Moving beyond speech when analysing literature discussions

“…Many of these studies also deal with power issues circulating in these literature discussions. Gender has been a thoroughly studied topic (Dutro, 2001;Evans, 1996aEvans, , 1996bEvans et al, 1997) and there are also studies that examine how racial-identity formations are constructed in literature discussions (Rogers & Mosley, 2006). Asplund (2010Asplund ( , 2012 examines how adolescent boys construct class and gender in literature discussions, and in another study, Asplund & Pérez Prieto (2013) show how adolescent boys use literature discussions in the construction of identity and place.…”

Korean-Origin Kindergarten Children’s Response to African-American Characters in Race-Themed Picture Books

“…Marx [21] argues that these "racialized experiences" (page 119) are dangerous since they can hurt students' linguistic, cultural, and racial identity. Although many scholars have pointed out a continued need to understand racialized practices within early childhood settings [22,23], race issues have rarely been investigated within bilingual contexts, because most early bilingual/biliteracy studies focused on vocabulary acquisition or sentence construction (e.g., [24][25][26]). In particular, nothing has been documented about bilingual Korean children's racial attitudes towards African Just like their parents, the problem in the relations between African-American and Korean-American children is that there are little or no real human relations between them.…”

“…Familiar practices within early childhood classrooms normalize racist attitudes, and race-based actions that underpin normalized school practices continue to shape the educational segregation of young children [22]. Since racism surfaces in American schools in a myriad of ways, it is important to understand how race Education Research International 3 is inextricably tied to young children's daily life and how "whiteness" affects schooling in tangible ways [23].…”