Sometimes Leaving Means Staying: Race and White Teachers’ Emotional Investments

Abstract

Emotional praxis is not a phrase usually associated with teaching and teacher education. Yet when race enters educational spaces, emotions frequently run high. In particular, Whites are often ill-equipped to handle emotions about race, either becoming debilitated by them or consistently evading them. Without critically understanding the relationship between race and emotions—or, simply, racialized emotions—teachers are unprepared to teach one of the most important topics in modern education. This chapter addresses this gap in education and teacher training by surveying the philosophical, sociological, and burgeoning literature on emotion in education to arrive at critical knowledge about the function and constitutive role it plays in discourses on race. Specifically, the argument delves into white racial emotions in light of the known fact that most teachers in the United States are White women. This means that our critical understanding of emotion during the teaching and learning interaction entails appreciation of both its racialized and gendered dimensions, and attention to both race and gender becomes part of emotional praxis. Finally, the essay ends with a proposal for an intersubjective race theory of emotion in education.

Feeling race in the social studies classroom: a self-study

“…While our journey has only begun, our reflective dialogue and self-study has reaffirmed our commitment to “taking emotion seriously.” If as Leonardo and Gamez-Djokic (2019) suggest, teachers are unprepared to teach about race without “critically understanding the relationship between emotion and race” (p. 1), we must continue to deepen our understanding of emotion and its role in teaching and learning social studies.…”

“…Leonardo and Gamez-Djokic (2019) suggest that without “critically understanding the relationship between emotion and race, teachers are unprepared to teach about race” (p. 1). Understanding the relationship between emotion and race is a complicated, uncomfortable and contentious process.…”

“…Understanding the relationship between emotion and race is a complicated, uncomfortable and contentious process. It requires teachers, teacher candidates and teacher educators to recognize that emotions are not merely private and individual experiences; to understand the role of emotion in the construction of identity, difference and power; to analyze how emotion can operate to sustain or disrupt oppression; and to critically reflect on their own emotional investments in particular worldviews (Leonardo and Gamez-Djokic, 2019; Winans, 2012).…”

Elementary teacher occupational health outcomes across schools with varying resources and demographics

“…Further, whereas Hispanic and Black students comprise 27% and 15%, respectively, of the student population, only 9% of the teacher population identify as Hispanic and 7% as Black; Asian American and Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and multiracial student enrollment also exceeds the employment of teachers sharing these backgrounds (De Brey et al, 2021). These patterns raise important equity concerns, particularly since the severity of the teacher shortage is greater in low‐resourced schools (Garcia & Weiss, 2019), teacher qualifications are strikingly different across schools (Lankford et al, 2002), teachers experience inequitable hiring and access to all schools (D'amico et al, 2017), and prior research has identified race/ethnicity as a critical, underlying component of teacher−student interactions (Dee, 2005; Leonardo & Gamez‐Djokic, 2019).…”

“…Research examining school settings where congruence exists between minoritized students and teachers has found positive outcomes for students in the areas of achievement, attendance, and self‐reported satisfaction of minority students (Gershenson et al, 2016; Grissom et al, 2015). Conversely, racial/ethnic incongruence has been linked to many potential sources of demand associated with teaching, such as student discipline (Blake et al, 2016), learning outcomes (Dee, 2005; Egalite et al, 2015), engagement in conversations about race (Leonardo & Gamez‐Djokic, 2019), and relationships with colleagues (Coffey & Farinde‐Wu, 2016). Regarding student outcomes, extant research is inconclusive on whether teacher‐student race/ethnicity match corresponds to positive student outcomes.…”