‘You’ve got to teach people that racism is wrong and then they won’t be racist’: Curricular representations and young people’s understandings of ‘race’ and racism

Abstract

'You've got to teach people that racism is wrong and then they won't be racist': Curricular representations and young people's understandings of 'race' and racism AUDREY BRYAN This paper critically examines the discursive (mis) representation of 'race' and racism in the formal curriculum. Combining qualitative data derived from interviews with 35 young people who were enrolled in a Dublin-based, ethnically diverse secondary school, with a critical discursive analysis of 20 textbooks, the paper explores parallels between young people's understandings of 'race' and racism and curricular representations of these constructs. It is argued that the formal education system reinforces, rather than challenges, popular theories of racism, and endorses the ideological framework of colourblind racism by providing definitions and explanations which individualize, minimize, and naturalize racism. The analysis centres around four major inter-related themes: (1) the individualization of racism; (2) the attribution of racism to difference; (3) the role of narratives of denial and redemption in the construction of an 'anti-racist' state; and (4) the reification of 'race'. The final section of the paper seeks to synthesize some of the broader political and ethical consequences and ideological effects of dominant discourses on 'race' and racism, and offers some concrete illustrations of how 'race' and racism could be re-narrativized in schools.Keywords: racism; anti-racism; discourse analysis; curriculum; youth This paper critically examines the discursive (mis)representation of 'race' and racism in the formal curriculum. Combining qualitative data derived from interviews with 35 lower secondary students enrolled in a Dublinbased, ethnically diverse secondary school, with a critical discursive analysis of 20 textbooks, the paper explores parallels between young people's understandings of 'race' and racism, and curricular representations of these constructs. The paper addresses one aspect of a larger critical exploration of statutory and school-based efforts to 'manage diversity' that were implemented in Irish schools and society during the 'Celtic Tiger' era--a period of unprecedented economic boom which lasted from the mid1990s until the global economic downturn of 2008. It seeks to inform our understanding of the ways in which inter-cultural and 'anti-racist' elements of the formal curriculum are complicit with the reproduction of racism, to the extent that the racial discourses contained within instructional materials create and sustain the ideological conditions that prevent Audrey Bryan teaches Sociology on the Education and Humanities Programmes at St. Patrick's College, Dublin City University, Upper Drumcondra Road, Dublin 9; e-mail: Audrey.bryan@spd.dcu.ie. She has published nationally and internationally in the areas of citizenship education, development studies, and anti-racism. She is currently working on an ethnography of youth activism in contexts of post-economic sovereignty.

‘I just treat them all the same, really’: teachers, whiteness and (anti) racism in physical education

“…Picower (2009) argues that whiteness is maintained through three sets of 'tools', which she calls ideological, emotional and performative tools. Here the deployment of ideological tools, or the beliefs to which individuals subscribe to protect their hegemonic stories are revealedin this case, their beliefs that seek to minimise, deny or individualise racism (Bryan, 2012). Our participants were keen to distance themselves from what they saw as the more 'overt' racist practices reminiscent of their parents' generation, through deploying a more 'progressive', 'colour blind' discourse of race.…”

A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy

“…We share Evans (2014) view that physical educators sorely need to examine their/our culpability in the reproduction of PE as a predominately 'white' space. As Bryan (2012, citing Forman, 2004 argues, ... failure to interrogate the multi-dimensionality of contemporary racism and the subtleties and dynamics of white supremacy supports the illusion of meritocracy, according to which different outcomes for racially minoritised groups can be 'explained'not by racial discriminationbut by their cultural deficiencies, such as lack of motivation or 'ability'. Thirdly, following Apple (2004) and acknowledging that policy, as a fundamentally political issue, is central to understanding how power operates, we argue there has been little systematic analysis of the constructions of race in PE and sport policy.…”

Understanding China’s curriculum reform for the 21st century

“…economic globalization, education/curriculum aims or goals, student/teacher expectations). Similar to Bryan's (2012) discourse analysis, the study focused on texts related to such analytical questions as: 'What are the state's nation building aims in the 21st century? '; 'What are the perceived challenges to human capital development of globalization and domestic change?…”