Digital Storytelling as Racial Justice: Digital Hopes for Deconstructing Whiteness in Teacher Education

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2016

Keywords

teacher education preparation, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, teacher learning, teacher beliefs, urban teacher education

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487115624493

Abstract

Teacher education is replete with an overwhelming presence of Whiteness, a presence that if not explicitly interrogated indefinitely recycles hegemonic Whiteness. Needed are pedagogical strategies that expose the hegemonic invisibility of Whiteness. This critical reflection examines the utilization of digital storytelling by teacher educators of color to pedagogically deconstruct Whiteness in a predominately White, urban-focused teacher education course—a necessary deconstruction if these teacher candidates are to effectively teach urban students of color. Particularly, this article deconstructs four academic years of digital stories produced in a mandatory diversity course in an urban teacher education program and illustrates how digital storytelling itself promotes a critical self-revelation that confront Whiteness in White teacher candidates. The preliminary analyses suggest that digital storytelling is a racially just way of having White teacher candidates self-reflect on their own Whiteness in a multitude of ways, by (a) ending emotional distancing, (b) debunking colorblindness, (c) engaging emotions, and (d) sharing the burden of race.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Journal of Teacher Education, v. 62, issue 2, p. 152-164

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