Experiences of African-American Educators in Addressing Social Justice Issues with Their Students
Affiliation
Barry University
Department or Program
Curriculum and Instruction
Start Date
15-4-2017 4:00 PM
End Date
15-4-2017 4:30 PM
Presentation Keywords/Areas
Critical Theory
Additional Presentation Keywords/Areas
Qualitative Research in Education
Additional Presentation Keywords/Areas
Socio-Cultural Theory
Abstract
America’s convoluted history has produced an intricately woven ideology of justice. History has proven that the dominant members of society write the highly publicized stories for all of its members; as a result, the American curriculum has supported ideas of white normativity. As American historical texts often omit the stories of its marginalized members of society, consequently the American curriculum does not ensure students’ acknowledgment of these injustices. Likewise, the curriculum also does not address the critical impact that historical social injustices have had on 21st century students. Research maintains that the most contentious issue in American civilization is the historical centrality and complicity of upholding white America’s supremacy. One preeminent way to combat the narrative of white supremacy is to address the issue at the grassroots level: the classroom. As CRT lends itself to a storytelling tradition, narrative inquiry through a Critical Race Theory lens was chosen as the foundation for African-American educators to divulge their stories of social justice issues within the classroom. Therefore, the researcher recruited, interviewed and audio recorded African-American educators. Then, she, transcribed, and re-storied their experiences into critical research texts of social injustice in their educational experiences.
Experiences of African-American Educators in Addressing Social Justice Issues with Their Students
America’s convoluted history has produced an intricately woven ideology of justice. History has proven that the dominant members of society write the highly publicized stories for all of its members; as a result, the American curriculum has supported ideas of white normativity. As American historical texts often omit the stories of its marginalized members of society, consequently the American curriculum does not ensure students’ acknowledgment of these injustices. Likewise, the curriculum also does not address the critical impact that historical social injustices have had on 21st century students. Research maintains that the most contentious issue in American civilization is the historical centrality and complicity of upholding white America’s supremacy. One preeminent way to combat the narrative of white supremacy is to address the issue at the grassroots level: the classroom. As CRT lends itself to a storytelling tradition, narrative inquiry through a Critical Race Theory lens was chosen as the foundation for African-American educators to divulge their stories of social justice issues within the classroom. Therefore, the researcher recruited, interviewed and audio recorded African-American educators. Then, she, transcribed, and re-storied their experiences into critical research texts of social injustice in their educational experiences.
Presentation Type and Comments
A) I would like to conduct a 20-minute paper presentation.