Making Sense of Race in Education

"This edited collection incorporates diverse voices to elucidate interactions relating to race within education systems covering early childhood to academia. Discussions are organized and progressively introduce academic terms (e.g., critical race theory, microaggressions) that may be unfamiliar to some readers, while deconstructing key concepts such as privilege to convey their daily and long-term effects. Although topics are varied, the editors offer many contemplative analyses across settings with specific examples of addressing controversies as teachable moments rather than as negative occurrences to be avoided. This philosophical approach grants authors the opportunity to discuss identity, intersectionality, and the detrimental effects of such instances on individuals from diverse backgrounds."

“Despite our nation’s rapidly changing demographics, the subjugation and marginalization of racial and ethnic communities continues. We can seek to address the ongoing barriers that are preventing ethnoracial harmony, or we can ignore the obvious—the visibility and prominence of race and ethnicity throughout our society and the world. It is essential that our nation’s educational institutions centrally value explicit and carefully crafted practices to foment classrooms that address diversity along many dimensions. While some progress clearly has been made since the overt and codified racism of times past, subtle forms of unconscious and implicit racism now hide in the public discourse. As a result, this book is important in the canon because the chapters are a clarion call for educators to stand firm on race and critique and address structural and institutional racism in its various forms. The contributions in this book overcome the theory and practice divide by specifying and advocating for pedagogy and practice that creates the space for all humans to be treated with dignity and provided educational opportunity.”

Julian Vasquez Heilig, Ph.D., Dean of the University of Kentucky College of Education

“In this wonderfully edited volume, Dr. Jessica Heybach and Dr. Sheron Fraser-Burgess pick up and advance one of the most challenging issues in education: talking and teaching about race and racism. Heybach, Fraser-Burgess, and the authors assembled in this text challenge readers to consider the complexities of supporting students in 'speaking race' while also bridging the theory and practice divide. Throughout this brilliant and challenging book, powerful practical experiences regarding teaching race are explored, exposing research and scholarship that encourage all educators to thoughtfully engage dialogue and instruction around race and racism in the one place that encourages rigorous examination of ideas: classrooms.”

Joseph Flynn, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction of the College of Education and Associate Director of Academic Affairs - , Center for Black Studies Division of Academic Affairs for Northern Illinois University

“Making Sense of Race in Education is a true testament to what happens when Critical Race Theory meets real educational practices. Every chapter tells a story of a dedicated critical educator who strives to bring open, reflective, and genuine conversations of race, racism, and racists to their classrooms and beyond. Their narratives are testimonies of their struggles to create open spaces where race is the lens used to look at issues of privilege and oppression.”

Yolanda Medina, Ph.D., Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY, Critical Studies of Latinx in the Americas, Book Series Editor

Foreword – Race: Still the World’s Most Dangerous Idea
J. Q. Adams

Acknowledgments

Introduction – Learning to Speak Race: Negotiating Race, Racism, and Racists in the Classroom
Jessica A. Heybach

Chapter 1. Higher Education Faculty Countering Systemic Racism: Reflective Positionality about Black Girls’ Experiences of School Discipline
Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Maria Hernández Finch, Maria B. Sciuchetti

Chapter 2. Relieving Tension and Empowering Students: Addressing Societal Racism in U.S. Classrooms Through Critical Discourse Analysis
Christina J. Cavallaro, Cole Kervin, Sabrina F. Sembiante, Traci P. Baxley

Chapter 3. The World Without Art Is Eh: Aesthetic Engagement and Race in the Classroom
Ritu Radhakrishnan

Chapter 4. Ignorance Is Not Bliss: Why Early Childhood Educators Need to Teach Young Children about Race and Racism
Terry Husband

Chapter 5. The Pedagogical Dilemmas of Addressing Blackface and White Privilege in the Classroom
Mary Beth Hines

Chapter 6. It’s Messy: You Can’t Just Talk About Race
Michael Hernandez, Paul Markson III, Kathryn Young

Chapter 7. Processes and Protocols for Creating and Sustaining Cross-Racial Dialogue Among K–12 Educators
Susan Adams and Jamie Buffington-Adams

Chapter 8. Changing Narratives: Understanding the Struggle of Muslim Americans Today
Wafa Mohamad

Chapter 9. Restorative Justice: The Alternative to Excessive Suspensions and Expulsions and the Zero Tolerance Policy
Kimberly R. James, Runell J. King, Jovan T. Thomas

Contributors

Index

Jessica A. Heybach

Jessica A. Heybach is associate professor in the School of Education and Human Performance at Aurora University (AU). She is currently the department chair of EdD Programs at AU, and teaches graduate courses in educational research, curriculum studies, and ethics and philosophy in education. Her scholarly interests center on questions of justice and equity in education, how conceptions of teacher neutrality influence curriculum and instruction, and how visual culture informs human understandings of injustice. Dr. Heybach has published in such journals as the Education Policy Analysis Archives, Educational Studies, Education and Culture, Critical Questions in Education, and Philosophical Studies in Education, and co-edited the book Dystopia and Education: Insights into Theory, Praxis, and Policy with Eric C. Sheffield.

Sheron Fraser-Burgess

Sheron Fraser-Burgess is an associate professor of Social Foundations/Multicultural Education at Ball State University and teaches courses in the undergraduate teacher licensure/professional education program, as well as philosophy and ethics courses in the master of arts and doctoral program in Educational Studies. As Provenzo (2012) states, in its attention to social justice, social and cultural foundations can make it possible for teacher candidates and practitioners to become responsible advocates for democratic education. Dr. Fraser-Burgess seeks to come alongside teacher candidates and practicing teachers in making the theory-to-practice connections that social justice in education requires, in addition to their acquisition of the knowledge, skills and dispositions of their profession.