Classroom Conversations in the Study of Race and the Disruption of Social and Educational Inequalities: A Review of Research

Abstract

This review of research examines classroom conversations about race with a theoretical framing oriented to understanding how such conversations may disrupt social and educational inequalities. The review covers research on how classroom conversations on race contribute to students’ and educators’ understandings of a racialized society, their construction of and reflection on relationships among students, as well as to their learning of academic content knowledge. The review considers research across grades P–12, as well as conversations in teacher education, with a specific focus on the U.S. context. Limiting the review to the U.S. context is done not to obfuscate conceptions of race and inequalities globally, but to elucidate how race becomes manifested in unique ways in the United States—often positioning African Americans and Blackness as the “fundamental other.” The review offers a social, historical, and political discussion that contextualizes how classroom conversations, and their omission, are not conversations only relegated to the classroom, but are part of a larger dialogue within the broader society.

Athlete as Agitator, Assaulter, and Armor

“…Yet there are ways to disrupt Curricular Silencing. While there is a consensus that much more needs to be done to explore and understand how best to guide conversations around race in the classroom (Bolgatz, 2005;Brown, et al, 2017), it is clear that these conversations matter. When teachers do engage in direct conversations about race and racial identity, research suggests that they are fulfilling a deeply felt need and desire by students who are eager to discuss race and racism in an academic context (Roberts, et al, 2008).…”

Teachers’ Talk About Race and Caregiver Support: “You Can NEVER Be Too Sure About Parents”

“…Given the potentially positive outcomes associated with engaging curriculum and discussions that center race, a growing body of work explores the importance of preparing and supporting teachers to explicitly incorporate race into their curriculum and engage in conversations about race and racism in their pre-K-12 classes (Brooks, Browne, & Meirson, 2018; Brown, Bloome, Morris, Power-Carter, & Willis, 2017; Thomas, 2015). Teachers’ efforts to build consciousness of their own racial identity, others’ racial identity, and various cultural practices that exist in society can be paramount in helping them shape their instructional practices in pre-K-12 schools (Milner & Laughter, 2015).…”

“…Teachers’ efforts to build consciousness of their own racial identity, others’ racial identity, and various cultural practices that exist in society can be paramount in helping them shape their instructional practices in pre-K-12 schools (Milner & Laughter, 2015). This work has taken up both the practices around engaging in these discourses, associated outcomes, and the possibility these conversations hold for disrupting racial inequalities in schools and classrooms (Brown et al, 2017).…”

“…Although, as Pollock (2001, 2009) indicated, omission or sanitation of race conversations is prevalent, Brown et al (2017) pointed to the curricular (formal instructional choices), discursive (language emerging during conversation), and disruptive (critical moves to question or problematize) ways that race can be and has been engaged in classrooms. Across studies, they examined curricular choices as those educators deliberately selected to “disrupt hegemonic conceptions of race,” discursive moves as those teachers used to stabilize or destabilize dominant ideologies, and disruptive conversations as those teachers or students engaged to question, problematize, and offer counternarratives (Brown et al, 2017, p. 466). Their synthesis demonstrated that classroom race conversations have the potential to increase understanding, belonging, positive racial identity development, and improved communication for students across the pre-K-12 experiences.…”

Desconstruindo e Reconstruindo Linguagem, Raça e Relações de Poder em uma Sala de Aula Secundária nos Estados Unidos

“…Our attention to race in classroom settings derives from recognition of the ubiquity of race relations at every level, in every moment of teaching and learning, and in every aspect of curriculum in education (within, across, and outside of schooling) (Woodson, 1968;Delpit, 1996;Gillborn & Youdell, 2009;Leonardo, 2009;Apple, 2011); and the goal of understanding teaching and learning environments that support the development of criticality and agency in the education of working class and African American students, among others (Brown, 2013;Rogers & Mosely, 2006). The nature of our research requires attention to historical contexts in education, including issues of race and equity in the United States (Brown, Bloome, Morris, Power-Carter, & Willis, 2017;Gutierrez et al, 2017) and how those historical contexts influence classroom learning events.…”