ERIC Number: EJ951096
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1467-9620
EISSN: N/A
Smartness as Property: A Critical Exploration of Intersections between Whiteness and Disability Studies
Leonardo, Zeus; Broderick, Alicia A.
Teachers College Record, v113 n10 p2206-2232 2011
Background/Context: Two scholars who each primarily identify as a scholar of critical race/whiteness studies and a scholar of disability studies, respectively, engage in this article in a purposeful dialogue that responds to the invitation put forth by Baglieri, Bejoian, Broderick, Connor, and Valle to engage with the construct of inclusive education, writ large. Through purposeful engagement with one another's discourse communities, the authors explore both the challenge and the tremendous promise of more theoretically integrated efforts toward abolishing ideological systems of oppression in schooling. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article explores "smartness" as an ideological system and particularly explores the ways in which it intersects with whiteness as ideology. Using Cheryl Harris's analysis of whiteness, the authors argue that smartness works as a form of property, with all the advantages that come with membership in the group. Research Design: Analytic essay. Conclusions/Recommendations: Analogous to Roediger's claim about whiteness, the authors argue that smartness is nothing but false and oppressive, and as such, attempts to theoretically rearticulate or rehabilitate smartness may serve to illuminate, but ultimately fail to dissolve, the normative center of schooling.
Descriptors: Discourse Communities, Whites, Ideology, Values, Race, Educational Principles, Critical Theory, Disabilities, Inclusion, Discourse Analysis, Academic Ability, Intelligence, Cognitive Ability
Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A