The authors use critical race theory (CRT) and critical race feminism (CRF) as a lens for analyzing and grappling with White students' resistance to learning about and deconstructing systems of oppression. The authors build on the work of critical scholars whose work exposes the ways in which White pre-service teachers resist counter-hegemonic…

This article describes a collaborative research project that took place in two south-western US border towns and sought to understand how four "muslim" girls (age 14-17) expressed and negotiated their bodily learning experiences. Drawing on both the work of "arab-muslim" critical feminist Fatima Mernissi who utilized classical Islamic tools of…

This is an exploratory study of racism in a genre of children's literature that has been largely overlooked by research and teaching in multicultural children's literature: sports biographies and, in particular, the biographies of African American professional football players. By examining the race bias of this genre of children's literature, the…

This article argues that African Americans, especially males living in urban areas, are physically and mentally trapped on a Devil's Island. The penal colony on the coast of French Guiana is a metaphor for the boundaries and constraints that close off opportunities and constrain African American historical knowledge. The article argues that…

Education is often viewed as the door that leads out of poverty for many students of color. But for many African American boys and young men, the dream of becoming a professional athlete is a door that appears to be wide open. Considering the over-representation of African American athletes in revenue-producing sports in colleges, universities and…

Black males continue to be one of the most academically marginalized groups of students in US schools, and undoubtedly the role of race and racism has largely influenced these experiences. The paradox of the underperformance of Black males has been the election of President Obama in 2008. The Obama election has led some to question whether or not…

This article examines the Black male crisis thesis promulgated by the social science literature, public policy, and mainstream discourse, respectively. The authors contend that the stock-story that the majority of African American males are "at-risk" for engaging in self-destructive behavior or on the verge of extinction perpetuates a discourse of…

In this article we consider the implications of using popular visual media as a pedagogic tool for helping teachers acquire critical sociocultural knowledge to work more effectively with students of color, particularly Black males. Drawing from a textual analysis (McKee 2001, 2003; Rose 2001) conducted in the critical visual studies tradition…

We report on a field trip we took to a "highly successful" urban middle school and a number of disturbing events that occurred there. Afterwards, we filed formal complaints about the violence, and racial and sexual harassment we observed. These complaints led to both a formal investigation and a series of newspaper articles that resulted in a…

This qualitative study examines how cultural and racial similarities and differences between teachers, regarded in their school as successful, and their African American students affect the student-teacher relationships and how these relationships shape and are shaped by racial ideology. The purpose of this paper is: (1) to offer an insight on…

This article investigates the use of digital storytelling as a medium for exploring the significance of race in the educational experiences of youth. A critical race theory (CRT) framework is utilized because CRT places race at the center of social analysis and values the everyday experiences of people of color. The author focuses on two US high…

This paper provides a qualitative examination of university student experiences with culture, language, and race in a short-term study abroad program in Cuernavaca, Mexico. All participants were White teacher education students from the United States earning their English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching endorsement and hoped to teach English…

The demographic make-up of US public schools indicates an increasing divergence between the racial background of teachers and that of their students: Whites represent approximately 90% of all public school teachers whereas 40% of students are of color. Further complicating the situation is the fact that many of the students of color are…

This is a study of White teachers and their identity development. Using a qualitative approach steeped in the tenants of critical race theory and storytelling, this study investigated how White teachers learn about race, class and diversity in meaningful ways, with a close eye on the role their own personal histories played in their development.…

This article examines how secondary English teachers in two racially diverse schools--one in Massachusetts, USA, the other in Ontario, Canada--described their knowledge of and practices for teaching about race and racism. The extent and quality of teachers' racial literacy knowledge and practice were considered in light of the literature on racial…