ERIC Number: EJ734214
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Dec
Pages: 21
Abstractor: Author
Reference Count: 0
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0042-0972
Authoring "Race": Writing Truth and Fiction after School
Schultz, Katherine; Buck, Patricia; Niesz, Tricia
Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v37 n5 p469-489 Dec 2005
This article examines the process a diverse group of eighth grade students go through when charged with writing about the ways in which race might matter at their desegregated school. Students' articulations are bounded by a school culture of silence around race. The regulatory aspect of this school culture was enacted when students first make racism visible through exaggerated writing in a fictional play about school life, only to later censor themselves in an effort to more accurately portray the implicit nature of racialized relations at the school. As the students talked and wrote about their understandings of race and racism at their school, we listened carefully to what they said and also to their silences, paying attention to the erasures. The article concludes that such findings invite us to think about the value of alternative spaces for students to talk and write as well as a consideration of how the school sphere itself might be made more accepting of diverse perspectives on race outside of the dominant colorblind discourse. In addition, we suggest the power of fiction for eliciting conversation among youth.
Descriptors: Race, Grade 8, School Desegregation, School Culture, Fiction, Racial Discrimination, Racial Relations, Expository Writing
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A

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