critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and antiracist education

19 Pages·2008·1.38 MB·English

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, CRITICAL RACE THEORY,
AND
ANTIRACIST EDUCATION
Implications for Multicultural Education
Christine E. Sleeter Dolores Delgado Bernal
California State University, Monterey Bay University of Utah
Multicultural education grew out of social protest move- administrators are White and bring a worldview that tac-
ments of the 1960s, particularly challenges to racism in itly condones existing race and class relations. For exam-
education. Banks (Chapter 1, this volume) traces the ple, Sleeter (1992) studied a group of teachers who had
roots of nlulticultural education to the ethnic studies volunteered to participate in a staff development project
movement of the 1960s, which is itself a legacy of earlier in multicultural education. Of 26 who discussed what
ethnic studies pioneers such as Carter G. Woodson and multicultural education meant to them by the second year
WE.B. DuRois. During the 1960s, in the context of social of the project, 7 White teachers saw it as irrelevant to
activism addressing a range of manifestations of racism, their work and 6 White teachers saw its main purpose as
comniunity groups, students, and ethnic studies scholars helping students learn to get along with each other. Eight
pressed for the inclusion of ethnic content in the cur- teachers (1 African American and the rest White ESL or
riculum in order to bring intellectual counternarratives to special education teachers) saw multicultural education
the dominant Eurocentric narratives. Multicultural edu- as building students' self-esteem in response to exclusion
cation thus began as a scholarly and activist movement to of some students' experience in school and the wider soci-
transform schools and their contexts. Over time, as more ety. Five (2 African American and 3 White) had more
and more people have taken up and used multicultural complex conceptions, but only one of these directly con-
education, it has come to have an ever wider array of nected multicultural education with social activism. In
meanings. In the process, ironically (given its historical short, almost all of these educators filtered their under-
roots), a good deal of what occurs within the arena of standing of multicultural education through conceptual
multicultural education today does not address power discourses of individualism and psychology and took for
relations critically, particularly racism. This chapter will granted as neutral the existing structures and processes
review some of today's critical discourses for their impli- of school and its relationship to communities.
cations for multicultural education. Our intent is not to ALt he same time that multicultural education has
move multicultural education away from its core con- been acquiring a range of meanings, many theorists and
ceptual moorings, but rather to anchor the field more educators (inside and outside multicultural education)
firmly in those moorings. who are concerned about racism, oppression, and how
Many contemporary renderings of multicultural edu- to build democracy in historically racist and hierarchical
cation examine difference without connecting it to power rrlulticultural societies have advanced perspectives that
or a critical analysis of racism. This is probably because explicitly address social justice. To distinguish these per-
the great majority of classroom teachers and school spectives from nonc~lticaol rientations toward multicultural
Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education 24 1
education, some have begun using the tern1 critical multi- synthesis of this analysis; in the process it suggests the
cult~lralism( e.g., Kanpol & McLaren, 1995; May, 1999a; need to expand the dialogue among critical pedagogy, crit-
Obidah, 2000). ical race theory, antiracist education, and multicultural
Some conceptions of critical multiculturalism fore- education.
ground racism. On the basis of an analysis of teacher edu-
-
cation student responses to a discussion of race, Berlak .
Ia-~.."s(.j~**~~~~. I."S_-I4 X I l .--vj__n) A 1 5 =I +v r- ,
and Moyenda (2001) argued that liberal conceptions of CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND
multiculturalism support "white privilege by rendering MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
institutional racism invisible," leading to the belief that -.n,- P-l.-*V-wL * L , '.,LIZI._*I I * .--J-.-T --.-*,=a. ir--m% r;r r.
injustices will disappear if people simply learn to get Critical pedagogy can be defined as "an entry point in the
along (p. 94). They stated that "central to critical multi- contradictory nature of schooling, a chance to force it
culturalism is naming and actively challenging racism and toward creating conditions for a new public sphere"
other forms of injustice, not simply recognizing and cel- (Giroux, 1983, p. 116). According to Giroux (1992), crit-
ebrating differences and reducing prejudice" (p. 92). ical pedagogy should "explore how pedagogy functions
McCarthy (1995) argued that various models of multi- as a cultural practice to produce rather than merely trans-
cultural education rest far too heavily on attitude change mit knowledge within the asymmetrical relations of power
as a means of social transformation and take for granted that structure teacher-student relations" (p. 98). Theorists
essentialized racial identities, failing to situate racial of critical pedagogy view schools as "contradictory social
inequality within global relations. Critical multicultural- sites" (Giroux, 1983, p. 115) in which class relations are
ism "links the microdynamics of the school curriculum not simply reproduced but also contested through the
to larger issues of social relations outside the school" (p. actions students and educators construct every day. As
43). Similarly, in an effort to join antiracism with multi- such, youth could learn collectively to construct a new
cultural education, May (1999a) stated that critical mul- democratic public sphere. Critical pedagogy, then, offers
ticulturalism "incorporates postmodern conceptions and a language of both "analysis and hope" (McLaren, 1991,
analyses of culture and identity, while holding onto the p. 30). Gay (1995) described many conceptual parallels
possibility of an emancipatory politics" (pp. 7-8). between multicultural education and critical pedagogy
Other conceptions link multiculturalism with critical and advocated an active coalition between the fields.
pedagogy (Kanpol & McLaren, 1995; Kincheloe & Stein- Critical pedagogy can be traced to at least two
berg, 1997). Kanpol and McLaren used the term critical genealogical roots: (a) critical theory and the Frankfurt
multiculturalism to emphasize that "justice is not evenly School and (b) the work of Paulo Freire and Latin Amer-
distributed and cannot be so without a radical and pro- ican liberation movements. The Frankfurt School, which
found change in social structures and in terms of a devel- began in Germany prior to World War 11, connected a
opment of historical agency and a praxis of possibility" Marxist analysis of class structure with psychological the-
(p. 13). Obidah (2000) described herself as a critical mul- ories of the unconscious to understand how oppressive
ticulturalist because the tools of both critical pedagogy class relations are produced and reproduced. The cultur-
and multicultural education have helped her link a alist paradigm of the Frankfurt School emphasized
dynamic conception of culture, identity, and lived expe- human agency, focusing on the lived experiences of peo-
rience with an analysis of power structures and pedagogy. ple and how consciousness is formed within class strug-
This chapter explores the implications of critical tra- gles. The structuralist paradigm analyzed how oppressive
ditions for multicultural education in order to connect it political and economic structures are reproduced, but it
more firmly to its transformative roots and to encourage tended to ignore or deny personal agency (Giroux, 1983).
dialogue across contemporary critical traditions. We real- The rise of Nazism in Germany caused many members of
ized that in order to keep the chapter manageable, we the Frankfurt School to flee to the United States, where
could focus on only three traditions. We selected critical theorists in many disciplines took up critical theory Crit-
pedagogy, critical race theory, and antiracist education. ical theorists do not necessarily practice or write about
The chapter therefore omits groundbrealung work in mul- critical pedagogy. In the 1980s, theorists such as Henry
ticultural feminism (e.g., Collins, 1990), critical cultural Giroux and Peter McLaren applied critical theory's ana-
studies (e.g., Hall, 1993), and disability studies (e.g., Lin- lytical tools to pedagogy, creating a "pedagogy of critical
ton, 1998), which also have implications for multicultural theory" (Pruyn, 1994, p. 38). According to Giroux
education. Each section that follows provides a brief (1983), critical pedagogy seeks to "bridge the agency-
genealogy, implications, and limitations for each of the structural dualism" of the Frankfurt School by viewing
three bodies of literature as they relate to multicultural youth culture as a site of cultural production, social strug-
education. The final section of the chapter sketches out a gle, and social transformation (p. 139).
242 Knowledge Construction and Critical Studies
A second genealogical root of critical pedagogy is the also critique them. McCarthy (1998) noted that too often
work of Freire (1970, 1973, 1976) and Latin American "culture, identity, and community are narrowly read as
liberation movements. Freire began writing while in exile the final property of particular groups based on ethnic ori-
in Chile. He had promoted popular literacy in Brazil, con- gins" (p. 148); for example, teachers commonly conflate
necting the act of reading with the development of criti- ethnicity and culture, seeing them as synonymous.
cal consciousness. Freire argued throughout his life that Within this conception of culture, "multiculturalism is
oppressed people need to develop a critical consciousness generally about Otherness" in a way that makes White-
that will enable them to denounce dehumanizing social ness and racial struggle invisible and takes for granted
structures and announce social transformation. In the boundaries of race, ethnicity, and power (Giroux, 1992,
process of teaching literacy to adults, he created culture p. 117). Whose conceptions of culture tend to predomi-
circles in which students took up topics of concern to nate, and what gets left out of those conceptions? For
them, discussed and debated in order to clarify and example, hybrid cultural identities defy fixed and essen-
develop their thinking, and developed strategies for tialized definitions of culture (e.g., see Darder, 1995;
action. Freire did not call these culture circles "schools" McCarthy, 1998). Dominant cultures can be examined
because of the passivity traditionally associated with with much greater depth when contextualized within
school learning. A fundamental task in culture circles was relations of colonialism and power than when they are
to distinguish between what humans have created and decontextualized (McLaren & Mayo, 1999). Popular cul-
what nature created, in order to examine what role ture as a form of collective meaning making also "counts"
humans can play in bringing about change. Freire's con- as culture (Giroux & Simon, 1989; Livingstone, 1987;
nection between critical education and political work for Shor, 1980).
liberation took up questions similar to those being asked Power is yet another concept within multicultural edu-
by critical theorists. cation that critical pedagogy helps to examine (Kinche-
loe & Steinberg, 1997). Giroux (1985) pointed out that
some progressive and multicultural education discourses
Potential Implications of Critical Pedagogyfor
"quietly ignore the complexity and sweat of social
Multic~~lturEadl ucation
change" and reduce power and domination to misunder-
Critical pedagogy has four main implications for multi- standings that can be corrected by providing accurate
cultural education: (a) conceptual tools for critical reflex- information (p. 31). Challenging power relations is cen-
ivity; (b) an analysis of class, corporate power, and tral to critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970). which is based on
globalization; (c) an analysis of empowering pedagogical an analysis of structural as well as cultural power. It is the
practices within the classroom; and (d) a deeper analysis centrality of interrogating how power works and how
of language and literacy than one finds generally in the power relations can be challenged that led McLaren
multicultural education literature. (2000) to focus on revolution rather than reform. Multi-
Critical pedagogy as a theoretical space develops sev- cultural education in its inception challenged power rela-
eral concepts that relate to multicultural education, tions, particularly racism, and for some multicultural
anlong them voice, culture, power, culture, and ideology. educators power remains a central concept. However,
In so doing, it offers tools for critical reflexivity on those power is often displaced by more comfortable concepts
concepts. Voice is grounded in Freire's notion of dialogi- such as tolerance. Critical pedagogy offers an important
cal communication, which rejects both the authoritarian critique of that displacement and continues to ask the
imposition of knowledge and also the idea that everyone's question, Comfortable for whom?
beliefs are equal. To Freire (1998), the development of ldeology is a concept that is central to critical pedagogy
democratic life requires critical engagement with ideas but used surprisingly little in multicultural education.
through dialogue. Dialogue demands engagement; it Ideology refers to "the formation of the consciousness of
occurs neither when some parties opt out silently nor the individuals" in a society, particularly their conscious-
when those with the most power simply impose their ness about how the society works (Apple, 1979, p. 2).
views. Voice is rooted in experience that is examined for Within multicultural education, curriculum is often dis-
its interests, principles, values, and historical remem- cussed in terms of bias, a concept that does not necessar-
brances (Darder, 1995; Giroux, 1988; hooks, 1994). The ily lead to an analysis of power and consciousness.
concepts of voice and dialogue act as tools for uncover- Similarly, examining teachers in terms of attitudes focuses
ing whose ideas are represented and whose ideas have on individual psychology rather than collective power.
been submerged, marginalized, or left out entirely. Ideology offers a much more powerful conceptual tool,
Critical pedagogy offers tools for examining the concept connecting meanings with structures of power on the one
of culture. Simplistic conceptions of culture are common in hand and with individuals on the other. Ideology as a tool
nlulticultural education, although many n~ulticulturalists of analysis "helps to locate the structuring principles and
Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education 243
ideas that mediate between the dominant society and the concepts should be developed as connected structures of
everyday experiences of teachers and students" (Giroux, oppression, lenses of analysis, and sites of struggle.
1983, p. 161). It helps us examine who produces what A third potential implication of critical pedagogy for
kinds of ideologies, why some ideologies prevail, and multicultural education is its examination of how power
whose interests they serve (see Apple, 2000). Ideology plays out in the classroom, and its connection of peda-
can also serve as a reflexive tool of critique when multi- gogical processes with empowerment. In this regard, crit-
cultural education itself is conceived as a field of dis- ical pedagogy and feminist pedagogy share similar
course. Lei (2001), for example, examined the ideology concerns (hooks, 1994; Lather, 1991). Multicultural edu-
of multicultural education as it was used in specific con- cation as a field has extensively examined school knowl-
texts in order to question whose interests those concep- edge and developed insights for transformative curricula,
tions served, what issues they foreground, and whose usually discussing pedagogy mainly in relationship to
interests and points of view were displaced. strategies that support high achievement for all students
A second potential implication of critical pedagogy is (e.g., Banks, 1999; Bennett, 1998). Critical pedagogy
its analysis of social class, class power, corporate power, complements this work by conceptualizing students as
and global corporate control. Although multicultural edu- creators of knowledge and by connecting student-gener-
cation grew primarily out of racial and ethnic struggle, ated knowledge with student empowerment. Freire
critical pedagogy grew primarily out of class struggle. In (1970) explicitly rejected a "banking" form of pedagogy
the United States, connections between race and class "in which students are the depositories and the teacher is
tend to be undertheorized partially because of the myth the depositor" (p. 531, viewing it as an instrument of con-
that the United States is a "classless" society, which leads trol over the masses. Instead, he viewed empowering ped-
to a general refusal to examine class relations critically Yet agogy as a dialogical process in which the teacher acts as
the forms and persistence of racism can be understood a partner with students, helping them examine the world
more clearly when racism is connected historically with critically, using a problem-posing process that begins with
capitalism (Marable, 2000; Roediger, 1991; Sleeter, 2001). their own experience and historical location.
Freire (1973) specifically located his work in a history of Several critical pedagogy theorists have written about
colonialism and class struggle: "It was upon this vast lack the use of this form of pedagogy in their own classrooms.
of democratic experience, characterized by feudal men- Most of these discussions focus on adult students (e.g.,
tality and sustained by a colonial economic and social Ada, 1988; Curtis & Rasool, 1997; Mayo, 1999; Shor,
structure, that we attempted to inaugurate a formal 1980, 1992; R. I. Simon, 1992; Sleeter, 1995; Solorzano,
democracy" (p. 28). 1989), although a few focus on the K-12 level (Bigelow,
Connections between racism and global capitalism 1990; Goldstein, 1995; Peterson, 1991). In all of these dis-
lend urgency to the significance of class. Over the past cussions, pedagogy starts with students' lived experience
two decades, a small corporate elite has extended global and involves students in analysis of that experience. Stu-
control markedly and consolidated means for wealth dents are treated as active agents of knowledge creation,
accumulation. At the same time, however, even critical and classrooms as democratic public spheres. Class mate-
pedagogues have retreated from concern with class and rials are used as tools for expanding students' analyses,
capitalism. McLaren (1998) argued that the "growing rather than as content that is simply deposited into the
diasporic movements of immigrants in search of employ- students. This view of pedagogy complements multicul-
ment across national boundaries" has led to an increased tural education well.
discourse around ethnicity, but domesticated ways of A fourth potential implication of critical pedagogy for
thinking about it have displaced critiques of capitalist multicultural education is its analysis of language and lit-
expansion. Given the rampant and unchecked expansion eracy, which connects to concerns of bilingual educators.
of global capitalism, critical pedagogy and multicultural Multicultural education and bilingual education have
education need to "address themselves to the adaptive emerged as distinct fields, with some overlap. For exam-
persistence of capitalism and to issues of capitalist impe- ple, an ERIC search in June 2001 yielded 5,117 journal
rialism and its specific manifestations of accumulative articles with multicultural education as a keyword and
capacities through conquest" (1998). Multicultural edu- 3,216 journal articles with bilingual education as a key-
cation could benefit from a trenchant analysis of capitalist word, but only 431 articles with both multicultural edu-
expansion and global capitalism. Increased poverty racial cation and bilingual education. Language and culture are
strife, incarceration of youth of color, movements of part of each other; the fields need bridging, and critical
people around the globe, and corporate-driven school pedagogy is one bridge.
reforms can be understood more clearly when class is part Drawing from his experience teaching literacy to
of the analysis. That is not to imply that class should be adults, Freire distinguished between technical and criti-
given primacy over race or gender, but rather that these cal approaches to literacy. A technical approach focuses
244 Knowledge Construction and Critical Studies
on language as a subject distinct from the world of stu- lesson plans, since critical pedagogy directly opens up
dents, or "words emptied of the reality they are meant to very difficult and painful issues in the classroom
represent" (Freire, 1973, p. 37). Critical literacy begins (Ellsworth, 1989; Obidah, 2000). We have worked with
with words within students' experience and then situates many teachers who, even when they are drawn to ideas
them historically, helping students learn to question their of critical pedagogy, end up dismissing it because they do
world, with language serving as a tool of critical analysis. not know what to do with it in their classrooms. Particu-
Language, then, is a key tool in development of con- larly given the back-to-basics tmn of the past several
sciousness and voice. Macedo and Bartolome (1999) chal- years, critical pedagogy suggests a very different paradigm
lenged the notion that multicultural education can take from that institutionalized in most schools. There is a
place in English only, noting that "one cannot celebrate need for practical guidance that does not, in the process,
different cultural values through the very dominant lan- sacrifice conceptual grounding.
guage that devalues, in many ways, the cultural experi- Second, most of the literature in critical pedagogy does
ences of different cultural groups," and that "language is not directly address race, ethnicity, or gender, and as such
the only means through which one comes to conscious- it has a White bias. Since much of it grows from a class
ness" (p. 34). Identity, values, experiences, interpreta- analysis, with some exceptions it foregrounds social class.
tions, and ideologies are encoded linguistically; one Critical pedagogy may well appeal to radical White edu-
knows the world and oneself through language. Because cators who see class as the main axis of oppression, but
consciousness is shaped through language, language can doing so can marginalize race and have the effect of ele-
serve as a means of control as well as a means of libera- vating the power of largely White radical theorists over
tion (Giroux & McLaren, 1992; Macedo, 1994). theorists of color, even if this is not intended. Further,
These ideas resonate with many second language White theorists taking on race and racism does not
teachers and bilingual educators who are conscious of resolve the problem of Whites having the power to define
oppression. For example, on the basis of his work as an how race and racism are theorized. In a discussion of Chi-
ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher to adult cando border pedagogy, Elenes (1997) argued that peo-
farmworkers, Graman (1988) explained that when lan- ple of color must articulate theory for themselves.
guage was treated as a subject abstracted from everyday However helpful writings of White critical pedagogues
life, students lost interest. Drawing language from life and might be, White writers still produce silences and
then examining students' problems and dreams politically assumptions that arise from lived experiences. She writes:
in the context of second language instruction engaged
them in learning and helped them use education to act on Much of the problematic of this discussion over differences is that
their own behalf. In short, critical pedagogy can enrich until recently only those who were marked as different were con-
analysis of language within multicultural education. sidered in the theorization of difference. If differences are going to
be constituted in nonessentialist ways, it is necessary to mark,
deconstruct, and decenter whiteness and privilege. (p. 371)
Limitations of Critical Pedagogy and Its Implications for
Multicultural Education
Elenes found much value in critical pedagogy writings,
Critical pedagogy has two major limitations that need to but at the same time she pointed out that the privilege of
be acknowledged. First, although it developed through White theorists needs to be examined critically.
practice in Latin America, within the United States it has Grande (2000) took this argument further, pointing
been developed mainly at a theoretical level, often leav- out ideas and assumptions that are central to critical ped-
ing practitioners unclear about what to do. Its theoretical agogy that clash with indigenous perspectives. Critical
writings tend to be conceptually dense, which many prac- pedagogues question essentialized identities and value
titioners find difficult to understand, although one can border crossing, while the history of border crossing and
find literature that shows what critical pedagogy "looks blending cultures has meant "Whitestream America . . .
like" in practice (e.g., Bromley, 1989; Pruyn, 1994, 1999; appropriating Native lands, culture, spiritual practices,
Students for Cultural and Linguistic Democracy, 1996; history and literature" (p. 481). Further, the "seemingly
Wink, 1997). In this, a strength and limitation of critical liberatory constructs of fluidity, mobility, and transgres-
pedagogy are joined. Critical pedagogues argue that the sion" are part of "the fundamental lexicon of Western
ideology of the teacher is of central importance; critical imperialism" (p. 483). Thus, although the insights of crit-
pedagogy cannot be reduced to method or technique. At ical pedagogy and their implications for multicultural
the same time, teachers need guidance when translating education are valuable, one also needs to be concerned
ideological clarity into practice; radical teachers can still with how the power to name the issues affects both which
teach in very traditional ways (Pruyn, 1999). This trans- issues get addressed and whose interests are served in the
lation needs to go far beyond learning steps or seeing process.
Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education 245
.
Cl,-* _:..>;"-iC .*fi. .,_ :- .i.r-li-*x--- I&?l.-II-m,i- .db-- Y\"L~-:-.li~.,"~>ri . .:-..a 7 .-- _I_A s.?*2;. revolution in the humanities and from p~~t~~lon~anadl ism
CRITICAL RACE THEORY AND
poststructuralism (Roithmayr, 1999). Indeed, CRT has
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
expanded to include complementary branches such as
m.x=>..=. ---.*. .="-<?.--.- -=-..*-.---.7- -..-.--"---'%as- =, mrA-?.--:*** 2'A*:-= zs.==- *..Pa=*&:: Latina/o critical race theory (LatCrits), critical race feml-
Critical race theory is an analytical framework developed
nists (FemCrits) , and Tribal Crits (Brayboy, 2001). These
primarily, though not exclusively, by legal scholars of
branches continue to influence and reshape a growing CRT
color to address social justice and racial oppression in U.S.
movement that includes more than 400 CRT law review
society. According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), "The
articles and dozens of books (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001).
critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of
Although CRT began in legal studies, it has spread to
activists and scholars interested in studying and trans-
other disciplines, including education. One might think
forming the relationship among race, racism, and power"
of CRT in education as a developing theoretical, concep-
(p. 2). Among CRT's basic theoretical themes is that of
tual, methodological, and pedagogical strategy that
privileging contextual and historical descriptions over
accounts for the role of race and racism in U.S. education
abstract or ahistorical ones. It is therefore important to
and works toward the elimination of racism as part of a
understand the genealogy of CRT in education with
larger goal of eliminating other forms of subordination
respect to its contextual and historical relations to critical
(Solorzano, 1998). Since 1994, scholars of color in the
legal studies, the civil rights movement, radicaVU.S. third-
field of education have been increasingly employing it in
world feminism, and the other theoretical traditions from
their research and practice. Tate's autobiographical article
which it borrows (Matsuda, Lawrence, Delgado, & Cren-
in Urban Education (1994) was the first explicit use of
shaw, 1993). Its conception can be located in the mid-
CRT in education. A year later, Ladson-Billings and Tate
1970s with the work of legal scholars such as Derrick Bell
(1995) laid the conceptual background for much of the
and Alan Freeman, who were frustrated with the slow
applied CRT work done shortly thereafter. Today a grow-
pace of racial reform within the liberal civil rights tradi-
ing body of scholarship in education uses CRT as a
tion in the United States. They were joined by other legal
framework to examine a variety of educational issues at
scholars, students, and activists who felt that the advances
both the K-12 and the postsecondary levels (e.g., Aguirre,
of the civil rights movement had been stalled and in fact
2000; Gonzalez, 1998; Ladson-Billings, 1998, 1999, 2000;
were being rolled back (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000).
Lynn, 1999; Parker, Deyhle, & Villenas 1999; Solorzano,
During the 1980s, CRT continued to emerge as a
1997, 1998; Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001;
response to critical legal studies (CLS). CLS originated with
Solorzano & Villalpando, 1998; Solorzano & Yosso, 2000,
a predominantly White male group of leftist law professors
2001; Tate, 1997; Villenas & Deyhle, 1999). Special jour-
who challenged the traditional legal scholarship that cre-
nal issues on CRT in education have also appeared (Inter-
ates, supports, and legitimates social power in U.S. society
nationalJoumal of Qualitative Stud~esi n Education, 1998;
(Matsuda et al., 1993). As Wing (1997) pointed out, "Peo-
Qualitative Inquiry, 2002; Equity and Excellence in Educa-
ple of color, white women, and others were attracted by
tion, 2002).
CLS because it challenged orthodox ideas about the invio-
lability and objectivity of laws that oppressed minorities
Potential Implications of Critical Race Theoryfor
and white women for centuries" (p. 2). However, some of
Multicultural Education
these scholars also felt that CIS excluded the perspectives
of people of color and that the CLS movement was inat- Critical race theory has at least three important implica-
tentive to racism's role in both the U.S. legal system and tions for multicultural education: (a) it theorizes about
U.S. society As a result, legal scholars of color began artic- race while also addressing the intersectionality of racism,
ulating a theory of race and racism that "allows us to bet- classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression; (b) it
ter understand how racial power can be produced even challenges Eurocentric epistemologies and dominant ide-
from within a liberal discourse that is relatively ologies such as meritocracy, objectivity, and neutrality;
autonomous from organized vectors of racial power" and (c) it uses counterstorytelling as a methodological
(Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Thomas, 1995, p. xxv). and pedagogical tool.
Just as CRT builds on the insights and weaknesses of Although multicultural education emerged as a chal-
CLS, it also draws on the work of ethnic studies and U.S. lenge to racism in schools, its writings tend to focus on
third-world feminism. Some would argue that the geneal- classroom practices without necessarily contextualizing
ogy of CRT goes back as far as W.E.B. DuBois, Sojourner classrooms within an analysis of racism. Teacher training
Truth, Frederick Douglass, Cesar Chavez, and the Black in multicultural education often takes the fornz of offering
Power and Chicano movements of the 1960s and 1970s solutions to problems connected to race and ethnicity
(Delgado & Stefancic, 2001). Most recently, critical race without digging very deeply into the nature of the prob-
theory has borrowed much from the postmodern cultural lem. CRT in education is similar to antiracist education
246 Knowledge Construction and Critical Studies
(discussed in the next section) because it is a social jus- Recently, the branch of CRT called Latinalo criti
tice paradigm that seeks to combat racism as part of a theory (LatCrit) has added layers ofkomplexity
larger goal of ending all forms of subordination. Educa- concept of intersectionality by analyzing Latindo i -,,lo-
tion scholars using CRT theorize about "raced" education ties and positionalities in relation to race, class, and gen-
in ways found too infrequently in multicultural educa- der, as well as language (Romany, 19961, immigration
tion. As Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) pointed out, (Garcia, 1995; Johnson, 1996-97), culture (Montoya,
there is a need to do this because race remains untheo- 1994, 1997), religodspirituality (Iglesias & Valdes, 1998;
rized as a topic of scholarly inquiry in education. Sanchez, 1998), and sexuality (Iglesias .& Valdes, 1998).
Although scholars have examined race as a tool for under- For example, Villalpando (2003) used a CRT and LatCrit
standing social inequities, "the intellectual salience of this framework to examine how Chicando college students
theorizing has not been systematically employed in the draw from their language, religion/spirituality, and culture
analysis of educational inequality" (p. 50). CRT scholars as tools in their struggle for success in higher education.
believe that race as an analytical tool, rather than a bio- He uses a counterstory methodology and an intersectional
logical or socially constructed category used to compare analysis to highlight cultural practices and beliefs of the
and contrast social conditions, can deepen the analysis of peer group that function as empowering and nourishing
educational barriers for people of color, as well as illumi- cultural resources for Chicana/o students. One of the
nate how they resist and overcome these barriers. more important cultural practices is how the peer group
One example of using race as an analytical tool is found adopts roles and characteristics of a student's family of
within what Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) called the origin. In other words, Chicando peers often offer sup-
"property issue." Critical race legal scholars introduced the port, understanding, or admonishment similar to what
property issue by examining the historical construction of they receive at home. c his cultural practic-e helped Chi-
Wuteness as the most valued type of property and how the cando students cope with the marginalization they expe-
concept of individual rights has been linked to property rienced via racist structures, practices, and discourses in
rights in the United States since the writing of the U.S. higher education.
Constitution (Bell, 1987, Harris, 1993). Ladson-Billings and These types of analyses could contribute to multicul-
Tate demonstrated that property relates to education in tural education by interrogating the racialized context
explicit and implicit ways. One obvious example is how of teaching, and connecting race with multiple forms of
property owners largely reap the highest educational ben- oppression. Multicultural research conducted within a
efits: those with the best property are entitled to the best CRT framework might offer a way to understand and
schools. They write, "Recurring discussions about property analyze the multiple identities and knowledges of
tax relief indicate that more affluent communities (which people of color without essentializing their various
have hgher property values, hence higher tax assessments) experiences.
resent paylng for a public school system whose clientele is A second potential contribution of CRT is the way that
largely non-white and poor" (p. 53). An implicit way in it challenges Eurocentric epistemology and questions
which property relates to education is the way in which dominant discursive notions of meritocracy, objectivity,
curriculum represents a form of "intellectual property" that knowledge, and individualism. The concept of episte-
is interconnected to race. The quality and quantity of the mology is more than just a "way of knowing" and can be
curriculum varies with the "property values" of the school defined as a "system of knowing" that is linked to world-
so that intellectual property is directly connected to "real" views that are based on the conditions under which peo-
property in the form of course offerings, classroom ple live and learn (Ladson-Billings, 2000). Ladson-Billings
resources, science labs, technology, and certified and pre- argues that "there are well-developed systems of knowl-
pared teachers (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). edge, or epistemologies, that stand in contrast to the dom-
In addition to using race as an analytical tool, critical inant Euro-American epistemology" (p. 258). Critical race
race theorists challenge the separate discourses on race, theorists ground their research in these systems of knowl-
class, and gender and focus on the intersectionality of edge and "integrate their experiential knowledge, drawn
subordination (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002). Crenshaw from a shared history as 'other' with their ongoing strug-
(1993) saw intersectionality as a concept that links vari- gles to transform" (Barnes, 1990, pp. 1864-1865).
ous forms of oppression (racism, classism, sexism) with For example, in his study of socially active African
their political consequences (e.g., global capitalism, grow- American teachers, Lynn (1999) drew from African-cen-
ing poverty, large numbers of incarcerated youth of color). tered epistemological paradigms and critical race theory
The property issue is an example of how the intersection to theorize about a critical race pedagogy that is in part
of race and class interests offers a more complete under- based on a system of knowledge that counters the dom-
standing of the current inequities in schools and districts inant Euro-American epistemology. He defined critical
in which the majority of students are poor and of color. race pedagogy as "an analysis of racial, ethnic, and
Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education 247
gender subordination in education that relies mostly on analysis and scholarship. CRT work in storytelling
the perceptions, experiences, and counterhegemonic provides a rich way of conceptualizing multicultural cur-
practices of educators of color" (p. 615). On the basis of riculum. Because critical race scholars view experiential
the reflections of African American educators, he argued knowledge as a strength, they draw explicitly on the lived
that critical race pedagogues are concerned with a num- experiences of people of color by including such methods
ber of issues: the endemic nature of racism in the United as storytelling, family history, biographies, parables, testi-
States; the importance of cultural identity; the necessary monios, cuentos, consejos, chronicles, and narratives. Sto-
interaction of race, class, and gender; and the practice rytelling has a rich legacy and continuing tradition in
of liberatory pedagogy. Practicing a liberatory pedagogy African American, Chicando, Asian American, and Amer-
was in some ways similar to the Freirean notion of ican Indian communities. Indeed, Delgado (1995)
critical pedagogy that encourages inquiry, dialogue, and asserted that many of the "early tellers of tales used sto-
participation in the classroom. However, Lynn demon- ries to test and challenge reality, to construct a counter-
strated two key differences between a critical pedagogy reality, to hearten and support each other and to probe,
and a critical race pedagogy: the daily struggle against mock, displace, jar, or reconstruct the dominant tale or
racist discursive practices provided African American narrative" (p. xviii).
teachers with a unique position from which to build Counterstorytelling is a methodological tool that
their curricula, and there was a strong emphasis on allows one to tell the story of those experiences that are
developing and maintaining a sense of cultural identity not often told (i.e., by those on the margins of society)
by teaching children about Africa and African American and to analyze and challenge the stories of those in power
cultural experiences. (Delgado, 1989). The stories people of color tell often
By grounding itself in systems of knowledge that counter the majoritarian or stock story that is a natural
counter a dominant Eurocentric epistemology, critical part of the dominant discourse. Building on the work of
race theory in education offers a tool for dismantling pre- Delgado (1989), some education scholars argue that these
vailing notions of fairness, meritocracy, colorblindness, counterstories serve multiple methodological and peda-
and neutrality (Parker, Deyhle, & Villenas, 1999). Raced gogical functions such as building community among
and gendered epistemologies allow CRT scholars to those at the margins of society, putting a human and
deconstruct master narratives and illustrate the way in familiar face on educational theory and practice, and chal-
which discursive and cultural sites "may be a form of lenging perceived wisdom about the schooling of students
colonialism, a way of imparting white, Westernized con- of color (Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001; Solorzano
ceptions of enlightened thinking" (Roithmayr, 1999, p. & Yosso, 200 1).
5). For example, Gutierrez (2000) examined Walt Dis- One way that education scholars are attempting to put
ney's ideological shift from conservatism (1930s-1970s) a "human and familiar face to educational theory and
to present-day liberal multiculturalism, particularly within practice" is through the development of composite char-
its Spanish-speaking market. He argued that the discur- acters that are based on inlerviews, focus groups, and
sive notions promoted by Disney continue to be based on biographical narratives in the humanities and social sci-
dominant Eurocentric ideologies that maintain a form of ence literature. This work builds on the scholarship of
cultural hegemony. He offered critical race theory as one Bell (1985, 1987), who tells stories of society's treatment
of several ways to examine the master narratives (capital- of race through his protagonist and alter ego, Geneva
ist, racist, and heterosexist ideals) exposed specifically to Crenshaw; and Delgado (1995, 1999), who addresses
Latindo children and believed Disney movies provide race, class, and gender issues through Rodrigo Crenshaw,
"numerous opportunities for children and adults to the half-brother of Geneva. The web of composite char-
engage in critical discussions regarding power, domina- acters that have recently appeared in educational journals
tion, and repression" (p. 31). These types of critical dis- and chapters represent very real life experiences and are
cussions that challenge the insidious nature of a created to illuminate the educational system's role in
Eurocentric epistemological perspective and dismantle racial, gender, and class oppression, as well as the myriad
master narratives can and should take place more fre- responses by people of color (Delgado Bernal, 1999;
quently in multicultural classrooms. As this example Solorzano & Delgado Bemal, 2001; Solorzano and Villal-
shows, by engaging teachers and students in a critical pando, 1998; Solorzano & Yosso, 2000, 2001; Villal-
analysis of epistemologies that underlie curriculum and pando, 2003). In addition, these composite characters
other school processes, critical race theory offers tools allow students and educators of color to relate to or
that dig deeply into issues and problems that concern empathize with the experiences described in the coun-
multicultural education. terstories, through which they can better understand that
A third (and potentially the greatest) contribution of they are not alone in their position. Solorzano (1998)
CRT is its justification and use of storytelling in legal writes:
248 Knowledge ConstructioI n and Critical Studies
In that space or moment when one connects with these experi- on a unidimensional characteristic, such as race, ethnic-
ences, these stories can be the catalyst for one's own coming to ity, or gender. Critics argue that an essentialist notion of
voice, of not feeling alone, and knowing that someone has gone
identity is simplistic and does not allow for the myriad
before them, had similar experiences, and succeeded. (p. 131)
experiences that shape who we are and what we know.
Crenshaw and colleagues write, "To be sure, some of the
Counterstorytelling can serve as a pedagogical tool by
foundational essays of CRT could be vulnerable to such a
allowing multicultural educators to better understand and
critique, particularly when read apart from the context
appreciate the unique experiences and responses of stu-
and conditions of their production" (Crenshaw et al.,
dents of color through a deliberate, conscious, and open
1995, p. xxv). However, what many critics do not under-
type of listening. In other words, an important compo-
stand is that despite the name critical race theory, most
nent of using counterstories includes not simply telling
critical race scholars argue against an analysis based solely
nonmajoritarian stories but also learning how to listen
on race or some other unitary essentialized defining char-
and hear the messages in them (Delgado Bernal, 2002).
acteristic. For example, Hanis (2000) points to the inher-
Legal scholar Robert Williams (1997) believes that coun-
ent problem of race and gender essentialism in
terstorytelling and critical race practice are "mostly about
fragmenting people's identities and experiences:
learning to listen to other people's stories and then find-
ing ways to make those stories matter in the legal system"
In this essay I use the term "gender essentialism" to describe the
(p. 765). Likewise, learning to listen to counterstories and notion that there is a monolithic "women's experience" that can be
then making those stories matter in the educational sys- described independently of other facets of experience like race,
tem is an important pedagogical practice for teachers and class, and sexual orientation. A corollary to gender essentialism is
students. "racial essentialismn-the belief that there is a monolithic "black
experience" or "Chicano experience." The effect of gender and
Indeed, Gay (1995) asserted that the foundation of
racial essentialism (and all other essentialisms, for the list of cate-
multicultural curriculum should be counterstories, but
gories could be infinite) is to reduce the lives of people who expe-
much of what ends up passing for multicultural curricu-
rience multiple forms of oppression to addition problems: "racism
lum is the dominant story with "Others" incorporated + sexism = straight black women's experience," or "racism + sex-
into it. Yosso (2002) proposed a critical race curriculum ism + homophobia = black lesbian experience." (p. 263)
that is based on counterstories, thereby providing "stu-
dents with an oppositional language to challenge the Certainly, "critical legal scholarship of race (and gender
deficit societal discourses with which they are daily bom- or sexual orientation) in recent times has interrogated and
barded" (p. 15). Rather than adding on the experiences helped debunk various essentialisms and power hierar-
of Others or pushing students toward "discovering" a chies based on race . . .and other constructs" (Valdes,
monolithic people of color, her understanding of a criti- 1996, p. 3). With increased transnational labor and com-
cal race curriculum "explores and utilizes shared and munication, many critical race scholars argue to move
individual experiences of race, class, gender, immigration beyond essentialist notions of identity and of what counts
status, language, and sexuality in education" (p. 16). As as knowledge. Although race is forefronted in CRT, it is
such, a multicultural curriculum that grounds itself in the viewed as a fluid and dynamic concept and as one of the
counterstorytelling of critical race theory has the poten- many components that are woven together to form one's
tial to move a watered-down multicultural curriculum positionality in a shifting set of social relationships.
away from simply celebrating difference and reducing There are numerous critiques of critical race scholars'
prejudice, to a "critical race curriculum" that actively use of stories and narratives in legal scholarship (e.g., see
names and challenges racism and other forms of injustice. Farber & Sheny, 1993, 1997; Posner, 1997). Many criti-
cal race scholars have responded in more detail than we
can offer within the scope of this chapter. The critiques
Limitations of Critical Race Theory and Its Implications
are grounded in a debate over alternative ways of know-
for Mtllticultural Education
ing and understanding, subjectivity versus objectivity, and
Critical race theory has received numerous critiques different conceptions of truth. Briefly stated, critics believe
within legal studies, but few within education. We will that CRT theorists
address two of these critiques: the essentialist critique and
the personal stories and narratives critique. We will also relentlessly replace traditional scholarship with personal stories,
which hardly represent common experiences. The proliferation of
address the problems associated with being a relatively
stories makes it impossible for others to debate. . . . An infatuation
new area of study in education.
with narrative infects and distorts [their] attempts at analysis.
Within legal studies, some critics of CRT argue that it
Instead of scientifically investigating whether rewarding individuals
is an essentialist paradigm based on race. In general, according to merit has any objective basis, [they] insist on telling
essentialism is rooted in an identity politics that is based stories about their personal struggles. (T. W. Simon, 1999, p. 3)
Critical Pedagogy, CriticaI Race Theory, and Antiracist Education 249
Farber and Sherry (1993) argued against the pedagogical Ladson-Billings (1998) warns that CRT in education may
and methodological use of stories in legal scholarship, continue to generate scholarly papers and debate, but she
stating that "storytellers need to take greater steps to doubts that it will ever penetrate the classrooms and daily
ensure that their stories are accurate and typical, to artic- experiences of students of color. If it does, she worries
ulate the legal relevance of the stories, and to include an that it may become a very different innovation, similar to
analytic dimension in their work" (p. 809). They also the transmutation of multicultural education theory. She
argued that just because counterstories draw explicitly on points out that many scholars such as James A. Banks,
the lived experiences of people of color does not prove Carl Grant, and Geneva Gay began a "scholarly path
the existence of a new perspective based on "a voice of designed to change schools as institutions so that students
color." They, in fact, disagreed that people of color write might be prepared to reconstruct the society" (p. 22). Yet
in a different voice or offer a new perspective that differs in its current practice multicultural education is often
from traditional scholarship. superficial and based on holidays and food. In order to
Interestingly, most critics do not acknowledge that remain true to its principles of social justice and advocacy,
Eurocentrism has become the dominant mind-set that critical race scholars will need to be attentive to the pos-
directly affects the mainstream stories told about race. sibility of the transmutation of CRT into depoliticized dis-
Because Eurocentrism and White privilege appear to be courses and practices in schools.
the norm, many people continue to believe that education
in the United States is a meritocratic, unbiased, and fair
---m*.fl-k-x- ~*&*+a.w*=wPw~#~.-+ +--a.az 7 a-w-'' .5s-- %, -add%-
process. Delgado (1993) points out that "majoritarians tell ANTIRACIST EDUCATION
stories too. But the ones they tell-about merit, causation, -I .-rald-*--w.mz* ---b?=-Pr ra. sxxm- mr n*r- rr fils r=;=rr.-i*r
blame, responsibility, and social justice--do not seem to Antiracist education emerged largely in opposition to
them like stories at all, but the truth (p. 666). At the same multicultural education, particularly in Britain (Brandt,
time, critics argue that critical race scholars' stories, nar- 1986), where it challenged "the apolitical and folksy ori-
ratives, and autobiographies are unreliable sources of truth entation of multicultural education" (Bonnett & Car-
(Posner, 1997). At issue is the question of what counts as rington, 1996). Contexts in which multicultural and
truth and who gets to decide. Also at issue is the matter of antiracist education emerged have differed across national
how to generalize. Counterstories derive generalization borders, so national debates have differed (Bonnett &
through their resonance with lived experiences of Camngton; May, 1999a); but debates have been vigorous,
oppressed peoples, rather than through parametric statis- particularly in Canada and Britain (Modgil, Verma,
tics, but some empirical researchers do not see this as a Mallick, & Modgil, 1986). In both Britain and Canada
valid way of making claims that generalize. during the late 1970s and 1980s, multicultural education
Finally, critical race theory is a relatively new area of was codified into national policy and school programs,
study in education with a limited amount of literature drawing "its inspiration and rationale from white middle-
using it as an analytical framework, and with few specific class professional understandings of how the educational
connections to multicultural education. Although educa- system might best respond to the perceived 'needs' and
tion scholars are reshaping and extending critical race the- 'interests' of black students and their parents" (Troyna,
ory in ways very different from what legal scholars are 1987, p. 308). Its critics saw multicultural education as a
doing, they need more time to study and understand the way for White educators to "manage" the "problems"
legal literature from which it emerges (Ladson-Billings, brought about by ethnic minority students (e.g., James,
1998; Roithmayr, 1999). Most education scholars who use 2001; Troyna, 1987). Antiracist education grew, mainly in
CRT make a sharp distinction between CRT and multicul- urban areas, out of community activism addressing racism
tural education on the basis of the popular manifestations in various dimensions of public life (Steiner-Khamsi,
of multicultural education that pay little attention to racism 1990). Antiracist education "can be defined as an action-
and its intersections with other forms of subordination. oriented strategy for institutional, systemic change to
With a few exceptions (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Lad- address racism and the interlocking systems of social
son-Billings, 1999), education theorists have not offered oppression" (Dei, 1996, p. 25).
direct implications of CRT for multicultural education. The In Britain, antiracist education was severely attacked
future of critical race theory in education and in multicul- by the New Right in the late 1980s. After 1988, national
tural education depends on the efforts of educators to educational policy was "deracialized," in that references
explore its possible connections to racism in schools and to race and ethnicity were replaced by references to
communities of color (Parker, 1998; Tate, 1997). authority and national identity. Antiracist education was
As a relatively new area of study, CRT may face a prob- also criticized by its allies, who argued that it had mar-
lem that multicultural education has experienced: trans- ginalized culture and overly essentialized racial categories
mutation into a depoliticized discourse in schools. (Gillborn, 1995). Antiracism as a movement declined in