ERIC Number: EJ1433844
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0951-8398
EISSN: EISSN-1366-5898
"They're Not a Project. They're People." A Study of Black Educators Critiquing the (Mis)Uses of Social Justice Discourses
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v37 n7 p1956-1970 2024
Discourses of social justice are becoming increasingly prevalent in educational spaces, with rising numbers of teachers and teacher education programs expressing their aims to teach towards social justice. Yet, recent scholarship has documented the contested meanings of social justice in contemporary educational contexts. This qualitative case study aims to build upon existing literature by examining how two equity-oriented Black educators in an urban elementary school conceptualized and critiqued the discourses of social justice circulating in their school. Through thematic and discourse analysis of data generated through teacher inquiry group meetings and interviews, it examines their experiences with the language of social justice becoming associated with dehumanization and white saviorism, and it documents the equity-oriented pedagogical positions constructed by these teachers in opposition to such discourses. This analysis draws attention to contemporary (mis)uses of social justice discourses and proposes implications for justice- and equity-oriented teacher education.
Descriptors: African American Teachers, Social Justice, Discourse Analysis, Equal Education, Urban Schools, Elementary School Teachers, Language Usage, Whites, Humanization, Educational Practices, Teacher Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A