Swimming through whiteness : exploring non-racism and anti-racism in social studies teacher education /

Abstract

This dissertation sought to uncover the racial knowledge, racial standpoint, and racial pedagogical decision making of secondary social studies teacher education students. Grounded in critical race theory and critical whiteness studies this study examined the ways in which participants engaged with non-racism and anti-racism while developing a racial standpoint in the social studies classroom. Findings indicate that although participants' racial knowledge and understanding increased struggles persisted in enacting anti-racist social studies pedagogical approaches. Implications for research, policy, and praxis are discussed. In Chapter 1, I detail the overarching context of the study, introduced the theoretical framing, and provided definitions for key terms that will appear throughout the dissertation. Chapter 2 features a discussion of the theoretical foundation of this study as well as relevant research literature on the teaching and learning of race/ism within social studies education. Chapter 3 provides a detailed description of the research methods and methodology deployed in this study as well as a discussion of researcher positionality. In Chapter 4, I present findings related to participants' foundational racial knowledge and understanding. Chapter 5 includes a discussion of the three racial standpoints embodied by participants over the course of the semester. Finally, Chapter 6 includes a discussion of the implications of this study for social studies, teacher education, and the understanding of race/ism in America.