This article explores how a small group of white middle– and upper–middle–class female student teachers constructed an image of what it means to be a “white” teacher. Through the use of qualitative participatory action research methods, the participants in this study critically reflected on their understandings of multicultural education and their positions as white student teachers involved in a teacher education program.
The participants were invited to be researchers about their daily lives, to pose problems that arose from the complexities of their own racial identities, and to develop realistic solutions for dealing with racism in their classrooms. Through initial one-to-one interviews, and during eight two-hour group sessions, the participants were provided with opportunities to view themselves as “white”—an experience that was relatively new to them. It also provided them with a challenging and highly provocative way to view their roles as white teachers.
The data presented in this article suggest that by white educators’ questioning and confronting their white identities and challenging the meaning of being “white” teachers, they can more effectively pursue teaching practices that significantly alter the way white students are educated about themselves and about multicultural education.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AhlquistR. (1991). Position and imposition: Power relations in a multicultural foundations class. Journal of Negro Education, 60 (2), 158–169.
2.
BanksJ. A. (1993). Multicultural education: Characteristics and goals. In BanksJ. A., & BanksC. A. (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (2nd ed.) (pp. 3–28). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
3.
BritzmanD. (1986). Cultural myths in the making of a teacher: Biography and social structure in teacher education. Harvard Educational Review, 56 (4), 442–456.
4.
CampbellD. (1996). Choosing democracy: A practical guide to multicultural education.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
5.
CarterR. T. (1997). Is white a race? Expressions of white racial identity. In FineM., WeisL., PowellL. C., & WongL. M. (Eds.), Off white: Readings on race, power, and society (pp. 198–209). New York: Routledge.
6.
CharmazK. (1990). “Discovering” chronic illness: Using grounded theory. Social Science & Medicine, 30 (11), 1161–1172.
7.
Cochran-SmithM. (1991). Learning to teach against the grain. Harvard Educational Review, 61 (3), 279–310.
8.
Cochran-SmithM. (1995). Uncertain allies: Understanding the boundaries of race and teaching. Harvard Educational Review, 65 (4), 541–570.
9.
Cochran-SmithM., & LytleS. (1993). Inside outside: Teacher research and knowledge.New York: Teachers College Press.
10.
ElderJ. (1974). White on white: An anti-racism manual for white educators in the process of becoming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of MassachusettsAmherst.
11.
Fals-BordaO., & RahmanM. A. (Eds.). (1991). Action and knowledge: Breaking the monopoly with participatory action-research.New York: Apex Press.
12.
FineM. (1992). Passions, politics, and power: Feminist research possibilities. In FineM. (Ed.), Disruptive voices: The possibilities of feminist research (pp. 205–231). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
13.
FineM. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In DenzinN., & LincolnY. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 70–82). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
ForesterJ., PittJ., & WelshJ. (Eds.). (1993). Profiles of participatory action researchers.Ithaca, NY: Einaudi Center for International Studies and Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.
15.
FrankenbergR. (1993). White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
16.
FreireP. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York: The Seabury Press.
17.
FreireP. (1973). Education for critical consciousness (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York: The Seabury Press.
18.
FreireP. (1994). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. (R. Barr, Trans.). New York: Continuum.
19.
GrantC. A., & ZozakiewiczC. A. (1995). Student teachers, cooperating teachers, and supervisors: Interrupting the multicultural silences of student teaching. In LarkinJ. M., & SleeterC. E. (Eds.), Developing multicultural teacher education curricula (pp. 259–278). Albany: SUNY Press.
20.
HardimanR. (1982). White identity development: A process oriented model for describing the racial consciousness of white Americans. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43, 104A. (University Microfilms No. 82–10330)
21.
HelmsJ. E. (Ed.). (1993). Black and white racial identity: Theory, research and practice.Westport, CT: Praeger.
22.
HelmsJ. E. (1994). The conceptualization of racial identity and other “racial” constructs. In TrickettE. J., WattsR. J., & BirmanD. (Eds.), Human diversity (pp. 285–311). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
23.
HooksB. (1995). Killing rage: Ending racism.New York: Henry Holt.
24.
JonesJ. M. (1972). Prejudice and racism.Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
25.
KatzP. A. (Ed.). (1976). Toward the elimination of racism.New York: Pergamon Press.
26.
LawrenceS. M., & TatumB. D. (1997). White educators as allies: Moving from awareness to action. In FineM., WeisL., PowellL. C., & WongL. M. (Eds.), Off white: Readings on race, power, and society (pp. 333–342). New York: Routledge.
27.
LopezI. F. H. (1996). White by law: The legal construction of race.New York: New York University Press.
28.
LykesM. B. (1989). Dialogue with Guatemalan Indian women: Critical perspectives on constructing collaborative research. In UngerR. (Ed.), Representations: Social constructions of gender (pp. 167–185). Amityville, NY: Baywood.
29.
LykesM. B. (1994). Terror, silencing, and children: International, multidisciplinary collaboration with Guatemalan Maya communities. Social Science & Medicine, 38 (4), 543–552.
30.
MaguireP. (1987). Doing participatory research: A feminist approach.Amherst: The Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts.
31.
MaguireP. (1993). Challenges, contradictions, and celebrations: Attempting participatory research as a doctoral student. In ParkP., Brydon-MillerM., HallB., & JacksonT. (Eds.), Voices of change: Participatory research in the United States and Canada (pp. 157–176). Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
32.
McIntoshP. (1992). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies. In AndersonM. L., & CollinsP. H. (Eds.), Race, class, and gender: An anthology (pp. 70–81). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
33.
McIntyreA. (1995). Making meaning of whiteness: Participatory action research with white female student teachers. (Doctoral dissertation, Boston College). Dissertation Abstracts International, 57, p. 175.
34.
McIntyreA. (in press). Making meaning of whiteness: Exploring racial identity with white teachers.Albany: SUNY Press.
35.
McIntyreA., & LykesM. B. (1997). Who's the boss? Confronting whiteness and power differences within a feminist “mentoring” relationship in participatory action research. Manuscript submitted for publication.
36.
Minh-HaT. T. (1996). Gender and cultural politics. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Association of Women in Catholic Higher Education, Boston.
37.
MishlerE. (1986). Research interviewing: Context and narrative.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
38.
MishlerE. (1991). Representing discourse: The rhetoric of transcription. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1 (4), 255–280.
39.
MooreR. (1973). A rationale, description and analysis of a racism awareness program for white teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of MassachusettsAmherst.
40.
National Education Association (1992). Status of the American public school teacher, 1990–91.Washington, D.C.: Author.
41.
NietoS. (1996). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
42.
NoffkeS. (1994). Action research: Towards the next generation. Educational Action Research, 2 (1), 9–21.
43.
OchsE. (1979). Transcription as theory. In OchsE., & SchieffelinB. (Eds.), Developmental pragmatics (pp. 43–72). New York: Academic Press.
44.
ParkP., Brydon-MillerM., HallB., & JacksonT. (Eds.). (1993). Voices of change: Participatory research in the United States and Canada.Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
45.
PonterottoJ. G. (1988). Racial consciousness development among white counselor trainees: A stage model. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 16, 146–156.
46.
ReinharzS. (1992). Feminist methods in social research.New York: Oxford University Press.
47.
ReissmanC. K. (1990). Divorce talk: Women and men make sense of personal relationships.New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
48.
RoedigerD. (1994). Towards the abolition of whiteness: Essays on race, politics, and working class history.London: Verson.
49.
RomanL. (1993). “On the ground” with antiracist pedagogy and Raymond Williams's unfinished project to articulate a socially transformative critical realism. In DworkinD. L., & RomanL. (Eds.), Views beyond the border country: Raymond Williams and cultural politics (pp. 134–158). New York: Routledge.
50.
RosaldoR. (1993). Culture and truth: The remaking of social analysis (2nd ed.). Boston: Beacon Press.
51.
ScheurichJ. (1993). Toward a white discourse on white racism. Educational Researcher, 22 (8), 5–10.
52.
SleeterC. E. (1992). Keepers of the American dream: A study of staff development and multicultural education.London: Falmer Press.
53.
SleeterC. E. (1993). How white teachers construct race. In McCarthyC., & CrichlowW. (Eds.), Race identity and representation in education (pp. 157–171). New York: Routledge.
54.
SleeterC. E. (1995a). Reflections on my use of multicultural and critical pedagogy when students are white. In SleeterC. E., & McLarenP. (Eds.), Multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and the politics of difference (pp. 415–437). Albany: SUNY Press.
55.
SleeterC. E. (1995b). White preservice students and multicultural education coursework. In LarkinJ. M., & SleeterC. E. (Eds.), Developing multicultural teacher education curricula (pp. 17–29). Albany: SUNY Press.
56.
SleeterC. E. (1996). Multicultural education as social activism.Albany: SUNY Press.
57.
SleeterC. E., & GrantC. A. (1988). Making choices for multicultural education: Five approaches to race, class, and gender.New York: Macmillan.
58.
SleeterC. E., & McLarenP. (Eds.). (1995). Introduction: Exploring connections to build a critical multiculturalism. In Sleeter C. E., & McLaren P. (Eds). Multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and the politics of difference (pp. 5–32). Albany: SUNY Press.
59.
TabachnikR., & ZeichnerK. (1991). Issues and practices in inquiry-oriented teacher education.London: Falmer Press.
60.
TannenD. (1984). Conversational style: Analyzing talk among friends.Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
61.
TerryR. W. (1975). For whites only (rev. ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.
62.
TatumB. D. (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62 (1), 1–24.
63.
TatumB. D. (1994). Teaching white students about racism: The search for white allies and the restoration of hope. Teachers College Record, 95, 462–476.
64.
Van GalenJ. A. (1993). Caring in community: The limitations of compassion in facilitating diversity. The Urban Review, 25 (1), 5–24.
65.
ZeichnerK. (1991). Traditions of practice in U.S. preservice teacher education programs. Teaching & Teacher Education, 9, 1–13.
