Undoing Whiteness in the Classroom: Critical Educultural Teaching Approaches for Social Justice Activism

by Virginia Lea (Editor), Erma Jean Sims (Editor)

At the start of the twenty-first century, government mandates and corporate practices are resulting in growing inequities in the U.S. educational field. Many view this as being driven by whiteness hegemony. Undoing Whiteness in the Classroom is a comprehensive effort to bring together, in one volume, educultural practices and teaching strategies that deconstruct whiteness hegemony, empower individuals to develop critical consciousness, and inspire them to engage in social justice activism. Through music, the visual and performing arts, narrative, and dialogue, educulturalism opens us up to becoming more aware of the oppressive cultural and institutional forces that make up whiteness hegemony. Educulturalism allows us to identify how whiteness hegemony functions to obscure the power, privilege, and practices of the dominant social elite, and reproduce inequities and inequalities within education and wider society.

Genres: Education

276 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[MacK · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a student and a teacher who cares deeply about multiculturalism I was quite interested in cracking open this book during my thesis literature review. And I'm glad to say that it was wonderfully relevant to my topic, full of insightful practice suggestions and compelling argumentation.

The one thing that makes the reading difficult is the occasional fury which overwhelms the argument. The injustices and indignities are certainly cause for anger, and far be it from me to deny anyone their right to voice that feeling. But as someone looking for tangible theories to illuminate my own research, the emotion seemed to skew away from critical inspection to righteous rally cry. In using such a firebrand, absolutist, either/or tone, some of the authors (unintentionally, I'm sure) make dialogue and engagement between readers and ideas difficult forcing them to either be a soldier for the Educultural approach, or vehemently against it.

In the life of a moderate, and a scholar it's hard for me to keep from feeling uncomfortable while reading this book. Though I'm sure part of the author's intent is to keep the paradigm sculpting elite of the world (guys who look a lot like me) uncomfortable, it doesn't change the fact that I am. But just being uncomfortable won't stop me from reading, reflecting and doing all I can to contribute to a more inclusive society.