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In this article, we examine how southern white Christian secondary mathematics teacher candidates reflected on racial inequities in academic opportunities and school discipline after engaging with data sets highlighting such disparities. Using a lens of racial noticing, informed by Leonardo’s (2009) conceptualization of whiteness as a racial discourse that normalizes white dominance, we analyze candidates’ written reflections to identify how they interpreted and responded to issues of race in mathematics education. Two dominant themes emerged: the normalization of implicit biases and the tensions between aspiring to objectivity and acknowledging subjectivity in educational practices. Both patterns aligned with whiteness by obscuring systemic inequities. Notably, while many candidates avoided overt deficit views of students of color, their reflections often framed inequities as personal or inevitable rather than structural. We conjecture that their Christian commitments reinforced color-evasive framings while also discouraging overtly deficit interpretations. Statistical investigations, however, created openings for naming race and bias, suggesting both the potential and the limits of such approaches. Findings underscore the need for teacher education to explicitly confront whiteness, with data investigations that highlight racial disparities as being a promising avenue to develop racial literacy and promote systemic change.
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Rooting Race in Place: Whites’ Racial Learning in Southern Kinds of Places
Abstract We draw from 70 in-depth interviews with White southerners to examine their memories of and experiences with learning about race and whiteness. Our emphasis is on place and how it shapes Whites’ racial learning. To date, most research on racial learning centers ethno-racial minority children and their families and emphasizes when racial learning occurs. Less attention is paid to where it takes place. To remedy this, we center Southern kinds of places - those places and the social scenes within them that reflect, extend, and challenge dominant ideas about race and region. We examine three specific scenes - southern homes, southern schools, and southern college campuses - to illustrate how each shapes the racial lessons Whites receive. By bringing into focus the places White southerners draw upon when making sense of race, our research offers an important contribution to our understanding of whiteness and its transmission.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2115147
- PAR ID:
- 10540988
- Publisher / Repository:
- Social Problems
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Social Problems
- ISSN:
- 0037-7791
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spae018
