Racism as “Racialized Social Systems” Placement of people in social categories

Attaching meaning to groups Creation of hierarchies

Top group--economic, social, political power

Conflict: maintain vs. challenge hierarchy Application of racial ideology to explain and

justify hierarchy “Blacks as lacking motivation to work”

Racial Ideologies as “Interpretive Repertoires” “Racetalk”

Avoid being seen as “racist”/Archer Bunker Storylines used to justify hierarchy

“the past is part”/”my friend lost out on a job” Categorizing: whiteness as normalizing

“White lives” isolated in schools/suburbs/peer group

Whites as “racial tourists”-- “others defined by what whiteness is not”

White privilege White students in homogeneous, largely

white high school (Perry, 2001) Less aware of racial identity Perceive Whiteness as norm

Students in diverse high school More aware of racial identity Race as the “principle of social

organization”

Income gap between White and Black families grows Whites: 1974: $50,262 2004: $60,000

19% increase Blacks: 1974: $31,833 2004: $35,010

%10% increase White males in 30s:

1974: $41,995 2004: $40,081 White females in 30s

1974: $4,021 2004: $22,030

Racism and local news: Deficit discourses of urban America Portrayals of urban worlds as “crime-

ridden” http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/vid

eos/racism_and_local_tv_news Conservatives: deficit discourses lead

to backlash policies on taxes/funding related to support for urban areas

Robbinsdale: 281 CARE (Citizens Acting for Responsible Education) $9,000 in advertising on a billboard, lawn

signs and professional services "district problems are brought in with

nonresident students.” "all problems come from open enrollment" "$5.5 million could be saved by throwing out

1,000 students” Jason Lewis "Freedom Dogs" interview

Senator David Hann, R-Eden Prairie If local residents cannot be persuaded to support

increased funding for the schools their children attend, why should we expect citizens across the state to pay higher taxes to support them?

Malone also cites the recent phenomenon of "outside consultants" helping citizen groups organize opposition to levies as evidence of polarizing politics harmful to the mission of education. Yet we think nothing of the aggressive political natures of employment unions and their allies, or of district administrations and their lobbyists, spending huge amounts throughout the year, not just at levy time.

Texts read in the course House on Mango Street Bless me Ultima Kindred Their Eyes Were Watching God Obason Woman Warrior Love Medicine Bastard Out of Carolina Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Co-construction of lived and text worlds (Beach & Myers) Lived worlds

Identities/.roles Objects/purposes Norms Beliefs Traditions/history Dialogic tensions

Text worlds Characters Objects/purposes Norms Beliefs Traditions/history Dialogic tensions

Characters’ hybrid identities Readers experience imaginative performances of

alternatives to their own fixed notions of identities. Kindred: African-American female main character, Dana,

moves between the contemporary world and the world of slavery

Dialogic tensions in her conflict allegiances to these different worlds

Heritage of slavery has a profound influence on her current identity as a contemporary African American

Shift from first-person to third-person reflection Perceiving a character as “subject”

operating in systems Perceiving a character as an “object”

constructed by status-quo systems Nora: The Doll’s House

“Subject:” subservient, childlike identity as wife

“Object” of the patriarchic system

School culture School in a changing working-class

neighborhood Increasingly diverse populations Challenges to status-quo traditions

“Winter-Fest” celebration = Whiteness Discourse of “order/control”

Sports traditions Racial segregation

Tensions: School versus Classroom Cultures School culture

Discourse of control/order

Lack of discussion in other courses

Male status/power: sports

Hierarchical racial segregation

Classroom culture Dialogic exchange

and tensions Focus on discussion Challenges to male

status/power Discussion about

issues of race

Institutional racism and class: Savage Inequalities Parks: example of $2,000 home in East

St. Louis Reasons for low value of housing

related to racism and housing policies

Students who adhered to status quo discourses Corey: white male

allegiances to a discourse of masculinity/individualism competition and “hard work” being self-assured,

authoritative, and “in control” Michelle: white female

content with allegiances to expected roles in her family, marriage and work in a fast-food restaurant: familiar roles

Corey: response to Bastard Out of Carolina

I thought that Glen sort of started off backwards from his family. His family is rich, and he should have an easier life to start off with, but he kind of failed at everything and started going down the tubes and now he’s got to rebuild his way back up. Like, you guys were saying, he didn’t follow in his family’s footsteps, he kind of funneled down. He’s got to just build up and work harder now to get back up to where his family is… with expectations.

Student attitudes towards affirmative action Student opposition to affirmative action

job hiring practices and college admissions framed in terms of race rather than class

conservative discourse individual as a “free” agent not constricted by institutional or

governmental forces pits Whites against people of color

Corey: job hiring I want to be a police officer, but supposedly now a day it is not easy

to be a cop if you are white. If you are white and you are better than the person next to you and he is black, the white person might not get that job. Just because that person is a different color. It is also that way for college, white people get no help at all because they think every white person is rich. Minorities get enrichment programs to get help with their scholarships, when most white people don’t get help with any money for college.

Students who interrogated status quo discourses Kayla: white female

operating in a future world of college perceived high school and community cultures

as limited not concerned about the social consequences of

challenging peers Adopted feminist perspectives in n challenging

some of the males

Students who interrogated status quo discourses Devin: white male

Involvement in youth church trips to Mexico and Native American reservations.

Classroom identity as provocateur and the “successful student”

Vacillated between progressive and traditional discourses

Devin: Response to McIntosh, “White Privilege” We just don’t see it because we have

unearned advantages of being white. We don’t see that because we are brought up this way…notice there isn’t a whole lot on how poorly we treated others. In a way we are dictators of other cultures. I say this because we enclaves a race for almost 200+ years.

Devin: Response to Savage Inequalities But what values lie in a city like this? The

school can hardly be considered an institute of learning. The sewage is backed up so bad it squishes underneath the one piece of decent land they have, they are poorly fed, and the crime rate is unbelievable.

Devin: Response to Yellow Raft in Blue Water We thought that life on a reservation itself

automatically puts you in a lower class…how being born into certain situations or lifestyles put you closer or further from the goal line in the game of success. Being born into life on a reservation puts you down at the bottom a ways.

Devin’s development Others’ worlds are different from his own Characters’ identities are shaped by worlds

that limit them Shift from model of individualism to one of

institutional critique They said if you work hard for it, you get what you

deserve, and that’s not necessarily true, because the racism in society is really strong when you try to get a job.”

Blog role-play and wiki writing: Montana 1948 Montana 1948

http://missboeser.googlepages.com/montana1948

Blog: Roleplay: "Fighting Sioux" mascot http://roleplaymascots.blogspot.com/

Wiki site http://

jhscollegewritingmontana.pbwiki.com/

Marie Little Soldier My name is Marie and I am a Hunkpapa Sioux

Indian. I have a boyfriend who is also Native American like I am; Ronnie Tall Bear. he is very strong and athletic (not to mention cute). he holds many school records and was in the American Legion Baseball team!

he is an amazing athlete, but because he is Native America, he is not allowed to go to college. i hate that. he is so talented, but because of his heritage, its all going to go to waste, and I hate waste.

Marie Little Soldier I am not against the name of the team; in fact, I

believe that is shows the strength and will of my people. though it is a name white people gave us, I do not believe that they meant it to be offensive. but why does a white man have the right to play football and go to college when Ronnie cant? Ronnie is Sioux, yet he cannot bare the colors of the "Fighting Sioux" as well as a white man can? it does not make sense to me at all. why should a white man be allowed to call himself a Sioux when a real Sioux cannot? It is silly.

Clyde Bellecourt I support your thoughts very much. As the

leader of the AIM, I think that it is important of us to keep out Sioux strength strong. When they are out there using our name as a sports team mascot, I find it very offensive. It is wrong to be doing this. I feel for your boyfriend who cannot play, they treat us like trash and throw our name around like trash.

Dan Snidyr, owner of the Washington Redskins I believe that we should not change it. The

name the "Redskins" is not meant to affend anyone of any race. "It means wonderful things. It means success, it means pride, it means integrity, honor and winning tradition. All of those great things, plus many more, are what the Redskins are all about for Washington and all of the Washington Redkin fans throughout the nation." http://web.syr.edu/~ajhill/dan.html

Winona Yepa As a Native American women, I am also very

offended by the name "redskins". Perhaps your name should be changed to Washington ”Whitetrash" then perhaps you could see why I feel the way I do about the name. We are native American's, not redskins. I find it to be a very offensive name. At least NDSU has enough respect for Native americans to address us properly as "Sioux" the fighting part is debatable but they don't refer to us as "redskins". we have names.

Student: perspective-taking At first I was indifferent and wanted the NCAA

to leave them alone so the pinion of my character was the opposite. Felicia wanted it to be changed. After this role-play I think the Sioux should be the ones to decide if the mascot should stay of not. I feel that since I am more educated on the subject and look at the issue through another person’s point-of-view I can see more reason to have the mascot changed that to have it stay.

Summary Dialogic tensions serve to challenge status-

quo discourses Temporary “trying on” of alternative

discourses when presented with hypothetical situation

Shifts in perspectives possible to challenge the hegemonic

discourses constituting the students’ identities

Multicultural literature: Role in a pedagogy of discomfort Not simply “exposure” to “the other” or

diversity just “in” the text Tensions due to institutional racism,

class conflict, and sexism Value lies in mixture of texts, teacher

activities/challenges, and student discussions of dialogic tensions

Implications: teacher education “Human relations” training

Tolerance and appreciation of diversity Not address institutional forces: race,

class, gender difference Need for social justice/critical pedagogy

Focus on “control”/”management” Need to foster dialogic tensions and

pedagogy of discomfort

Implications for further research: Chart adoption of alternative discourses

Temporary “trying on” of new discourses Revising/”amending” status-quo value

stances Link adoption to teacher modeling

Recognize value of dialogic tensions related to ideologies of difference Challenges to familiar value stances and

“color-blind racism”

Race: Create sitcom script (Bird, 2003) White group: largely white characters

Stereotypical portrayals of Indians Mediated by media representations Limited cultural tool-kit for

Indian group: aware of outside role Rejection of stereotypes of Indians White characters based on lived-world

experiences