A teacher trying to live within and without bias: making sense in a ‘desegregating’ place of work

Abstract

This paper examines the identity discourse of a Black teacher who searches for her sense of professional self in a previously White, Afrikaans school in a working class area of an industrial town in South Africa. The researchers see her struggling to find her role in the school, amidst remnants of a past regime in a setting that shows the underside of desegregation. We interpret the findings from a cultural historical perspective, by way of discourse analysis, which shows how the teacher continually positions herself in terms of her perception of a racial divide in which she does not feel empowered, despite her capabilities. This discourse is dominant in her representations of herself in talk and text and her identification as a teacher. It shows how this speech-acting positions her professional sense of self.

Keywords:

• Racism
• desegration
• teacher