“If she runs away, i’ll get to whip her”: anti-black humour and stereotyping in school

Abstract

This paper theorises empirical findings from a school in the north of England in order to contribute to theoretical understandings of racial microaggressions, particularly micro-assaults. In so doing, the paper argues that during the teaching of Black History, micro-assaults were articulated as racist humour and stereotyping, to increase tolerance for disparaging Black people and for justifying their unequal treatment. White teachers and their students were complicit in engaging in anti-Black racist humour and stereotyping, but from a Critical Race perspective, the paper argues that Black students’ participation is best understood as a coping mechanism for reducing Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) as a consequence of Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress (MEES).

Keywords:

• Racist humour
• stereotyping
• critical race theory
• racial microaggressions
• history curriculum
• racial battle fatigue

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the peer reviewers for their helpful comments, and to Professor Katherine Runswick-Cole (University of Sheffield) and Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury (University of Manchester) for critically reading earlier drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In England, curricula content and assessments are split into Key Stages from 1-5. Students studying subjects at Key Stage 3 are aged between 11-13 years old. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum

2 Oxford Cambridge and RSA’s approach to the topic on migration can be found here: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/314536-migrants-to-britain-c.-1250-to-present-teachers-guide.pdf

3 Further information on this type of subject – available to students who will be sitting their final examinations in secondary school – can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc/english-baccalaureate-ebacc