Towards a research framework for race in education: critical race theory and Judith Butler

Abstract

There has been much debate around the extent to which post-structuralist theory can be applied to critical research. In this article, it is argued that aspects of the two approaches can be combined, resulting in productive tensions that point towards a possible new framework for researching race and racism in education in the UK. The article specifically considers combining critical race theory with a post-structural approach to understanding identity based on the work of Judith Butler, and explores the usefulness of such a theoretical approach to investigate minority ethnic young people’s experiences of education and the way in which these experiences shape their sense of self, leading to the perpetuation of racial inequalities. It is argued that working at the boundary of these two theoretical traditions provides a deeper understanding of the way in which racism operates, the way it shapes experience and the possibilities for political and social change.

Keywords:

• racism
• education
• critical race theory
• post-structural theory
• Judith Butler

Notes

1. Despite the official acknowledgement of structural and possibly unwitting racism in the term ‘institutional racism’, which identified covert racism in the police force in 1999, racism in the UK still tends to be understood in terms of extreme, violent acts, or the openly racist rhetoric of the British National Party or Neo-nazi groups (Moschel 2007).

2. The audience at the first symposium on CRT at the British Educational Research Association’s (BERA) Annual Conference, ‘Guess who’s coming to BERA this year?’ (2007), insisted that class rather than race determined experiences in education.

3. The term ‘white supremacy’ is seen to emphasise the way in which racial ‘othering’ functions as a master narrative which disadvantages ethnic minorities and upholds the privileges of white people by influencing attitudes, policy and interaction. This explains how racism does not only describe extreme, violent acts or the openly racist rhetoric of groups such as the British National Party (although this should also be taken seriously) but can also be structural or unwitting. The term white supremacy therefore does not refer to skin colour, rather to structures of subordination and domination.