“It reeks of first-wave whiteness”: a reimagined critical whiteness studies and feminist of color teacher education

Abstract

In this article, we offer the perspective of a feminist of Color analysis on how teaching has been constructed into a race, gender, and class mold that purposely includes certain bodies—namely white middle-class women—while excluding anyone who does not fit the mold. More specifically, we use intersectionality to analyze the interplay between teachers and the structuring of teaching. In doing so, we respond to the recent compartmentalization of the critical whiteness studies (CWS) field by putting CWS in conversations with feminist of Color perspectives. We also provide take away points for why a cohesive CWS field, in dialogue with other critical conversations, is essential in making visible the larger social landscape of power in education, a landscape in which we, as scholars and educators, are all embedded.

Keywords:

• Critical whiteness studies
• feminist studies
• teacher education
• critical race theory

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ganiva Reyes

Ganiva Reyes is an Associate Professor in Teacher Education at Miami University. Her research revolves around issues of justice in education. She draws from feminist of color theories and pedagogies of care to study social inequities in teaching and schools. She also studies gender and sexuality in education, and the educational lives of Latin American-origin students and educators.

Brittany Aronson

Brittany Aronson earned her doctorate in 2014 in Cultural Studies in Education. She is an Associate Professor of Sociocultural Studies at Miami University Ohio and teaches classes in sociocultural foundations, sociology of education, and multicultural education. Her research interests include critical teacher preparation, critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and critical educational policy.