Reconstructing a ‘Dilemma’ of racial identity education

Abstract

In this paper, Thompson engages the fact that educators perceive themselves to be faced with an apparent dilemma regarding racial identity education. On one hand, their political obligations may incline them to teach racial identity so as to avoid reifying the reality of a racialized system of power. On the other hand, honoring their epistemic obligations to accurately represent the realities of the world may incline them to teach racial identity in a less consequentialist manner, prioritising the goal that students do not suffer hermeneutical injustices as they grapple with racial identities/consequences. Thompson argues that these seemingly opposed obligations can be united, by attending to their underlying claims. In closing, Thompson provides an example of an educational event that coheres with these conclusions.

Keywords:

• Racial identity
• political
• epistemic
• teacher education
• social justice

Notes

1. According to recent demographic data published in the New York Times (Ashkenas, Park, and Pearce 2017), the student population of the University of New Hampshire has a higher percentage of white persons than its peer institutions (some of which are located within states that have higher percentages of white persons in their state populations than the state of New Hampshire). Among flagship state universities, one would be hard-pressed to identify a university in the United States with a higher proportion of white students.

2. The pre-service educators with whom I work state that they (and other well-intentioned educators within their networks) wrestle with the central dilemma of this article. They generally claim to be hobbled in their attempts to ‘do the right thing’. As such, I draw from their statements in this article’s pastiche constructions of the views held by some educators. I do not take these views to necessarily reflect their most carefully considered and constructed premises and conclusions but, instead, aim to represent the loose set of claims that recur in their moments of moral uncertainty as educators aware of race.

3. The general underlying factors of this example will be expanded upon in subsequent portions of this text.

4. Coates’ work might be read as imploring his son (and us all) to recognise the value in straining and fighting for better days, but to accept that they are highly unlikely. This lesson is also signaled by the title of Coates’ previous book, The Beautiful Struggle (2008).

5. This field is too expansive to capture here, but good work can be found in Helms (1990), and Tatum (1997); among others.

6. On a related point, one might also invoke the memorable image of DuBois’ ([1903] 1994) character, John. Well-educated, he ultimately suffers due to his increasingly clear vision of racialized systems of power and is alienated from his community and life prospects.

7. Though Fricker is concerned with the person as knower, the person as student (i.e. one who comes to know) likely also carries ethical obligations for those who educate her.

8. See pieces within this issue that engage Charles Mills’ fine work on the concept of white ignorance.

9. Though one might question the ontological status of race, one need not also question the fact of its effects. Through analogy, Elizabeth Anderson captures this nicely in noting: ‘[T]hat demons don’t exist doesn’t imply that demonized people don’t exist’ (Anderson 2010, 161). See also Mills, C. ‘“But What Are You Really?” The Metaphysics of Race’, in Mills (1998).

10. Though not labeled as such, work on this subject might be found in (and in the exchanges between) epistemological and ontological work on race. See McPherson (2015) or Haslanger (2000).

11. I (2015) explore related conceptions of ideal and non-ideal approaches to education.

12. Arendt ([1954] 1977) reminds us of a similar duty when she notes that educators must not attempt to realise their own visions of utopia through the education of their students. Rather, students must be allowed to form their own perceptions of the world and a future worth creating.

13. See Section 2.