CFP for a Radical Teacher issue on Critical Race Theory: Teaching Maneuvers & Praxis
Drawing on legal studies and radical feminist movements; the work of freedom fighters, sociologists, and philosophers; and Black and Chicano power movements, Critical Race Theory (CRT) was birthed by legal scholars and activists and became affiliated with the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) academy (Stefanic & Delgado, 2010). The work of scholars Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado, Haney Lopez, Lani Guinier, Patricia J. Williams, and Kimberlé K. Crenshaw (and others) addressed the ways in which “race,” and later other social category markers (class, sex, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, etc.), functioned within the rules of the law. CRT examines the racialized experiences of People of Color across a range of social and political systems that function to “subordinate” and deprive them of personal, institutional and societal access, autonomy, and power as a way to maintain white supremacy.
Core CRT premises are that: 1) race is given meaning within social contexts, and racial groups experience race differently; 2) racially minoritized groups have subordinate experiences compared to their White counterparts; 3) racism is endemic yet made invisible and thus the real material, social, and psychological consequences to People of Color are disregarded; and 4) there are reasons why racially minoritized folks continue to be systemically marginalized in this presumably “post-race equitable” world (Lazos Vargas, 2003).
The current climate in the American educational system and society necessitates the staying power of CRT work. Despite being under attack across K-12 and higher education (CRT Forward, 2023), CRT continues to be essential in foregrounding the ways white-supremacist capitalist hetero-patriarchal culture remains dominant and continues to “other” folks of color and non-binary folks in detrimental ways. CRT scholars and practitioners have expanded the discourse onto an inter/multi-disciplinary studies platform. Those of us engaged in CRT work understand that it is a driving force in teaching and learning pedagogy, praxis, and methods, as it challenges White supremacy directly, tackling the “cancer of racism” and creating opportunities for racial justice (Wing, 2016, p. 48).
This issue of Radical Teacher on Critical Race Theory: Teaching Maneuvers & Praxis will address the current state of CRT work in teaching and learning spaces. We are interested in pieces that address and/or engage with the following themes/tenets of CRT as radical teaching praxis:
- ordinariness of racism
- critiques of liberalism and neoliberalism
- differential racialization
- storytelling/counter storytelling and naming one’s own reality
- revisionist interpretations of American civil rights law, history, and progress
- a greater understanding of the underpinnings of race and racism
- structural determinism and whiteness as property
- race, sex, class, and their intersections
- essentialism and anti-essentialism
- critical pedagogy and practices
Questions:
- As a teaching practitioner, how does CRT inform your teaching pedagogy? How do you have students engage with the tenets of CRT? How do students respond, and how do you deal with dialogue, meaning, and representation/misrepresentation?
- Does your teaching (curriculum & materials) engage with the legal aspects and structures of racism to unpack and address discrimination, legal segregation, police brutality, the prison-industrial complex, the school-to-prison pipeline?
- How do you use CRT theories and methods to discuss and respond to anti-Blackness, Anti-Asianness, homophobia, transphobia, and the ways in which folks are “othered?”
- How do you teach about race, racism, White supremacy, and settler colonialism in your classroom? How do students respond?
- In your teaching, how do you engage with intersectionality, CRT Studies, and movement histories (theories and methods)?
- Are your students engaged in activism and community work based on their exposure to and understanding of CRT in the classroom?
- Connecting teaching materials and curriculum models & CRT: What essays, televisual stories, poems, dramas, fiction, etc. do you use? How do you use them? What have you found most engaging for students?
Radical Teacher, founded in 1975, is a socialist, feminist, and antiracist journal dedicated to the theory and practice of teaching. It serves the community of educators who are working for democratic process, peace, and justice. The magazine examines the root causes of inequality and promotes progressive social change. We publish articles on classroom practices and curriculum, as well as on educational issues related to gender and sexuality, disability, culture, globalization, privatization, race, class, and other similar topics. Radical Teacher is a peer-reviewed journal.
Complete manuscripts are due June 15th, 2024.
Radical Teacher articles are typically 4,000 -- 6,000 words, though we consider shorter or longer submissions. To submit a manuscript, register on the journal’s publication site:
http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/login
Complete submission guidelines can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uScIA6SQUdTHdVYQ8eY8J_CvoYZBjEbVaDFr519uUx8/edit?usp=sharing
We also encourage the submission of Teaching Notes, Reviews, and Poetry related to the topic of the issue. Follow the same general submission process as for articles; however, rather than selecting the topic of the issue, select the section to which you are submitting: “Teaching Notes,” “Reviews,” or “Poetry.” You may want to send a query first to the editors of these sections.