Abstract:

This article explores the territory that has been covered since the publication of Ladson-Billings and Tate's 1995 article, “Toward a Critical Race Theory in Education.” We organize our review of the CRT literature is organized around what we are calling CRT “boundaries.” We identify six boundaries for CRT and education: 1) CRT in education argues that racial inequity in education is the logical outcome of a system of achievement presided on competition; 2) CRT in education examines the role of education policy and educational practices in the construction of racial inequity and the perpetuation of normative whiteness; 3) CRT in education rejects the dominant narrative about the inherent inferiority of people of color and the normative superiority of white people; 4) CRT in education rejects ahistoricism and examines the historical linkages between contemporary educational inequity and historical patterns of racial oppression; 5) CRT in education engages in intersectional analyses that recognize the ways that race is mediated by and interacts with other identity markers (i.e., gender, class, sexuality, linguistic background, and citizenship status); 6) CRT in education agitates and advocates for meaningful outcomes that redress racial inequity. CRT does not merely document disparities. We suggest that these core ideas provide a framework for analyzing the work that has been done in education in the past and a way to determine what might be left to do.

Citation:

Adrienne D. Dixson & Celia Rousseau Anderson (2018) Where are We? Critical Race Theory in Education 20 Years Later, Peabody Journal of Education, 93:1, 121-131, DOI: 10.1080/0161956X.2017.1403194

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• Taylor & Francis

Abstract:

This article explores the territory that has been covered since the publication of Ladson-Billings and Tate's 1995 article, “Toward a Critical Race Theory in Education.” We organize our review of the CRT literature is organized around what we are calling CRT “boundaries.” We identify six boundaries for CRT and education: 1) CRT in education argues that racial inequity in education is the logical outcome of a system of achievement presided on competition; 2) CRT in education examines the role of education policy and educational practices in the construction of racial inequity and the perpetuation of normative whiteness; 3) CRT in education rejects the dominant narrative about the inherent inferiority of people of color and the normative superiority of white people; 4) CRT in education rejects ahistoricism and examines the historical linkages between contemporary educational inequity and historical patterns of racial oppression; 5) CRT in education engages in intersectional analyses that recognize the ways that race is mediated by and interacts with other identity markers (i.e., gender, class, sexuality, linguistic background, and citizenship status); 6) CRT in education agitates and advocates for meaningful outcomes that redress racial inequity. CRT does not merely document disparities. We suggest that these core ideas provide a framework for analyzing the work that has been done in education in the past and a way to determine what might be left to do.

Citation:

Lynn, & Parker, L. (2006). Critical Race Studies in Education: Examining a Decade of Research on U.S. Schools. The Urban Review, 38(4), 257–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-006-0035-5

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

This article examines the development of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education, paying attention to how researchers use CRT (and its branches) in the study of K-12 and higher education. The article reviews CRT literature with a focus on CRT scholarship that offers tools to engage with and work against racism within education. The authors highlight works that embody the critical origins of CRT in both the law and elsewhere, with a goal of demonstrating that CRT work means more than just pointing to race. It requires an engagement and articulation with the material, structural, and ideological mechanisms of White supremacy.

Citation:

Ledesma, & Calderón, D. (2015). Critical Race Theory in Education: A Review of Past Literature and a Look to the Future. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 206–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800414557825

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

This article examines the development of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education, paying attention to how researchers use CRT (and its branches) in the study of K-12 and higher education. The article reviews CRT literature with a focus on CRT scholarship that offers tools to engage with and work against racism within education. The authors highlight works that embody the critical origins of CRT in both the law and elsewhere, with a goal of demonstrating that CRT work means more than just pointing to race. It requires an engagement and articulation with the material, structural, and ideological mechanisms of White supremacy.

Citation:

Brayboy. (2005). Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education. The Urban Review, 37(5), 425–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-005-0018-y

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

The paper presents an empirical analysis of education policy in England that is informed by recent developments in US critical theory. In particular, I draw on ‘whiteness studies’ and the application of critical race theory (CRT). These perspectives offer a new and radical way of conceptualizing the role of racism in education. Although the US literature has paid little or no regard to issues outside North America, I argue that a similar understanding of racism (as a multifaceted, deeply embedded, often taken‐for‐granted aspect of power relations) lies at the heart of recent attempts to understand institutional racism in the UK. Having set out the conceptual terrain in the first half of the paper, I then apply this approach to recent changes in the English education system to reveal the central role accorded the defence (and extension) of race inequity. Finally, the paper touches on the question of racism and intentionality: although race inequity may not be a planned and deliberate goal of education policy neither is it accidental. The patterning of racial advantage and inequity is structured in domination and its continuation represents a form of tacit intentionality on the part of white powerholders and policy‐makers. It is in this sense that education policy is an act of white supremacy. Following others in the CRT tradition, therefore, the paper’s analysis concludes that the most dangerous form of ‘white supremacy’ is not the obvious and extreme fascistic posturing of small neo‐nazi groups, but rather the taken‐for‐granted routine privileging of white interests that goes unremarked in the political mainstream.

Citation:

Gillborn*, D. (2005). Education policy as an act of white supremacy: Whiteness, critical race theory and education reform. Journal of education policy, 20(4), 485-505.

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

As a center for education ‘reform’ in the United States, Chicago sheds light on state apparatuses seeking to end public education and replace it with market-driven ventures, largely by way of public–private partnerships. Critical to this process is the idea of ‘choice’ which has come to operate as a political device providing the illusion that students, parents, and families have options leading to educational improvement. In this article, Stovall pays specific attention to what he calls the politics of desperation, suggesting that entities such as central school offices and educational management organizations are using popular rhetoric coupled with marketing tools to solicit buy-in on their specific brand of educational improvement. He argues that this strategy targets groups facing uncertainty in education and housing, and who therefore attempt to navigate choices they have little say in defining. Instead of said improvements, Stovall contends we are witnessing a ‘more-of-the-same’ game, including dispossession and continued disenfranchisement of working-class communities of color. At the same time, he highlights the absolute necessity of resistance. Borrowing from Duncan-Andrade's notion of critical hope, he suggests we must be painfully honest about current educational conditions, while also building grassroots networks that challenge these realities. Stovall identifies strategies and resources mobilized by Chicago residents through direct-action organizing, coalition building, and school–community partnerships to challenge neoliberal reform.

Citation:

Stovall. (2013). Against the politics of desperation: educational justice, critical race theory, and Chicago school reform. Critical Studies in Education, 54(1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2013.739192

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

Ladson-Billings and Tate ushered critical race theory (CRT) into education and challenged racial inequities in schooling contexts. In this article, I consider the role CRT can play in disrupting postsecondary prose, or the ordinary, predictable, and taken for granted ways in which the academy has functioned for centuries as a bastion of racism and White supremacy. I disrupt racelessness in education, but focus primarily on postsecondary contexts related to history, access, curriculum, policy, and research. The purpose of this article is to commemorate and extend Ladson-Billings and Tate’s work toward a CRT of higher education.

Citation:

Patton, L. D. (2016). Disrupting postsecondary prose: Toward a critical race theory of higher education. Urban Education, 51(3), 315-342.

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

Legal academics often perceive law and economics (L&E) and critical race theory (CRT) as oppositional discourses. Using a recently published collection of essays on CRT as a starting point, we argue that the understanding of workplace discrimination can be furthered through a collaboration between L&E and CRT.

Citation:

Carbado, & Gulati, M. (2003). The Law and Economics of Critical Race Theory. The Yale Law Journal, 112(7), 1757–1828. https://doi.org/10.2307/3657500

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

In recent years, a growing literature has suggested that self-employment is a viable means of solving economic problems for a wide range of groups who are subject to poverty, discrimination and other disadvantages. Yet African Americans have not developed an ethnic economy large enough to solve many of their economic problems. To explore the question, this paper reviews three of the most common explanations for black Americans' low rates of entrepreneurship: the cultural/psychological perspective, the ethnic enterprise perspective and the critical race approach. While the first two are widely accepted, neither approach identifies black Americans as a racial group, instead defining them as a cultural or ethnic group. Accordingly, neither apprehends the full impact of racial inequality in limiting black Americans' entrepreneurial opportunities. Following a discussion of race-based obstacles to entrepreneurship, the paper concludes that the critical race view provides the most convincing explanation for black Americans' limited entrepreneurial achievements.

Citation:

Gold. (2016). A critical race theory approach to black American entrepreneurship. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39(9), 1697–1718. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2016.1159708

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat

Abstract:

Racial scholars argue that racism produces rates of morbidity, mortality, and overall well-being that vary depending on socially assigned race. Eliminating racism is therefore central to achieving health equity, but this requires new paradigms that are responsive to structural racism's contemporary influence on health, health inequities, and research. Critical Race Theory is an emerging transdisciplinary, race-equity methodology that originated in legal studies and is grounded in social justice. Critical Race Theory's tools for conducting research and practice are intended to elucidate contemporary racial phenomena, expand the vocabulary with which to discuss complex racial concepts, and challenge racial hierarchies. We introduce Critical Race Theory to the public health community, highlight key Critical Race Theory characteristics (race consciousness, emphases on contemporary societal dynamics and socially marginalized groups, and praxis between research and practice) and describe Critical Race Theory's contribution to a study on racism and HIV testing among African Americans.

Citation:

Ford, & Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (2010). Critical Race Theory, Race Equity, and Public Health: Toward Antiracism Praxis. American Journal of Public Health (1971), 100(S1), S30–S35. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.171058

Links to Access:

• Thomas Cooper Library

• WorldCat