Against the Dark: Antiblackness in Education Policy and Discourse. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dumas, Michael J.
• Is Part Of: Theory into practice. Volume 55:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 11
• Page End: 19
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Education -- Research -- Periodicals; Educational innovations -- Periodicals; 370.105
• DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2016.1116852
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-5841

Abstract

Abstract : I argue that analyses of racial(ised) discourse and policy processes in education must grapple with cultural disregard for and disgust with blackness. This article explains how a theorization of antiblackness allows one to more precisely identify and respond to racism in education discourse and in the formation and implementation of education policy. I contend that deeply embedded within racialized policy discourses is not merely a concern about disproportionality or inequality, but also a concern with the bodies of Black people, the signification of (their) Blackness, and the threat posed by the Black to the educational well-being of other students. Using school (de)segregation as an example, I demonstrate how policy discourse is informed by antiblackness, and consider what an awareness of antiblackness means for educational policy and practice.