Classrooms as Racialized Spaces

Abstract

This article interrogates the construction of ethnoracial categories in everyday classroom life and how ethnoracial classroom dynamics contribute to larger patterns of inequality in achievement and unequal college futures for minorities. The study compares one urban and two suburban schools. Drawing on observation data from six classes and 57 in-depth student interviews, I find that ethnoracial categories are continually reconstructed through teachers’ pedagogical styles and students’ interactions. In addition, metainstitutional structures such as curriculum tracks and nonacademic dynamics foster ethnoracial tensions between classmates. While the urban school successfully alleviates ethnoracial stereotypes, the suburban schools exacerbate ethnoracial divisions among students.