Fostering counter-narratives of race, language, and identity in an urban English classroom

Abstract

This study examines the counter-narratives that were co-constructed during a curricular unit on language, race, and identity in an urban high school English classroom. We examine both the pedagogical and conversational moves that a White teacher, Mrs. Allen, used to foster such counter-narratives and the content of her African American students’ counter-narratives. We draw on critical and interactional perspectives on classroom discourse to understand the type of lessons and knowledge that the students and Mrs. Allen co-constructed and the ways in which students’ counter-narratives complicated essentialized perceptions of race, language, and identity and referenced locally-constructed social categories and geographic spaces. We argue that the students disputed dominant “master narratives” (Stanley, 2007, p. 14) of race and language through referencing multiple social identities and instances of racism that shaped, and were shaped by, their experiences with language. This article demonstrates how English Language Arts instruction can foster counter-narratives that challenge racist assumptions about language and essentialized perceptions of students’ racial identities.