Microaggressions and the Complexities of Smartness in Kindergarten

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study follows Mikah, an African American twice exceptional (2E-gifted and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) kindergarten boy, in a U.S. classroom over the course of an academic semester, considering the research questions: How did Mikah (a pseudonym), age 5, experience microaggression in kindergarten? How were the microaggressions structured by the school/classroom and between home and school? A case study using ethnographic methods and critical discourse analysis methods was used. Data sources were collected and analyzed, including participant observation in the kindergarten classroom; interviews with teachers, children, parents, the coach, principal, and superintendent; children’s work samples; and classroom, school, and district media. The research findings showed how, across the year, Mikah switched his position from a victim of microaggressions by White people to the perpetrator of microaggressions toward Black peers and how Mikah’s White classroom teacher placed both Mikah and his father in perpetual need of disciplining because neither can completely avoid the “need” for her guidance on school-based normativity. The research indicated that racial microaggressions could spread and intensify when White teachers are not trained and committed to inclusive anti-racist approaches in the classroom, and to listening to Black children’s strengths and their parents’ wisdom.