“No me dejaran ir porque they needed me here”: spatializing corrective representatives by critiquing latinx teacher role model discourse

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the formations and tensions of Latinx teacher role model subject positions in spaces with relatively few Latinx teachers. To address the under theorization of space and Latinx teacher subjectivity, I insert a relational space frame to previous literature that critiques neoliberal attempts to place both the blame and solution for racialized educational injustice on the shoulders of individual (student/teacher) Latinx bodies. I use discursive ‘moments’ to illustrate how and where a certain type of Latinx teacher role model emerges while also extending Singh’s idea of corrective representations by accounting for the role relational geographies (spaces) play in producing ‘rational/normal,’ neoliberal, and racialized subject positions for Latinx teachers. I close with concluding thoughts about space, subjectification, and representation, suggesting that teacher education offers an underutilized area to center the politics of such.