Performing color-evasiveness: A DisCrit analysis of educators’ discourse in the U.S.

Abstract

This study explores how an ideology of color-evasive racism (i.e., color evasiveness; Annamma et al., 2017) imbued white educators' discourse surrounding intersectional inequities in schools for Girls of Color in the U.S. Our analysis of interview and focus group data addresses a gap in educational research identifying color-evasive racism in discourse by in-service educators, specifically for white educators making sense of inequities in schools. We draw from Bonilla-Silva's (2018) application of color-blindness to discourse to identify three specific discursive frames that white educators employ, namely 1) centering self, 2) claiming white racial innocence, and 3) employing progressive notions, and the discursive tools within each. This focus on white educators' discourse expands understandings of how color-evasivene racism is employed, (re)producing intersectional inequities in education. Given that each of these educators was nominated because of their strengths working with Girls of Color, we believe this paper's significance captures the complexities of teaching in a system of white supremacy and identifies underlying ideologies animating discourse that can be disrupted through a Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) lens.