Storied Lives, Dialog –> Retro-reflections: Melding Critical Multicultural Education and Critical Race Theory for Pedagogical Transformation

Abstract

We are critical retro-reflective teacher educators and cultural workers. As such, we have a civic responsibility to embrace courage, compassion, equity, social justice, and social activism. We also have the responsibility to deconstruct dominant subordinating narrative and stories. The purpose of this article is to create a counter story via our retro-reflective dialog, centered within our deep-seated existence as culturally ethnic, racialized, and gendered beings. We illustrate how the process of retro-reflection is a hopeful contingency for transformative praxis using the theoretical tools of Critical Race Theory and Critical Multicultural Education. Our retro-reflections expose and de-center the tacit practice of white supremacy–a hegemonic construct often embedded within teacher education programs. Through our retro-reflections, we hope to create personal and pedagogical transformations for both ourselves and others involved in the struggle for social justice and equity.