Telling Tales: What stories can teach us about racism

Abstract

This article examines the stories people from various racial groups tell about race and racism. It draws upon data from 106 transcribed interviews about race/racism with college educated adults who work in education and human service fields. The interview questions did not directly ask for stories, but respondents frequently told stories to illustrate or emphasize a point. This article focuses on those stories. The article begins with a discussion of the function of stories in culture and the way that historical and social positionality shape the stories we tell. Concepts from discourse analysis and critical race theory inform the analysis of the story data. Scott's (1990) theory of hidden and public transcripts offers a framework for differentiating stories that support mainstream views of and assumptions about race and racism from those counter-narratives which challenge the mainstream discourse. The article then provides a thematic presentation of counter-narrative stories, told predominantly by respondents of color, followed by examination of the hegemonic narratives told predominantly by whites. In particular, this section analyzes the prevalence and effects of color-blind ideology in white stories. Finally, the article discusses the value and importance of listening to the stories people tell as a way of understanding the reproduction of racism and the possibilities for intervention through using story in anti-racist teaching.