(Un)critical geographies of race: A critical race discourse analysis of an online local history resource

Abstract

ABSTRACT Websites that provide accounts of local history represent powerful curricular possibilities for K-12 history teachers and those of all ages who engage with historical narratives centered on place. The extent to which, however, such resources furnish explicitly racialized interpretations of place often determines how educators and learners can use them in social studies contexts. In this critical race discourse analysis, we examined the function of race in Wacohistory.org, a local history website comprised of 200 entries. Drawing on critical geographies of race as our theoretical lens, we found that the website de-racialized Waco’s geography and ultimately overlooked how racial power has shaped the history of this city, and we consider specifically what this oversight meant for Black Wacoans. Thus, we argue that Wacohistory.org discounted how race has historically determined placed-based access and experiences for Wacoans. This study offers implications and recommendations that speak to what was lost in failing to racialize a particular online history curriculum, contributing to the literature concerned with race-evasive spatial histories that ultimately thwart meaningful local historical inquiry and the theoretical prospects that critical geographies of race offer social studies.