Waking Up to Memmi

Abstract

This critical reflective practice article juxtaposes the temporal relationship between lived experiences in my past, with my present actions as a schoolteacher. Presented in the style of a dwam—the state of semiconsciousness that precedes sleep—I uncover dominant colonial narratives that continue to inscribe racialized power relations in school curriculum and pedagogy, and that have done so throughout my experiences as a child–student and an adult–teacher. Drawing from Albert Memmi's “colonizer who refuses,” my dwam demonstrates critical awakening as a white teacher through six scenes that span four decades.