Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice field like education?
Abstract
Critical race theory (CRT) first emerged as a counterlegal scholarship to the positivistand liberal legal discourse of civil rights. This scholarly tradition argues against the slow pace of racial reform in the United States. Critical race theory begins with the notion that racism is normal in American society. It departs from mainstream legal scholarship by sometimes employing storytelling. It critiques liberalism and argues that Whites have been the primary beneficiaries of civil rights legislation.Since schooling in the USA purports to prepare citizens, CRT looks at how citizenship and race might interact. Critical race theory's usefulness in understanding education inequity is in its infancy. It requires a critique of some of the civil rights era's most cherished legal victories and educationalreform movements, such as multiculturalism. The paper concludes with words of caution about the use of CRT in education without a more thorough analysis of the legal literature upon which it is based.
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Race and racism are so interwoven into the systems and dominant discourses of our society they appear natural and normal.
“In fact, they argue that race and racism are so interwoven into the systems and dominant discourses of our society they appear natural and normal (Ladson-Billings, 1998;Marx & Pennington, 2003).”
From Disrupting Ignorance and Settler Identities: The Challenges of Preparing Beginning Teachers for Treaty Education (2013) · cites this paper as Ladson-Billings, 1998
Cites
Selections from the prison notebooks
Gramsci, A. (2020) · The Applied Theatre Reader · doi:10.4324/9780429355363-27 · Cited by 9,750 · see citing works
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Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education
Brayboy, B. M. J. (2005) · The Urban Review · doi:10.1007/s11256-005-0018-y · Cited by 1,265 · see citing works
Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability
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The public health critical race methodology: praxis for antiracism research.
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Un/Doing Intersectionality through Higher Education Research
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O’Connor, C., & Fernandez, S. D. (2006) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x035006006 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Talk the talk, walk the walk: defining Critical Race Theory in research
Hylton, K. (2012) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2012.638862 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Morris, J. E. (2004) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312041001069 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
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Wynter-Hoyte, K., Braden, E. G., Rodriguez, S., & Thornton, N. (2019) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2017.1382465 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Mitchell, T. A. (2020) · Journal of Marketing Management · doi:10.1080/0267257x.2020.1794934 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Increasing the Depth of Field: Critical Race Theory and Photovoice as Counter Storytelling Praxis
Goessling, K. P. (2018) · The Urban review · doi:10.1007/s11256-018-0460-2 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Dialectics of race criticality: studies in racial stratification and education
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How Pedagogy Makes the Difference in U.S. Schools
Ladson-Billings, G. (2024) · Daedalus · doi:10.1162/daed_a_02106 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationIdentity and diversity: A case study of leaders in a South African primary school
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- Authors
- Ladson-Billings, G.
- Corresponding author
- Ladson-Billings, Gloria
- Venue
- International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1998-01
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-24
- ISSN
- 0951-8398 (ISSN-L)
- 1366-5898
- OpenAlex
- W1977093588
- Cited by
- 3,186
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 99 · 2025: 163 · 2024: 186 · 2023: 177 · 2022: 256 · 2021: 275 · 2020: 262 · 2019: 221 · 2018: 206 · 2017: 169 · 2016: 190 · 2015: 136 · 2014: 158 · 2013: 135 · 2012: 105
- FWCI
- 29.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
- Keywords
- critical race theory, education, racism, civil rights, citizenship, racial inequality in education, multiculturalism, critique of liberalism, educational reform
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