Race, Culture, and Researcher Positionality: Working Through Dangers Seen, Unseen, and Unforeseen
Abstract
This author introduces a framework to guide researchers into a process of racial and cultural awareness, consciousness, and positionality as they conduct education research. The premise of the argument is that dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen can emerge for researchers when they do not pay careful attention to their own and others’ racialized and cultural systems of coming to know, knowing, and experiencing the world. Education research is used as an analytic site for discussion throughout this article, but the framework may be transferable to other academic disciplines. After a review of literature on race and culture in education and an outline of central tenets of critical race theory, a nonlinear framework is introduced that focuses on several interrelated qualities: researching the self, researching the self in relation to others, engaged reflection and representation, and shifting from the self to system.
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The first author actively engaged in reflexive memoing and critical dialogue with the research team throughout the analytical and writing processes.
“The first author, therefore, actively engaged in reflexive memoing and critical dialogue with the research team throughout the analytical and writing processes (Bhattacharya, 2017;Milner, 2007).”
From School Reentry: Exploring Healing-Centered Mechanisms for Formerly Incarcerated Transition-Age Black Males in an Urban Intensive, Asset-Based Alternative School (2026) · cites this paper as Milner, 2007
Educators have grown to embrace color-blind ideology as demonstrated by the surplus of color-blind approaches to educational research, policy analysis, and teacher education discourse.
“Educators have grown to embrace color-blind ideology as demonstrated by the surplus of color-blind approaches to educational research, policy analysis, and teacher education discourse (Milner 2007).”
From Conceptualizing color-evasiveness: using dis/ability critical race theory to expand a color-blind racial ideology in education and society (2017) · cites this paper as Milner 2007
Cites
Handbook of Qualitative Research
Crozier, G., Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (1994) · British Journal of Educational Studies · doi:10.2307/3121684 · Cited by 26,636 · see citing works
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Brewer, R. M., & Collins, P. H. (1992) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2074808 · Cited by 19,445 · see citing works
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
Yosso *, T. J. (2005) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/1361332052000341006 · Cited by 7,546 · see citing works
From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x035007003 · Cited by 3,211 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Ladson-Billings (2006) maintained that it is unfair and inconceivable to expect all students to finish their education in the same place (at the same performance level) because some students—such as African American and Latino/a students and students from lower SES backgrounds—do not begin their…”
BackgroundBrown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma
Bell, D. A. (1980) · Harvard Law Review · doi:10.2307/1340546 · Cited by 2,574 · see citing works
Tatum, B. (1992) · Harvard Educational Review · doi:10.17763/haer.62.1.146k5v980r703023 · Cited by 1,040 · cited 4× · see citing works
“• A seen danger in teaching and researching about race and culture in teacher education is teachers’ resistance (Tatum, 1992) and silence in the face of important information about racism, injustice, and inequity.”
BackgroundInfluentialO’Connor, C., & Fernandez, S. D. (2006) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x035006006 · Cited by 217 · 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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Annamma, S. A., Jackson, D. D., & Morrison, D. (2017) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2016.1248837 · Cited by 738 · see citing works
Finding Voice and Passion: Critical Race Theory Methodology in Science Teacher Education
Mensah, F. M. (2019) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/0002831218818093 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Nigro, L., & Ward-Seidel, A. (2026) · Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood · doi:10.1177/14639491241293479 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Riter, D., & Holly Jr., J. (2024) · Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) · doi:10.7771/2157-9288.1406 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Lea, C. H., Sardesai, T., Edwards, K. T., Andrade, G. M., & Kim, B.-K. E. (2026) · Education Sciences · doi:10.3390/educsci16040653
- Authors
- Milner, H. R.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Milner, H. Richard
- ORCID
- Milner, H. Richard
- Venue
- Educational Researcher
- Published
- 2007-10
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 388-400
- ISSN
- 0013-189X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-102X
- OpenAlex
- W2113369577
- Cited by
- 1,714
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 173 · 2025: 178 · 2024: 155 · 2023: 159 · 2022: 169 · 2021: 180 · 2020: 136 · 2019: 103 · 2018: 92 · 2017: 79 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 57 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 36.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Educational Researcher (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Research and Methods
- Keywords
- researcher positionality, race, culture, critical race theory, self-reflection in research, representation, educational research, researcher identity
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