Decentering Whiteness in Teacher Education Through A Creative Self Study of Womanist Caring Pedagogy
Date of Award
Spring 3-2-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed.D. Transformational Teaching and Learning
Department
Secondary Education
First Advisor
Brenda Muzeta, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Michele L. White, Ed.D.
Third Advisor
Amy Pfeiler-Wunder, Ph.D.
Abstract
Teacher education faculty in higher education continues to mirror K–12 schools, continuing to be comprised of predominately White women, thus creating a what is known as a cultural gap for teacher education students from marginalized populations in colleges. This culture gap, created by modeling Whiteness as the expected and accepted norm, is often painfully evident to students of color though invisible to White teachers who do not seek to change the current systematic racism prevalent in many teacher education programs. The understanding of self through the critical Whiteness lens is in the movement of the second wave of critical Whiteness studies which seeks to unpack how Whiteness is experienced by Whites. This second wave of critical Whiteness studies needs to be an effort which promotes an understanding of how Whiteness perpetuates everyday life and the teaching profession (Barnes, 2017). Using a self-study informed by narrative inquiry methodology, by embracing dialogical voice as a qualitative method, undergirded by Black feminist theory and womanist pedagogy, this research explored how student voices can shift the Whiteness lens of a White womanist or othermother teacher educator at a Hispanic-serving community college. This self-study narrative inquiry demonstrates a model of reflective practice for White, female teacher educators, to further conversations and pedagogies of love as an action, such as womanist pedagogy, in antiracist and anti-oppressionist teacher education programs.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
AMMON, JANE, "Decentering Whiteness in Teacher Education Through A Creative Self Study of Womanist Caring Pedagogy" (2022). Education Doctorate Dissertations. 23.
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/edddissertations/23
