Critical Theory for DS1 – 07.10.2018

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This is a reading and writing response for Tuesday, July 10, 2018.

Topic: Critical Race Theory and Interrogating Diversity/ Multiculturalism

“When you hear indigenous voices, it makes a difference”

Dr. Susan Dion shares insights into Indigenous learning and storytelling as she states “put yourself out there”, “know who your community is”, find “who you can trust”, “participate”, “have conversations”, and “build relationships with people”. (2018, July 10, personal notes of H. DeWaard, talk by Dr. Susan Dion). This is echoed by Ladson Billings (1998) when she suggests that critical race theory (CRT), through storytelling processes which “analyze the myths, presuppositions, and received wisdoms that make up the common culture about race” (p. 11), has become an “important intellectual and social tool for … deconstruction of oppressive structures and discourses, reconstruction of human agency, and construction of equitable and socially just relations of power”. (p 9). According to Ladson Billings (1998) CRT applies storytelling as methodology in order to contextualize historical perspectives, name current realities, and effect change through “catalyzing the necessary cognitive conflict” (p. 14) within the oppressor, thus unmasking and exposing racism. Ladson Billings suggests that “storytelling has been a kind of medicine to heal the wounds of pain caused by racial oppression” but also “can affect the oppressor” (p. 14).

Daniel (2018) also recognizes the power of story narratives as “an act of counter-storytelling” (p. 1) while sharing her anecdotal experiences of being at the intersections of author, woman, Black, and academic. Daniel identifies that “narratives are the life stories that the marginalized must tell as an act of survival, disruption, and undoing” (p. 13) as the “storytelling movement urges black and brown writers to recount their experiences” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017 in Daniels, p. 13). As Daniels shares these stories of those affected by oppression and gendered violence in academia to “challenge, interrogate, and bring these experiences to the forefront” (p. 13) this shocks my white, female, academic privilege by calling me out to “recognize that other women are marginalized or excluded” and for not exploring the “intersectional oppressions” that exist in academia.

This story, once told, cannot be forgotten. I suggest, like Dion mentions, once you hear Indigenous voices, or any marginalized, oppressed, and disenfranchised voices, ‘it makes a difference’. Our greatest responsibility, at the intersections of CRT and storytelling is, as Ladson Billings proposes, to “be serious about intense study and careful rethinking of race and education” while bravely assuming the “liminal position” despite the dangers and discomforts. (p. 22).

References:

  • Daniel, B-J. (2018). Teaching while Black: Racial dynamics, evaluations, and the role of White females in the Canadian academy in carrying the racism torch. Race, Ethnicity and Education, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2018.1468745
  • Dion, S. (2018, July 10). Talk presented to Doctoral Seminar 1. (Personal notes from H. DeWaard)
  • Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11 (1), 7- 24, DOI:10.1080/095183998236863