Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Listening to Counternarratives of Faculty of Color: Studying Rural Racism in One of Most Conservative Communities in America

  • Published:
The Urban Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study reports on a qualitative narrative, counterstory of six faculty and one administrator of color (Merriam in Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2009; Yosso in Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. Taylor & Francis Group, New York, 2006) teaching at a Predominately White Institution teacher education in a rural U. S. state. The study examined the experiences of how the racial hierarchy, the macro-level and the organizational-individual relations impacted diverse (i.e., Othered) faculty. Specifically, participants explained how unequal racial relations had significant professional and personal consequences. In reflecting on the findings, we theorize how future research on diversity-racial relations in teacher education programs may be enhanced by foregrounding insights from the literature on Whiteness Studies, Critical Race Theory, and examination of White organizational structures toward strengthening multiracial coalitions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amey, M. J., & Eddey, P. L. (2018). Leading in the middle. In J. S. Levin & S. T. Kater (Eds.), Understanding community colleges (pp. 203–226). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. A. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism. New York, NY: Basic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnbaum, R. (1991). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, M. J. (1993). Toward an Asian American legal scholarship: Critical race theory, post- structuralism, and narrative space. California Law Review, 81, 1241–1323. https://doi.org/10.2307/3480919.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, T. (2018). ISU researchers: Racism is rampant in higher education. Retrieved April 3, 2020 from https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/ISU-researchers-Racism-is-rampant-in-higher-education-485066951.html.

  • Coats, R. D. (2011). Covert racism: Theories, institutions, and experiences: Studies in critical social sciences. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran-Smith, M. (1995). Uncertain allies: Understanding the boundaries of race and teaching. Harvard Educational Review, 65(4), 541–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado, R. (1989). Storytelling for oppositionists and others: A plea for narrative. Michigan Law Review, 81, 2411–2441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903). The souls of black folk. New York: NY Dover Publications Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Bois, W. E. B. (1940). Dusk of dawn: An essay toward an autobiography of a race concept. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, K. A. (2011). Race, gender, bodily (mis)recognitions: Women of color faculty experiences with White students in the college classrooms. The Journal of Higher Education, 82, 444–478. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2011.0026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankenberg, R. (Ed.). (1997). Displacing whiteness. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garner, S. (2017). Surfing the third wave of whiteness studies: Reflections on Twine and Gallagher. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(9), 1582–1597. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1300301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giroux, H. A. (2017). Critical theory and educational practice. In A. Darder, R. D. Torres, & M. P. Baltodano (Eds.), The Critical Pedagogy Reader (pp. 31–55). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T. (2012). Experiences of faculty of color teaching in a predominantly White university: Fostering interracial relationships among faculty of color and White preservice teachers. International Journal of Progressive Education, 8(2), 25–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T. (2014). Moving racial discussion forward: A counterstory of racialized dynamics between an Asian-woman faculty of color and White preservice teachers in traditional rural America. The Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 7(2), 126–146. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036055.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T. (2015). Challenges in implementing critical literacy practices in remote rural teacher education programs. In B. Yoon & R. Sharif (Eds.), Critical literacy practice: Applications of critical theory in diverse settings (pp. 129–146). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T. (2018). A demographic and epistemological divide: Problematizing diversity and equity education in traditional rural teacher education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2018.1455997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T., & Leonard, J. (2017). Why diversity matters in rural America: Women faculty of color challenging Whiteness. The Urban Review, 49(1), 112–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-016-0384-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, K.T., Leonardo, J., & Kambutu, J. (Under review). Macroaggressions, microaggressions, and silencing in the academy: Counternarratives of faculty of color in rural teacher education. Submitted to American Educational Research Journal.

  • Han, K. T., Madhuri, M., & Scull, W. R. (2015). Two sides of the same coin: Preservice teachers’ dispositions towards critical pedagogy and social justice concerns in rural and urban teacher education contexts. The Urban Review, 47(4), 626–656. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-015-0327-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, K. T., Scull, W. R., Nganga, L., & Kambutu, J. (2018). Voices from the red states: Challenging racial positioning in some of the most conservative communities in America. Race, Ethnicity, and Education.. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1468751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Rudman, L. A., Blair, I. V., Carney, D. R., Dasgupta, N., Glaser, J., et al. (2009). The existence of implicit bias is beyond reasonable doubt: A refutation of ideological and methodological objections and executive summary of ten studies that no manager should ignore. In A. P. Brief & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 29 (pp. 39–69). New York, NY: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiang, P. N. (2004). Linking strategies and interventions in Asian American Studies to K–12 classrooms and teacher preparation. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 17(2), 199–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, C. (2008). The landscape of post-imperial whiteness in rural Britain. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 167–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). Preparing teachers for diverse student populations: A critical race theory perspective. Review of Research in Education, 24, 211–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. M. (2002). Do Asian American faculty face a glass ceiling in higher education? American Educational Research Journal, 39, 695–724. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312039003695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, B., Iceland, J., & Sharp, G. (2012). Racial and ethnic diversity goes local: Charting change in American communities over three decades. http://diversity.ucsc.edu/news-events/news/images/US2010.pdf.

  • Leonardo, Z. (2009). Race, Whiteness, and education. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Li, G., & Beckett, G. (Eds.). (2006). “Strangers” of the academy: Asian women scholars in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, R. J., & Kiczowiak, M. (2016). Native-speakerism and the complexity of personal experience: A duoethnographic study. Cogent Education, 3(1), 1264171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, S. (2006). Revealing the invisible: Confronting passive racism in teacher education. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McElderry, J., & Rivera, S. (2017). Your agenda item, our experience: two administrators’ insights on campus unrest at Mizzou. Journal of Negro Education, 86(3), 318–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merryfield, M. M. (2000). Why aren’t teachers being prepared to teach for diversity, equity, and global interconnectedness? A study of lived experiences in the making of multicultural and global educators? Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 429–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner, H. R., & Howard, T. C. (2013). Counter-narrative as method: Race, policy and research for teacher education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(4), 536–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, G., Moore, H., Edwards, C., Acosta, K., & Frey, C. (2009). Maintaining credibility and authority as an instructor of color in diversity education classrooms: A qualitative inquiry. The Journal of Higher Education, 80, 80–105. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.0.0030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, B. B. (Ed.). (2001). The making and unmaking of whiteness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, L. D. (2010). The role of perceived race and gender in the evaluation of college teaching on RateMyProfessorsCom. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3(3), 137–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheurich, J. J., & Young, M. (1997). Coloring Epistemologies: Are our research epistemologies racially Biased? Educational Researcher, 26, 4–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sleeter, C. E. (2008). Preparing White teachers for diverse students. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Namser, D. J. McIntyre, & K. E. Demers (Eds.), Handbook of research in teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts (pp. 559–582). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. G., & Wolf-Wendel, L. E. (2005). The challenge of diversity: Involvement or alienation in the academy?. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Periodicals.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, W. A., Yosso, T. J., & Solorzano, D. G. (2006). Challenging racial battle fatigue on historically White campuses: A critical race examination of race-related stress. In C. A. Stanley (Ed.), Faculty of Color: Teaching in predominantly White colleges and universities (pp. 298–327). Boston, MA: Anker Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for educational research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8, 23–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spade, D. (2015). Normal life: Administrative violence, critical trans politics, & the limits of law. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, C. A. (2006). Coloring the academic land- scape: Faculty of color breaking the silence in predominantly White colleges and universities. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 701–736. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312043004701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teranishi, R. T. (2010). Asians in the ivory tower: Dilemmas of racial inequality in American higher education. New York: Teachers College Record.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, C. S. V., Gonzalez, J. C., & Wood, J. L. (2008). Faculty of color in academe: What years of literature tells us. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1, 139–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twine, F. W., & Gallagher, C. (2008). The future of whiteness: A map of the ‘third wave’. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 4–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. (2013). Strategic diversity leadership: activating change and transformation in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan, W., & Museus, S. D. (2013). Asian American and Pacific Islander faculty and the glass ceiling in the academy. In S. D. Museus, D. C. Maramba, & R. T. Teranishi (Eds.), The misrepresented minority: New insights on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, and the implications for higher education (pp. 249–265). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing LLC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yosso, T. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Teacher Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA

    Keonghee Tao Han

  2. Higher Education Administration Program, School of Counseling, Leadership, Advocacy, and Design (CLAD), College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA

    W. Reed Scull

  3. Higher Education Program, UNT Higher Education Development Initiative, Department of Counseling and Higher Education, University of North Texas, Denton, USA

    Clifford P. Harbour

Authors
  1. Keonghee Tao Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. W. Reed Scull
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Clifford P. Harbour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keonghee Tao Han.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Han, K.T., Scull, W.R. & Harbour, C.P. Listening to Counternarratives of Faculty of Color: Studying Rural Racism in One of Most Conservative Communities in America. Urban Rev 53, 470–490 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-020-00576-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-020-00576-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation