How students and teachers talk about race and racism in a high school classroom: Barriers and breakthroughs in critical multicultural pedagogy

This study examined how students and teachers talked about race and racism in a high school classroom, the barriers to students talking critically about race and racism, and what extended conversations about race and racism.; After observing an interdisciplinary American History/Language Arts class in an alternative school, and interviewing students and teachers in that class, I analyzed segments of class discussions of race and racism. I also cross-referenced the discussions with student and teacher interview excerpts that commented on or related to those conversations.; Students both resisted talking about race and racism and passionately engaged in the topics. Statements and interactions which seemed to impede critical discussion were also the very same words and interactions that denoted engagement. Constructions of race and racism were flexible and changing. The structure of the class both hindered and helped extend conversations about race and racism.; There were two main and interrelated categories of barriers to talking critically about racism. First, students characterized race and racism in ways that precluded talking about current forms of institutionalized racism today. Second, concerned with their peers' perceptions, and in response to perceptions of teachers' racialized identities, students often resisted talking about institutional racism.; Nonetheless, students and teachers discussed race and racism and engaged these topics critically, if only for brief moments. Students discussed the language and meaning of race itself, and engaged in discussions of racism as a current and institutional phenomenon. Students' outspoken stances as well as their reflection and curiosity helped extend these discussions.; The seemingly contradictory results—the almost concomitant resistance and engagement in discussions of race and racism—point to the great complexity in critical multicultural pedagogy.