Date of Award

1-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College for Education and Engaged Learning

Department/Program

Teacher Education and Teacher Development

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Monica Taylor

Committee Member

Emily M. Hodge

Committee Member

Emily J. Klein

Abstract

This study examines a group of four English educators, two women of color and two white women, who self-identified as teachers for social justice as they formed a teacher inquiry group, called a teacher inquiry circle, as they attempt to become antiracist. The purpose of the inquiry circle was to answer the call to action for more equitable racially just schools that permeated the nation during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. To conduct the study a feminist practitioner action research methodology was used, and a racial literacy framework was applied to examine the lived experiences of the members of the teacher inquiry circle who were working in a variety of contexts as they embarked on their journey to becoming antiracist. Over the course of seven months these English teachers engaged in a collaborative dialogic group that used shared inquiry and critical storytelling and attempted to take action against the structures and systems that perpetuate race-based inequities. The research found that although challenging, difficult, and uncomfortable, small antiracist actions can be achieved when a group of English teachers committed to becoming antiracist worked across communities and contexts, racial and geographical, to form a community of solidarity.

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