Date of Award
5-2025
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
Emily J. Klein
Committee Member
Monica Taylor
Committee Member
Kathryn Herr
Abstract
The growth of teachers of Color in American classrooms has not kept pace with the growth of students of Color. While the percentage of White teachers versus teachers of Color has held relatively steady at approximately 80 percent White teachers to 20 percent teachers of Color for four decades, there has been a dramatic shift from approximately 80 percent White students and 20 percent students of Color in the 1980s to a majority-minority status for White students. There is strong evidence that this lack of alignment in racial, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds between the nation’s teaching force and our student population has resulted in great harm to those who have continuingly been marginalized by much of American society. Based on Paulo Freire’s (1970/2015, 1974/2018) work on Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal’s (1979/2008) Theatre of the Oppressed was developed to help generate transformational awareness of, and action against, forms of oppression. This study will focus on the experiences of four White in-service high school teachers and how TO helped them to become more racially conscious and culturally relevant teachers for their students of Color.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Kintish, Roger S., "How Theatre of the Oppressed Helps White Teachers Understand Race: Moving from Color-Blind to Color-Sight" (2025). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1538.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1538