Introduction to Postracialism in U.S. Public School and Higher Education Settings: The Politics of Education in the Age of Obama
Item
Title
Introduction to Postracialism in U.S. Public School and Higher Education Settings: The Politics of Education in the Age of Obama
Abstract/Description
Race and racism are topics typically silenced, muted, or reframed toward a discussion of color blindness. In 2008, the historic election of the nation's first African American president prompted increased proclamations that the nation had "moved past race." In the moments immediately after the major networks called the 2008 presidential election for Barack Obama, political pundits and mainstream journalists alike ushered in a dominant narrative that framed the first 2 1/2 years of the Obama presidency and cemented the notion of a color-blind society at the forefront of political discourse. Many presupposed that the mere election of the first president of color erased the pervasive and institutionalized racism that has historically oppressed Americans of color since the creation of the nation. This framing has resulted in the solidification of a de-contextualized and deraced analysis of some of the most important economic and social issues and policies of the last several generations. This article centers on the politics of race and racism, and squarely questions the notion that individuals live, educate school-children, and engage in policy-making in a new, post-racial era. Despite President Obama's election, the authors reject the color-blind, majoritarian political discourse notion that race and racism are decentered. The authors aim to center analysis and discussion of race and racism and the role that they continue to play in schools, postsecondary education, communities, and nation today and to challenge the dominant narrative that we have reached an all-encompassing, utopian plateau in the history of this nation, created by rhetorical declarations that Americans are somehow a postracial society after the election of President Obama.
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Volume
86
Issue
5
Pages
479-487
Resource type
Background/Context
Medium
Print
Background/context type
Conceptual
Open access/free-text available
No
Peer reviewed
Yes
ISSN
ISSN-0161-956X
Citation
Alemán, E., Salazar, T., Rorrer, A., & Parker, L. (2011). Introduction to Postracialism in U.S. Public School and Higher Education Settings: The Politics of Education in the Age of Obama. Peabody Journal of Education, 86(5), 479–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2011.616129
Comments
No comment yet! Be the first to add one!