Teaching While White

This book endeavors to cultivate activism literacies in White teachers in order to disrupt the system of white supremacy and racial oppression in education. This book focuses primarily on White teachers’ responsibility in becoming advocates for, and accomplices to communities of color. Through the lens of Critical Race Teacher Activism (CRTA), this book seeks to support teachers in critiquing and transforming pedagogy and curriculum in predominantly white spaces in order to interrupt the single story and amplify voices that are marginalized, silenced, or omitted from curriculum.

Teaching While White is one of those rare books that embraces truth as opposed to obscuring it, that peeks beneath the Fanonian white mask of teaching to present a profession incontestably disfigured due to the violent brutalities of historical oppression, racist xenophobia, and the debilitating gaze of whiteness. Original and insightful, it speaks truth to pedagogy, recognizing that, not only is the classroom always a contested space, the teacher is a contested identity that can be reimagined to advance social change. The secrets to the transmogrification of not only the profession, but the ‘professional’, lie in this absorbing text., Alas, a much-needed read for (white) educators that includes a discussion on race AND immigration. Roy provides not only an accessible analysis and critique of whiteness in our schools, but also offers rich examples of how educators can begin their journey of serving as committed allies to communities and students of color., Roy’s Teaching While White: Addressing the Intersections of Race and Immigration in the Classroom provides educators a brilliant tool for engaging White students in dialogue with transformative potential. This extremely timely and compelling book centers anti-racist work in the classroom toward dismantling white supremacy. Not just for teacher education programs, this text offers valuable lessons and strategies for educators across disciplines who are committed to creating liberatory pedagogical spaces grounded in justice and equity., If you follow the advice of this book get ready to learn how to be “comfortable being uncomfortable.” Teachers now inhabit classrooms where racism, xenophobia, homophobia and white privilege are not just normalized, but are viewed by some as appropriate expressions that validate their worldview. Dr. Roy’s insightful and timely book guides teachers through the potential ideological landmines that play out in the classroom. This book is a needed and valuable tool for all teachers, but particularly white teachers, who are looking for effective ways to critique the problem of whiteness.

Laura A. Roy (Ph.D., University of Texas at San Antonio) is Associate Professor and Chair of Education at La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA. Laura’s program of research is interdisciplinary, drawing primarily from critical and sociocultural theories in order to examine the places where new and existing communities meet and intersect. At the core of her work is a concern for and commitment to equity, social justice, and teacher activism. As a teacher educator, Laura is committed to supporting teacher research and transformative practices that seek to dismantle systems of oppression. Her record of publication centers primarily on the classroom and community experiences of refugee and immigrant populations in the US, examining the intersections of race, culture, language, and other markers of identity. She is particularly interested in the discursive practices in the classroom that cultivate or marginalize students’ unique cultural and literate histories.