Intersectionality Narratives in the Classroom: “Outsider Teachers” and Teaching Others

92 Pages·2018·1.569 MB·English

by  Sara Makris (auth.)

INTERSECTIONALITY
NARRATIVES IN
THE CLASSROOM
“Outsider Teachers”
and Teaching Others
Sara Makris
Intersectionality Narratives in the Classroom
Sara Makris
Intersectionality
Narratives in the
Classroom
“ ”
Outsider Teachers and Teaching Others
SaraMakris
IndependentScholar
UniversityPark,MD
USA
ISBN978-3-319-67446-9 ISBN978-3-319-67447-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67447-6
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CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegenerosityandopen-
ness of the research participants. It would also not exist without the guid-
ance and support of the faculty, staff, and students in the University of
MarylandMinorityandUrbanEducationprogram.Thankyou.
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction:“OutsiderTeachers”andtheCase
forIntersectionality 1
2 TheRoleofNarrative 13
3 TeacherNarrative:Jamie 23
4 TeacherNarrative:Maria 33
5 TeacherNarrative:Lisa 43
6 TeacherNarrative:Winnie 53
7 TeacherNarrative:Kyong 63
8 Conclusion:LessonsLearnedandImplications
forFutureScholarship 71
Index 85
ix
CHAPTER1
“ ”
Introduction: Outsider Teachers
and the Case for Intersectionality
Abstract Makris explains how studying the growing group of “outsider”
educatorscaninformourunderstandingofthecomplexitiesofidentityand
its pedagogical implications. Race, gender, ability, sexual orientation, reli-
gion, ethnicity, and social class can all contribute to the definition of
“outsider teacher,” but the roles these designators play are contextually
dependent and fluid. Insomeinstances, they even become “insider” char-
acteristics. Traditional research into this area has focused on the effects of
oneofthesecompartmentalizedidentityqualifiers,creatinganopportunity
and a need for application of intersectionality theory—an accommodation
of the complexity of interacting, shifting, and overlapping characteristics
and the ways they morph according to circumstance. To highlight this
opportunity, the term “outsider teacher” is further explained according to
itsconnotationandhistoricaluse.
Keywords Intersectionality(cid:129)Outsiderteacher(cid:129)Teacheridentity
Many of us are familiar with certain representations of the “outsider
teacher”infilmandliterature.ConsiderSidneyPoitier’sportrayalofMark
Thackeray, a Guyanese engineer-turned-teacher in the 1967 film To Sir,
with Love. In Thackeray’s experience at a working-class school in the East
EndofLondon,class-relatedconflictsrisetothesurface(thoughracehardly
bears any mention). Thackeray is initially at odds with his students,
©TheAuthor(s)2018 1
S.Makris,IntersectionalityNarrativesintheClassroom,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67447-6_1
2 1 INTRODUCTION:“OUTSIDERTEACHERS”ANDTHECASE...
ineffectually attempting to control the group of unruly adolescents on
whom one teacher after another has given up. His frustration grows as he
tries,unsuccessfully,torunatraditionalclassroominwhichstudentsinher-
entlyrespecthimandfollowhisrules.Eventually,Thackeraywinsoverthe
studentsandisinvitedbacktotheschooltoteachagainthefollowingyear.
Thearchetypeundergirdsmanysimilarmediadepictionsoftheoutsider
teacher: A white/black/middle-class/educated stranger from far away,
unaware of the customs that govern a village/island/city neighborhood,
enters the urban/rural/impoverished/chaotic classroom, and brings
knowledge/intellectual curiosity/civilization to the needy/ignorant/
coarse young people who dwell there. In films, television shows, and
books, from Dangerous Minds to Freedom Writers, the outsider protago-
nist/saviordeliversorderandbestowsmeaningandpurpose.
While these overly simple narratives trivialize the classroom experience,
theconceptofthe“outsiderteacher”isveryreal,albeitfarmorecomplex.
Studyofthisgrowinggroupofeducatorscaninformourunderstandingof
thecomplexitiesofidentityandourpedagogy.
THE OUTSIDER TEACHER
Outsider teachers are those who possess identifying characteristics that
differentiate them from their student populations. Race, gender, ability,
sexualorientation,religion,ethnicity,andsocialclassallconstitutepotential
areas of difference. Teachers may diverge from their students at the inter-
sectionofanumberofthesecharacteristicstobeconsideredoutsiders.
Theterm“outsiderteacher,”however,canmeandifferentthingsindiffer-
ent circumstances. It may refer to teachers who come from a dominant
culture—a predominantly white, middle-class population, for example—to
teachstudentsofcolorinlow-incomesettings.“Outsiderteacher”mayrefer
tootherbordercrossers:teacherswhoworkinternationally,leavingtheirhome
countries to teach elsewhere. Outsider teachers may include those who
encountermarginalizationregardlessoftheirsetting,forexample,teachersof
color,teacherswithdisabilities,andtransgender,gay,orlesbianteachers.
Forcenturies,outsiderteachershavefacilitatedthespreadoflanguages,
religions, worldviews, and political doctrine of dominant cultures. Some
havebeenmissionariesand“do-gooders.”
In the late nineteenth century, British missionary teachers traveled to
India, where they unsuccessfully attempted to instill Christian beliefs and
Britishbehaviorsamong“pureheathens”(Forbes,2,1986).Whiteteachers
OUTSIDER:ATROUBLESOMETERM 3
traveledfromthepost-warNorthoftheUSAtoeducatenewlyfreedblack
southerners, and expressed disbelief when they encountered a population
satisfied with its own pedagogy, expressing a desire to continue without
their help (Anderson et al. 1998). Outsider teachers of the colonizing
varietymay, accordingtoLisaDelpit(2006),“holdon to their worldview
with great tenacity, insisting that all of the others are wrong, peculiar,
undeveloped,heathen,oruncivilized”(p.74).
Andnow,greatermobilitythroughglobalizationhasenabledthemigra-
tionofevenmoreteachersthroughouttheworld.
Similarly,individualsfrommarginalizedgroupsarealsonowteachingin
wider settings. Educatorsfrom low-income backgroundsteach children of
theuppermiddleclass.Teacherswithdisabilitiesovercometheinstitutional
discrimination of colleges of education in order to enter the profession. A
body of literature has begun to document experiences of these emerging
groupsofoutsiderteachers.
Thisbookcontributestothatcollectionasitdescribestheexperiencesof
a group of outsider teachers, and it generates conclusions about their
experiences that shed light on classroom interaction, communication, and
pedagogicaldecision-making.
OUTSIDER: A TROUBLESOME TERM
Before further exploration of outsider teachers and their experiences, it
should be noted that the term “outsider” is not free of problematic bag-
gage,bringingwithitconnotationsofexclusion,judgment,andseparation
from the norm. It is used throughout this text with full awareness of its
potentialfornegativeimplications.
The participants who joined me in this study had different reactions to
the term “outsider.” Three of the five participants embraced it from the
outset.Oneparticipantinitiallyrejectedtheterm,findingitoutrightoffen-
sive.Throughthecourseofourworktogether,though,shecametobelieve
thatitappliedtoherandfithercircumstances.Shelearnedtoembraceitasa
strength.Oneoftheparticipantsultimatelychosenottobedefinedbythe
term, preferring to use “other” instead. She had worked her entire life to
keep an outsider characteristic, in her case, blindness, from defining her.
Herwordstothateffectappearinthechapterdedicatedtoherstory.
The term “outsider” is certainly flawed, but it is compromised in the
samewaythatalmostanyreductivelabelis.Similarly,itisusefulintheway