Copyright by Christopher Lee Milk 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Christopher Lee Milk certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Narrating Racial Ideologies: An Ethnography of Relational Organizing at a Working Class Latino Elementary School in Texas Committee: ________________________________ Douglas Foley, Supervisor ________________________________ Noah de Lissovoy ________________________________ Kevin Foster ________________________________ Maria Franquiz ________________________________ Joao Vargas Narrating Racial Ideologies: An Ethnography of Relational Organizing at a Working Class Latino Elementary School in Texas by Christopher Lee Milk, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2011 Dedication: To Liliana, Diana Isabel and Yashua Josue, For their love and support in this project Acknowledgements I want to thank the community of support which helped me throughout this process, from getting me to and through graduate school, to collaborating with me in the ethnography, to getting me to finish writing. Since I will invariably miss someone who played a crucial role in this work, I want everyone to know that their support was greatly appreciated. Thanks. I want to continue by thanking my professors who have provided me feedback, encouragement and wonderful critique: Doug, for your guidance, taking me on after you wanted to retire, and guiding me to the very end; Noah, for working me as a welcome to UT, and engaging in the exam so thoughtfully; Kevin, for all the classes I took with you and the advice on how to teach classes, you got me through the prospectus and provided invaluable help in those stress-filled months; Maria, for also working with me as soon as you came to UT, taking on an individual study and engaging with the difficult questions I struggled with, thank you for your faith; Joao, for your friendship and critique, your comments have made my work better and your view from outside of education has been crucial in escaping my ideological bubble. Thanks to all the professors who have been willing to engage with me and have taken the time to discuss my concerns and critiques. Secondly, I’d like to thank all the people who collaborated in my ethnographic project. Engaging in race was risky, and yet Joaquin, Maria and Russ took me in and spent so much of their time working with me as organizers to develop and struggle through racial systems together. Panchita, Sylvia, Rebeca, Annette, Maranyeli, Elizabeth, v Lupe, Lupe, Mike, Gaby, Amanda, Carmen, Celia, Jennifer, Samuela, Rafaela, Frances, Eliana, Yesenia, Silvia, Rodrigo, Maria, Luz,… the parents and families who supported me in this project were an honor to work with and I thank every single one of you. The teachers also took great risk in working with me, with a special shout out to the equity team: Monica, Carmela, Cynthia, Marisol, Marty, Vera, Aracely, Tana, Laura, Kara, Maria and Ricky. You have taken risks, my critiques and lived to see the next day. Finally, the other organizers who continue to engage with me in practice: Minerva, Ofelia, Ana, Oralia, Doug, those who got me into organizing and those who still patiently work with me, thanks for your time, energy and late nights working to collaborate in a world where relationship building is talked about but rarely turned into reality. Those parents, union members, church leaders and school staff who engaged, fought and supported us, thanks for your time. Finally my own special support group, all my friends, peers and family members who have lent a listening ear, thanks for your time, willingness to take me seriously and comforting smile: Emmet, Claudia, Juan, Elizabeth, Linda, Linda, Dolores, Maribel, Amy, Beatriz, Hae Minh, Lourdes, Haydee, Deb, Selene, Oscar, Juan, Rosalba, Jack, Francisco, Lucia, Natalia, Estefania, Jessica and all those not mentioned but present. My special shout-outs are for the inner circle who gave me my daily peace: Mohan, Briana and Maleka, for getting me into this mess and helping me through it, compadre y comadre, thanks and best of wishes. My editor, Eleanor Bernal, whose critical words got me to the end. For my parents, Richard and Olgui, you have provided your love of schooling and faith in the possibilities of a decent education that both of you provide. vi There is no way to thank you but with my love. And finally, Liliana, Diana and Yashua. I could not have made it without you. Words can not express my daily love and thanks. vii Narrating Racial Ideologies: An Ethnography of Relational Organizing at a Working Class Latino Elementary School in Texas Christopher Lee Milk, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Douglas Foley The purpose of this research was to document how racial ideologies were expressed in relational organizing practices in a working class Latino Elementary school in Texas. By identifying dominant and subjugated racial ideologies, this research contributes to effort to challenge inequitable racial systems in schools through community organizing for school reform. I employed a participant ethnographic approach by becoming a volunteer relational organizer with a community organizing institution at Walnutbrook Elementary. I worked with working class Latino parents and the school staff to identify and challenge inequitable racial systems at the school. Using a racial systemic framework, I describe how dominant racial ideologies shaped relational organizing practices through racial narratives repeated throughout the organizing actions. I also document how some working class Latina leaders were able to counter narrate subjugated ideologies by using differential techniques as their organizing practices. Through microethnographic case viii studies, I am able to tell the stories of how schooling institutions continued inequitable racial systems by narrating dominant racial ideologies while local community leaders created spaces through which to challenge these systems and ideologies by privileging their Latina epistemologies. ix Table of Contents Introduction: Studying racial systems within community organizing for school reform ………………………………………………………………………………… 1 A welcome picnic: an introduction to Walnutbrook Elementary ……………… 1 Community organizing for school reform at Walnutbrook Elementary ……… 4 Community organizing for school reform in the United States ……………….. 13 Relational organizing and racial systems ……………………………………….. 16 Critiques of race and ideology in education …………………………………….. 18 Working class Latinas in schools ………………………………………………… 20 Racial ideologies in relational organizing in an ethnographic context ………… 21 Agency within racial systems: Narratives in figured worlds …………………… 22 Methodology: Using relational organizing techniques to study racial ideologies. 23 Data collection within relational organizing ……………………………………… 29 Positionality: Studying Walnutbrook and myself ……………………………….. 30 Data Analysis: Organizing understandings of racialized relationships at Walnutbrook ………………………………………………………………….. 37 Chapter 1 – The racial systemic formation of community organizing for school reform at Walnutbrook Elementary School ………………………………………... 42 Part 1: Racializing Walnutbrook neighborhood and Elementary ……………… 43 Residential policy and the City: Segregation and white wealth accumulation. 44 The Racial Systemization of Walnutbrook Neighborhood …………………… 47 Choice segregation: District policies’ impact on racialized schooling ……….. 50 Responding to fiscal crises:City Alliance’s racialized institutional organizing 54 Community organizing for school reform comes to Walnutbrook ………….. 58 Part 2 – Walnutbrook’s racial systems at the beginning of the study …………. 62 A school divided: The segregated spaces of faculty and staff ………………… 62 Walnutbrook neighborhood: Organizing white homeowners and Mexicano apartment dwellers …………………………………………………………… 67 A Rural Mexicano community from B and L: Divisions within the Latino Community ……………………………………………………………………. 69 Conclusion: Racial issues in relational organizing ……………………………. 74 Chapter 2 – Narrating organizing: Racial ideologies in the cafeteria action …….. 76 Racial ideologies in individual meetings: Making sense of racialized participation ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 77 Institutional pressures to teach how to organize …………………………………. 82 Racial narratives in house meetings: Telling stories to prompt action …………. 85 Counter narratives: Alternative explanations of racialized relationships ……… 89 Creating color-blind consensus: Narrating agreement between contested narratives ………………………………………………………………………... 94 Differential techniques: Counter narratives inform parents’ actions ………….. 99 Conclusion: Contested racial narratives within relational organizing ………... 104 x Chapter 3 – The Huerta Action: Acting to Create Spaces Based on Racial Counter Narratives ……………………………………………………………………………. 107 The three garden narratives at Walnutbrook ………………………………….. 108 Getting the garden going: Collecting an archive of counter narratives ………. 112 The anti-TAKS garden meeting …………………………………………………. 116 Working on the garden in the anti-TAKS figured world ……………………… 119 Planting a huerta …………………………………………………………………. 125 Paquita shares her knowledge …………………………………………………… 126 The figured world of the huerta …………………………………………………. 133 Chapter 4: The Pre-Kindergarten Action: Critiquing Parent Involvement