University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 12-12-2016 The Illumination of Racial Understandings as Revealed in Teacher Education Students' Interpretation of Written Text Carolyn Marie Fuller University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Fuller, Carolyn Marie, "The Illumination of Racial Understandings as Revealed in Teacher Education Students' Interpretation of Written Text" (2016). Dissertations. 47. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/47 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Illumination of Racial Understandings as Revealed in Teacher Education Students’ Interpretation of Written Text by Carolyn M. Fuller M.Ed. Secondary Education, December, 2007, University of Missouri-St. Louis M.A. Political Science, May, 1995, University of Missouri-St. Louis B.S. Criminal Justice, August 1983, University of Missouri-St. Louis A Dissertation Submitted to The Graduate School of the University of Missouri-St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education with an Emphasis in Teaching and Learning Processes December 2016 Advisory Committee Rebecca Rogers, Ph.D. (Chair) Virginia Navarro, Ph.D. Jackie Lewis-Harris, Ph.D. Matthew Davis, Ph.D. Copyright, Carolyn M. Fuller, 2016 THE ILLUMINATION OF RACIAL UNDERSTANDING ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ ii List of Tables ....................................................................................................................6 Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................7 Dedication ........................................................................................................................9 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 10 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 11 Statement of the Problem ...............................................................................................19 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................................22 Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................24 Racial Literacy ...............................................................................................................29 Critical Race Theory ......................................................................................................31 Reader Response Theory ................................................................................................35 Definition of Terms ........................................................................................................38 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 40 Racial Identity Formation...............................................................................................42 Whiteness Studies and Teacher Education.....................................................................45 Discourse, Race and Teacher Education ........................................................................51 THE ILLUMINATION OF RACIAL UNDERSTANDING iii Racial Literacy and Teacher Education .........................................................................53 Sociocultural Theory ......................................................................................................60 Chapter 3: Research Methodology.................................................................................... 62 Context ...........................................................................................................................67 Recruitment/Participants ................................................................................................67 Procedures ......................................................................................................................68 Researcher’s Role ...........................................................................................................69 Data Collection and Sources ..........................................................................................71 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................82 Reflections on Researcher Subjectivities .......................................................................86 Research Ethics ..............................................................................................................87 Discussion of Trustworthiness and Limitations .............................................................88 Chapter 4: “The Wife of His Youth” ................................................................................ 91 Jessica’s Responses to “The Wife of His Youth” ..........................................................95 Matthew’s Responses to “Wife of His Youth” ............................................................101 Esther’s Responses to the “The Wife of His Youth” ...................................................109 Kyle’s Responses to “The Wife of His Youth”............................................................117 Karen’s Responses to “The Wife of His Youth”..........................................................123 Darla’s Responses to the “The Wife of His Youth”.....................................................127 THE ILLUMINATION OF RACIAL UNDERSTANDING iv Chapter 5: “Shades of Black: Skin Color Discrimination” ............................................. 136 Jessica’s Responses to Colorism ..................................................................................137 Matthew’s Responses to Colorism ...............................................................................145 Esther’s Responses to Colorism ...................................................................................153 Kyle’s Racialized Responses to Colorism ...................................................................158 Darla’s Responses to Colorism ....................................................................................165 Karen’s Responses to Colorism ...................................................................................171 Chapter 6: “Shame” ........................................................................................................ 179 Jessica’s Response to “Shame” ....................................................................................181 Matthew’s Responses to Shame ...................................................................................192 Esther’s Responses to “Shame” ...................................................................................197 Kyle’s Responses to “Shame” ......................................................................................204 Karen’s Responses to “Shame” ....................................................................................210 Darla’s Responses to “Shame” .....................................................................................216 Chapter 7: Analysis across Participants .......................................................................... 223 Awareness of Colorism-Historical and Contemporary Understandings ......................224 Misreading Race and Racial Dynamics in the Text .....................................................228 Deficit Social Constructions.........................................................................................231 Empathetic Responses to the Text ...............................................................................234 THE ILLUMINATION OF RACIAL UNDERSTANDING v Willingness to Develop Racial Literacy.......................................................................237 Racial Literacy Applied in a Focus Group Discussion ................................................240 Chapter 8: Discussion ..................................................................................................... 248 Denial of Racism in an Educational Context ...............................................................252 Edges of Racial Awareness ..........................................................................................253 Researcher Reflexivity and Racialized Epistemologies ...............................................256 Contributions to the Field .............................................................................................257 Future Research Directions ..........................................................................................258 References ....................................................................................................................262 Appendices A-D ...........................................................................................................277 Appendix E ...................................................................................................................285