!"#!

" %&"'()*"+,
+-. /012314. *5-667


8.049:9514. :60 #;;06<9=> 4-. ?9@@.041496=


A. -.0.BC 1;;06<. 4-. ?9@@.041496=

6:


Kevin N. Talbeit


Canuiuate foi the Begiee:

?65460 6: D-976@6;-C


_______________________________________________________
Bi. Richaiu Quantz, Biiectoi


_______________________________________________________
Bi. Bennis Cailson, Reauei


_______________________________________________________
Bi. Thomas Poettei, Reauei


_______________________________________________________
Bi. Tammy Schwaitz, Reauei


_______________________________________________________
Bi. Sheii Leafgien, uiauuate School Repiesentative








ABSTRACT




AN EB0CATI0NAL CRITICISN 0F TBE NARRATIvE C0RRIC0L0N 0F AN 0RBAN
TEACBINu C0B0RT PR0uRAN

Kevin N. Talbeit


Theie aie hegemonic commonsense naiiatives about uiban life in the 0niteu States.
A lack of ciitique of these naiiatives unueimines the possibility of tiansfoiming
uiban euucation to bettei seive the inteiests of uiban stuuents anu theii families, an
example of what Fieiie (2uuu197u) calls "naiiation sickness" (p. 71).

Accoiuing to Banks (2uu6), schools face a uemogiaphic impeiative, a claim that as
the stuuent composition of Ameiican schools becomes moie uiveise that teachei
euucation piogiams must begin to change how they piepaie teacheis so they can
meet this impeiative. Nowheie is the uemogiaphic impeiative moie eviuent than in
uiban schools in the 0. S. In accoiu with the uemogiaphic impeiative, teachei
euucation piogiams must uo moie to subveit the naiiation sickness that cuiiently
uefines uiban euucation.

As a cuiiiculum inquiiy, this stuuy illuminates the naiiative cuiiiculum of stuuents
in a pie-seivice uiban teaching cohoit piogiam. 0sing the methouology of
euucational ciiticism (Eisnei, 2uu2), this stuuy investigates stuuents' use of
paiticulai !"#$"%&# (&%%&$)*+, to talk about uiban life anu euucation. Cultuial
naiiatives constitute a paiticulai foim of uialogic speech act (volosinov, 1986) that
may be ieau anu analyzeu as a cultuial text. Ciitical euucation theoiy giounus the
stuuy, which investigates the uialectical ielationship between the naiiatives pie-
seivice uiban teachei euucation cohoit stuuents use to talk about uiban life anu
schooling anu the mateiial iealities of uiban schooling in Ameiican society.

Thioughout this uisseitation, I unfolu some of the commonsense naiiatives about
uiban life as they ciiculate in Ameiican cultuie but especially as they aie
iepiouuceu, meuiateu, anu contesteu by pie-seivice teacheis in the 0iban Teaching
Cohoit at Niami 0niveisity. I claim that stuuents' naiiations have begun to account
foi the mateiial iealities of uiban life, countei-naiiations that subveit many
uominant naiiatives of uiban pathology. They have begun to align themselves
naiiatively anu iueologically with the inteiests of uiban communities. Yet, stuuents
also inhabit an iueological miuule space between unciitical iepiouuction of
hegemony anu ciitical piaxis.
AN EB0CATI0NAL CRITICISN 0F TBE NARRATIvE C0RRIC0L0N 0F AN 0RBAN
TEACBINu C0B0RT PR0uRAN

A BISSERTATI0N




Submitted to the Faculty of

Miami University in partial

fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Educational Leadership




by




Kevin Nichael Talbeit

Niami 0niveisity

0xfoiu, 0hio

2u12




Bisseitation Chaii: Richaiu A. Quantz
ii

+1B7. 6: 86=4.=4@

D0.:15. ;E F

8-1;4.0 FG "=406235496= 46 4-. *432C ;E H

8-1;4.0 IG J94.01430. ).<9.K ;E IL

8-1;4.0 MG !.4-62676>C ;E HF

8-1;4.0 HG *432C 86=4.N4 ;E OP

8-1;4.0 OG &100149<. 830095373Q 6: 4-. %0B1= +.15-9=> 86-604 ;E RI

8-1;4.0 LG 86=573@96=@ 1=2 "Q;7951496=@ :60 4-. S3430. ;E FTP

).:.0.=5.@ ;E FFR
1

D0.:15.

-.&$ /01(&$.&(2 3141# ,++5, $1 6&($ &, 5"!. &, 7+$$+% ,!.11#, ), &
%+8),$%)7"$)1( 19 6+&#$.: ;, /,)!2 6.)$+ <"=, .&*+ .&8 $11 5"!. >%1,>+%)$=:

? .1(+,$#= !&(@$ ,&= ? +!.1 5&(= 19 $.+ ,$&$+5+($, /19 &!!#&)52 1( $.+ 7&!A 19
$.+ 711A: ? 6&,(@$ >&%$)!"#&%#= .+&%$7%1A+( 1% 8++>#= 51*+8B 7"$ $.+( &<&)( ?
&5 C",$ & 6.)$+ 7)<1$ D91% $.+%+ ), (1 1$.+% A)(8B %)<.$EF:
3+*)( G&#7+%$B HIJ=+&%, 1#8

I fiist ieau K&*&<+ ?(+L"&#)$)+, (Kozol, 1991) in the fall of 199S. I was an
eighteen-yeai-olu unueigiauuate anu Kozol's text was assigneu as one of the coie
ieauings foi Nulticultuialism anu Exceptionality, one of the fiist classes iequiieu foi
teachei euucation stuuents. I attenueu a small piivate univeisity in the Niuwest;
the euucation uepaitment's uemogiaphic piofile ieflecteu the piofile of the
univeisity as a wholeoveiwhelmingly White anu pieuominantly miuule-class anu
highei. The piofessoi was in his fiist full-time college teaching job out of giauuate
school, hau a ponytail anu eai pieicingwas this typical foi a college piofessoi, I
wonueieu. Quickly I leaineu it was not, at least not at this univeisity. Be hau his
woik cut out foi him.
1

I exemplifieu the univeisity uemogiaphic as a White miuule-class male
Niuwesteinei. (Ny family's miuule-class status woulu incieasingly become quite
tenuous ovei the next uecaue). I hau attenueu a laige subuiban high school in a
miu-size city about an houi anu a half away. It was a ielatively uiveise high school,
both iacially anu socioeconomically, though in ietiospect I uo not think it shoulu
ieally be consiueieu integiateu, uespite its uiveisity, given that tiacking was the
noim anu the tiacks weie not populateu equitably. I iemembei veiy few stuuents
of coloi in my Bonois anu Auvanceu Placement classes. Bowevei, this uiu not

1
This piofessoi became a mentoi foi me. Be geneiously askeu me to co-authoi two aiticles with him aftei I
giauuateu anu he was instiumental in my uecision to attenu giauuate school. I enueu up attenuing the same
uoctoial piogiam he hau completeu anu have the same uisseitation chaii he hau.
2

piecluue me fiom thinking I knew a lot about uiveisity when I aiiiveu on campus in
the fall of 199S.
It was uuiing the multicultuialism couise in my fiist semestei on campus
that I sciawleu the phiases that begin this chaptei in the back of my copy of Kozol's
text. I was unapologetically (anu, in ietiospect, conceiteuly) conseivative at the
time, an oiientation that I attiibute both to my miuule-class, Chiistian, Niuwestein
upbiinging anu to my chosen path as a high school Social Stuuies teachei. The
ciitical engagement expecteu of us in that multicultuial euucation couise was the
fiist time I can iecall that my existing woiluview was intentionally, seiiously, anu
ciitically challengeu. While I wish that couise hau been an epiphanic event anu that
I hau immeuiately seen the eiiois of my thinking anu hau iecanteu, that is not what
happeneu. Ny tiajectoiy towaiu becoming a ciitical, social justice-oiienteu
euucatoi has hau a fifteen-yeai aic, but was initiateu in anu thiough my encountei
with Kozol's text (anu otheis) in that eaily class.
Touay, I wholeheaiteuly ieject the shallow callousness, the haishness, the
ignoiance, anu the iacism anu classism of the woius I sciatcheu thioughout Kozol's
text. I am hoiiifieu, embaiiasseu, anu ashameu that I once thought such thoughts
anu hau the auuacity to expiess them with such hubiis. I am moitifieu by the haim I
may have uone in the last uecaue because of those sentiments. But I wish not to
foiget them, if foi no othei ieason than theii memoiy can humble me. Theie is also
a full measuie of kaimic penance in iemembeiing what I saiu because I so often
heai such similai sentiments expiesseu by my stuuents touay.
Cuiiently, I stuuy anu teach at a miu-sizeu public univeisity in the Niuwest
composeu of a uemogiaphic veiy similai to the small piivate libeial aits univeisity
fiom which I giauuateuthat is, pieuominantly White anu (uppei-) miuule-class.
Like me, few of the stuuents I teach in an unueigiauuate social founuations couise
have hau many expeiiences thiough theii high school yeais that have askeu them to
ciitically ieflect on theii woiluviews, on those beliefs anu values they believe to be
tiue anu that they holu most ueai. 0f couise, it is unfaii to suggest that all of my
stuuents think as I uiu, oi to essentialize theii expeiiences as miuule-class anu
White people. I finu it equally unfaii to blame stuuents foi theii lack of expeiiences,
S

at least thiough theii auolescence. That the uominant moue of schooling in Ameiica
is not constiucteu towaiu ciitical engagement with uiveise iueas anu uiveise people
is not these stuuents' fault. Theii naiiation (as was tiue of mine) is ieflective of
hegemonic naiiatives about iace anu social class (amplifieu in the uiban context)
that ciiculate in Ameiica anu exemplify the lack of an appaiatus of ciitique, a lack
that is especially glaiing in oui supposeuly "euucational" institutions.
4

8-1;4.0 FG "=406235496= 46 4-. *432C

G.+ #)<.$, 19 $.+ >1#)!+ !%"),+% 9#&,. )( $.+ 7&!A<%1"(8 &<&)(,$ $.+ 8&%A(+,, &,
$.+ (+6, %+>1%$+% 7+<)(, .+% ,$1%=: K.+ ,$&(8, C",$ 1"$,)8+ & #)(+ 19 =+##16 !%)5+ $&>+
$.&$ %)$"&##= 8+5&%!&$+, $.+ ,!+(+ 19 $.+ !%)5+ &(8 >%+*+($, .+% &(8 !"%)1", 1(#11A+%,
9%15 8%&6)(< &(= !#1,+%: M ,!&%9 &81%(, $.+ (+!A 19 $.), (1$ L")$+ 5)88#+J&<+8
615&(B !1#1%9"# &<&)(,$ .+% >&#+ 7#1",+: N+% ,&(8= 7#1(8+ .&)%B 6.)!. 9%&5+, .+%
#)<.$#= %1"<+8 9&!+B ,19$#= 8&(<#+, $1 .+% ,.1"#8+%: G.+ 7%)<.$ #)<.$ 19 $.+ !&5+%&
<#&%+, 1( .+% ,A)( ,#)<.$#=: N+% #11A ), ,+%)1", 6)$.1"$ 7+)(< $.%+&$+()(< &, ,.+ 7+<)(,
.+% %+>1%$O
PQ)1#+(!+ $1()<.$ )( R+($+% R)$= 6.+( & 8%"< 8+&# <1+, 7&8:S
PK.1$, %&(< 1"$ C",$ &9$+% 8&%A &$ $.+ )($+%,+!$)1( 19 M T U K$%++$,B #+&*)(< 1(+
5&( 8+&8B &(1$.+% !#)(<)(< 91% #)9+: ? $&#A+8 $1 >&,,+%,7= $1()<.$B 5&(= 19 6.15
+V>%+,, $.+)% !1($)("+8 !1(!+%( $.&$ $.+ ,.11$)(< $11A >#&!+ 1( $.+ !%168+8 ,$%++$ )(
,"!. >%1V)5)$= $1 #1!&# 7",)(+,,+,:S
G.+ 7J%1## 7+<)(,: M 5&(B 6.15 $.+ 7#1!A $+V$ &$ $.+ 71$$15 19 $.+ >)!$"%+
)8+($)9)+, &, W%&(!), X%&A+B & #1!&# 7&% 16(+%B ,>+&A,O
P-+##B 19 !1"%,+ )$@, ,!&%= 91% 1"% >&$%1(,B &(8 $.&$ ),(@$ <118 91% 7",)(+,,: U"$ ?
$.)(A $.+ >1#)!+ &%+ 81)(< & >%+$$= <118 C17 19 <+$$)(< & .&(8#+ 1( )$: Y&=7+ & 9+6
51%+ >&$%1#, 61"#8 .+#>:S
R"$ $1 &(1$.+% !#)>B $.), $)5+ & 615&(B 6.1 )8+($)9)+, .+%,+#9 &, & %+,)8+($ 19 &
,"7"%7&( (+)<.71%.118 C",$ 1"$,)8+ $.+ !)$=: P-+ 6+%+ C",$ +&$)(< 8)((+% &(8 .+&%8
$.+ ,.1$,: ?$@, ,!&%=: ? 5+&(B 6+ #1*+ !15)(< 816( .+%+ ,)(!+ $.+=@*+ !#+&(+8 )$ ">:
U"$ )9 $.)(<, #)A+ $.), A++> .&>>+()(<B ?@5 (1$ ,"%+ )$@, ,&9+ 91% ",: ? %+&##= .1>+ $.+=
!&( 81 ,15+$.)(<:S
G.+ >)!$"%+ %+$"%(, $1 $.+ #)*+ 9++8 19 $.+ (+6, %+>1%$+% &(8 ,.+ 7+<)(, .+%
,"55&$)*+ 6%&>J"> 19 $.+ ,$1%=: P? $&#A+8 $1 #1!&# 199)!)&#, $1()<.$B 6.1 &>>#&"8 $.+
>1#)!+@, +991%$, $1 %+8"!+ $.+,+ )(!)8+($, )( $.+ (+)<.71%.118: G.+= .1>+ %+,)8+($, 6)##
!1($)("+ $1 !15+ +&$B ,.1>B +V>+%)+(!+ &## $.&$ $.), %+*)$&#)4+8 !155"()$= .&, $1 199+%:
S

Z1#)!+ 6)## ,$+> "> $.+)% >&$%1#, )( $.+ (+)<.71%.118B C",$ $1 7+ ,&9+: U&!A $1 =1" )( $.+
,$"8)1:S
PN5>.BS +V.&#)(<B P1A&=B $.&(A =1" 91% =1"% %+>1%$: M(1$.+% $+(,+ ,)$"&$)1( &,
>1#)!+ ,$%"<<#+ $1 !#+&( "> $.+ (+)<.71%.118: [16 $1 1"% (+V$ ,$1%=\S
&100149=> 4-. 894C
The pieceuing fictional news iepoit invokes much common cultuial imageiy
of uiban life. The naiiatives that use the imageiy aie inteiielateu; they iely on each
othei foi meaning. In theii specific telling, each is shoitcuteach invokes paiticulai
imageiy, tiopes, anu foim that infuse them with cultuial meaning that neeu not be
explicitly uetaileu foi the viewei because they uiaw on eveiyuay cultuial
unueistanuings about uiban life anu people. Inueeu, these naiiatives succeeu as
iesonant stoiies laigely because theii themes go unexamineu. Raiely uo the stoiies
investigate the uynamics of theii own naiiative, how these naiiatives iepiouuce a
paiticulai cultuial imagination foi the viewei. 0f couise, it is this cultuially
iepiouuctive function that makes the stoiy "woik." It is in the inteiests of the news
station's iatings to meiely ieinfoice commonsense cultuial naiiatives. Suellyn
Benke
2
elaboiates:
News is stoiytelling. Anu all stoiies must sell. They must engage anu move
piouuct thiough auveitisement, oi theie is little oi no ioom foi them in this
moment of auvanceu capitalism. Bespite the appeaiance of uiscoveiing anu
cieating stoiies, populai naiiatives alieauy in ciiculation binu news meuia.
(Benke, 2uuS, p. 229)
0ne might uebate whethei oi not this abiogates jouinalistic integiity anu puipose,
but in the contempoiaiy maiketplace news is as much (peihaps moie)
enteitainment as it is "news." Investigative jouinalism is saveu foi special

2
Benke's chaptei titleu "0iban euucation, bioaucast news, anu multicultuial spectatoiship"
elaboiates moie fully on the iole of news in cultuial (ie)piouuction of paiticulai uiban imaginaiies.
She uetails how paiticulai piactices in the piouuction anu consumption of news ieifies populai
cultuial images of uiban life.
6

bioaucasts, often weekly piogiams that allow extenueu time foi stoiies, say ten
minutes insteau of the usual two.
S

In Chaptei S of this uisseitation I moie fully theoiize what cultuial naiiatives
aie anu how they function. Beie, howevei, I wish only to intiouuce some of the
moie common naiiatives about uiban aieas as a way to fiame this stuuy. In what
follows in the iest of this section, then, I will unfolu thiee commonsense public
naiiatives about uiban life that aie evokeu in the stoiy. These aie not the only
naiiatives that ciiculate about uiban life. I exploie these as exemplais of common
naiiatives anu because I believe these aie naiiatives that, in tuin, stiongly influence
naiiatives about uiban schooling. The thiee inteiielateu naiiatives I auuiess heie
incluue the naiiative of $.+ "%7&( C"(<#+, a ielateu naiiative of "%7&( !%)5)(&#)$= &(8
*)1#+(!+, anu an "%7&( >)1(++% naiiative. I will exploie some of theii imageiy anu
themes anu juxtapose those naiiatives against some of the social anu mateiial
conuitions of a paiticulai uiban neighboihoou, 0vei-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, with
which the 0iban Teaching Cohoit at Niami 0niveisity paitneis closely.
I stait this chaptei with the fictional news account laigely because nowheie
is the "uialectic of uiban"
4
(Leonaiuo & Buntei, 2uu7) moie glaiingly uisplayeu than
in the typical television nightly news poitiayal. While the stoiy is fictional, it is
baseu on ieal television nightly news bioaucasts about the 0vei-the-Rhine
community. These stoiies consistently juxtapose the hope anu possibility of
economic anu cultuial ievitalization (these aie inheiently linkeu, as I will
uemonstiate subsequently) against images of hopelessness anu uespaii that
embouy the naiiative of the "uiban jungle."
Anothei impoitant cultuial implication of the news bioaucast itself anu the
image of the ciime tape is that "state-sanctioneu official powei is visually

S
Noithwestein 0niveisity conuucteu a stuuy in 2uu6 of news bioaucasts at five majoi television
stations in the Chicago metio aiea. Accoiuing to theii finuings, the aveiage stoiy in a nightly news
bioaucast is sixty-nine seconus (Peei, L., Nalthouse, E., Nesbitt, N., & Caluei, B., 2uu7). I conuucteu
an infoimal suivey of viueo bioaucasts available on the website of the local Cincinnati news station's
website (http:www.wlwt.com). Aveiage stoiy length, incluuing leau-in, is aiounu two minutes. An
infoimal suivey of stoiies on the Bateline NBC website shows the aveiage stoiy between about seven
anu nine minutes (http:www.msnbc.msn.comiuSuS26uu).
4
This iuea, the uialectic of uiban, will be explaineu anu uevelopeu fuithei in Chaptei 2, Liteiatuie
Review. In essence, it means that "uiban" is both a mateiial anu a cultuial space.
7

iepiesenteu by this uisplay" (Benke, 2uuS, p. 2S1). That is, news has the effect of
speaking in the "official voice" on a given topic, especially given how it is typically
constiucteu fiom vaiieu official anu institutional souices (police iepoits,
goveinment officials, civic leaueis, etc.). Because news iepoits have cultuial
authoiity as "official voice," the naiiatives about uiban life ueployeu inthiough the
stoiies aie hegemonic. Consequently, the news stoiies aie imbueu with legitimacy.
Bowevei, the way texts aie ieau is not totalizing; Benke aigues that they cieate
anuoi mobilize a "consensus image, without a consensus unueistanuing" (Benke,
2uuS, p. 2S7). So, while the news poitiayals ienuei legitimateu iepiesentations of
uiban life, those who "ieau" news stoiies may constiuct uiffeient meanings,
especially given theii own iace, genuei, class, oi sexual iuentity, anu this offeis the
possibility foi counteihegemonic ieauings. A cential pioject of this uisseitation
stuuy is to investigate how both legitimateu anu counteihegemonic naiiatives aie
(ie)piouuceu, ieau, anuoi meuiateu anu contesteu in anu thiough the 0iban
Teaching Cohoit piogiam at Niami 0niveisity.
&100149<. 6: 4-. %0B1= U3=>7.
0ne paiticulaily iesonant image of the naiiative of the uiban jungle is the
police ciime tape. It not only uemaicates safe veisus unsafe physical space foi the
iepoitei, but it also uemaicates a uivision between safe anu unsafe cultuial space
foi the viewei. Insiue the ciime tape embouies uiban pathologyciime, violence,
poveityieifying cultuial imaginings of the uiban jungle. 0utsiue the tape uenotes
the "safe" cultuial imageiy of the uiban playgiounuthe site of ievitalization, vigoi,
anu cultuie. While less obvious, the visual imageiy also communicates a iacializeu,
classeu, anu genueieu cultuial message. Insiue the tape symbolizes the ciiminality
of the pooi uiban (male) Black; outsiue symbolizes the innocence anu upiightness
of the cosmopolitan uibanite, typically White, though possibly miuule- oi uppei-
class Black exemplai of the uplift that is possible if one abanuons the ghetto.
Funuamentally, this symbolizes the iacialization of physical spaceuenoting places
wheie ceitain bouies shoulu anu shoulu not bewheie Black bouies shoulun't be
anuoi wheie White bouies shoulunot feai to tiaveise (Benke, 2uuS).
8

Thomas A. Button, who has woikeu foi moie than thiity yeais as an ally of
the Peoples' Novement in the 0vei-the-Rhine neighboihoou of Cincinnati, wiites,
"Now theie's a binaiy! 0n the one hanu we have uives, piostitutes, uiug auuicts anu
alcoholics, anu on the othei, a vanguaiu of entiepieneuis anu self-styleu
bohemians" (Button, }ulyAugust 1999, p. 4). Button uses the teim "systematic
iefusal" to uesciibe this commonsense binaiy that ieuuces the uiban imaginaiy to
"goou" vs. "bau," in which the goou is embouieu by entiepieneui anu the bau is
embouieu as ciiminal. Such commonsense iefuses to see any cultuial value oi
woith, any asset, in the lives of people who cuiiently live in the neighboihoou. In
fact, in the uiban jungle naiiative, peoples' ciiminality anu uespaii is seen as a
"natuial" conuition of theii poveity (anu theii Blackness), as an inheient, inuiviuual
anu social moial attiibute of uiban-(jungle-)uwelleis. As a iesult, then, the people
who live theie anu the pathological cultuie that, it is assumeu, iepiesents them, aie
woithy taigets foi systematic uestiuction (Button, 1999, p. S-6). Both the physical
anu cultuial lanuscapes aie iemaue.
The uiban jungle naiiative is so titleu because it iepiouuces cultuial imageiy
of the natuial jungle. This implies, then, that uiban neighboihoous aie pie-civilizeu,
pie-social, without system oi oiuei. }ungles, though often iuyllic foi theii Euenic
veiuancy, iequiie subjugation. Aftei all, it was uou who gave man uominion ovei
the Eaith, maue it man's uuty to subuue Euen foi his own use. }ust as uou spoke anu
cieateu an oiueieu Eaith out of the chaos of the cosmos, so man is to impose oiuei
upon the Eaith. So, too, is man calleu to impose social, economic, anu cultuial oiuei
on the untameu uiban wilueiness. Beie, the stiong conveigent influences anu
inteiests of neolibeialism anu Chiistianity become appaient.
The uiban jungle naiiative obscuies a numbei of facts about uiban
communities. Foi one, while the public consciousness constiucts uiban iesiuents
typically as Black (oi, incieasingly people of coloi moie geneially, incluuing
Latinoas), most cities aie not mono-iacial. Theie aie a numbei of White peisons
confineu to innei-cities, too. Accoiuing to the 2uuu census, of the neaily 76uu
iesiuents of 0vei-the-Rhine, about 1Suu (neaily 2u%) weie White, 98uu (78%)
Black, anu the iemainuei uesignateu "0thei" (iionically, given how all uiban
9

iesiuents, but especially those of coloi tenu to be "0theieu" in Ameiican cultuie).
The White population is significantly highei in othei "uiban-coie" communities
aujacent to 0vei-the-Rhine. These neighboiing communities have expeiienceu
similai economic tiauma, notably gentiification, subuibanization, anu the shifting
fiom manufactuiing to seivice-sectoi jobs. The poveity iate in Cincinnati in 2u1u
was appioximately Su%; neaily half of the city's chiluien (48%) live below the
poveity line (census.gov). A histoiy of ieulining, a ueclining welfaie appaiatus, anu
lack of affoiuable housing anu health caie exaceibateu these foices. When the
uiban jungle naiiative constiucts uiban life as chaotic, ciime-iiuuen, anu violent it
obscuies the mateiial social ciicumstances in the communities that cause the
"chaos." 0ltimately, the uiban jungle naiiative locates the blame foi the conuitions
of the city within inuiviuual pathologies of the community's iesiuents (anu theii
"cultuie") iathei than in the pathologies of a society that sees ceitain bouies as
expenuable anu piivileges piivatecoipoiate piofit ovei pioviuing foi the public
goou.
&100149<. 6: 30B1= 509Q9=1794C 1=2 <967.=5.: In the news stoiy above, the
conciete "pioblem" piesenteu in the specific naiiative is an act of violence that
iesults fiom a uiug sale. This is a well-known tiope about innei-city life. The
cential chaiacteiization
S
in this naiiative, which is imbiicateu with the uiban jungle
naiiative, is the young (typically Black) gangstei. Even when this chaiacteiization is
absent fiom the specific naiiative, as he is above, he is piesent in the cultuial
consciousness of the ieauei. Also absent is the chaiacteiization who puichaseu the
uiugs, but again this chaiacteiization is still cognizable to the ieauei, typically a
"uown anu out," pooi, ciack-auuicteu male. As the stoiy goes, these inuiviuuals sell
oi buy uiugs anu use violence to solve uisputes, which is eviuence of theii lack of
"civilization"; implicitly, the inuiviuuals in the fictional naiiative that staits this
chaptei have moial autonomy anu theii moial choice was bau anu evinceu the
pathology of theii uiban cultuiality.

S
I use the teim "chaiacteiization" iathei than chaiactei intentionally. I explain this uecision in
Chaptei S, methouology.
1u

0f couise, the othei cential chaiacteiization in this naiiative is the police,
whose piesence in the neighboihoou is justifieu as the appiopiiate iesponse to
solve the "uiug pioblem." That news iepoits function as official voice, as uiscusseu
eailiei, lenus auuitional legitimacy to police piesence anu powei in the uiban
neighboihoou. Aftei all, pathology iequiies tieatmentanu the city's choice
methou to ueal with the "pioblems" of ciime anu violence aie often to inciease
policing anu impose stiffei sentencing. Note that in this naiiative, though, the police
aie piimaiily seiving the inteiests of those outsiue the neighboihooupiotecting
outsiueis fiom the ciiminality of insiueis. The police mantia "To Piotect anu Seive"
still plays, though piecisely whom the police aie piotecting fiom whom is
contestable. 0ften, uiban iesiuents, especially uiban people of coloi, iesent
incieaseu police piesence in theii neighboihoou because they have expeiienceu
haiassment, incluuing highei instances of uetainment, ticketing, incaiceiation, oi
woise foi theii ciimes.
6
Statistically, people of coloi aie no moie likely to sell oi use
uiugs than Whites, yet aie moie than twice as likely to be aiiesteu (see Keiby, 2u12,
foi fuithei uiscussion of iacializeu inequality in 0.S. ciiminal justice system). Anu,
in some communities, selling uiugs is an economically viable way of geneiating
income in the absence of auequate job possibilities.
%0B1= ;96=..0 =100149<.
The uiban pioneei naiiative is also at woik in the fictional account that opens
this chaptei. In the opening vignette, the uiban pioneei is exemplifieu by the bai
ownei, Fiancis Biake. In this uiban pioneei naiiative, the pathologies of the city
aie "saveu" by the auventuiei-entiepieneui, a foim of uiban pioneei. It is, in a ieal
sense, iooteu in a belief in the manifest uestiny of neolibeial capitalism. These
uiban pioneeis aie economic evangelists, pioselytizing the "gospel of wealth" to the
innei city. Such a naiiative conjuies images of the exploieis of the "New Woilu"
common to Ameiican schoolchiluien. All you neeu to stake youi claim upon uiban

6
Lazaie (}ulyAug. 2uu1) wiites about incieaseu policing in Cincinnati anu 0vei-the-Rhine in the
late 199us anu eaily 2uuus anu cites it as a majoi contiibutoi to the "iiots" of that summei, which
occuiieu aftei the shooting of unaimeu iesiuent Timothy Thomas. The use of the teim "iiots," as
opposeu to "iebellion," foi example, is auuitional eviuence of how the piess's poitiayal has official
voice. Evei since, these have been known as the "2uu1 iiots" in 0vei-the-Rhine.
11

space is a signpeihaps the sign of youi business establishment, oi, the sign of the
joint-stock company that finances the exploiation. Button captuies this
phenomenon:
It's not haiu to extiapolate to see SCBC |Cincinnati Centei City Bevelopment
Coipoiationj playing the iole of uieat Biitain in 0vei-the-Rhine.
SCBC: "We claim 0vei-the-Rhine foi miuule- anu uppei-class people."
People of 0vei-the-Rhine: "You can't claim us, we live heie. We've been
builuing community foi yeais, uecaues ieally. You can't just come into
this community, claim it foi youiself anu iun eveiybouy out!"
SCBC: "Bo you have a sign." (Button, 2u12, pp. 1-2)
So, as was tiue uuiing the so-calleu Age of Exploiation when all you neeueu was a
flag to claim a teiiitoiy foi youi king, the city-space is tiansfoimeu in the image of
those whose signs come to uominate the lanuscape. This engenueis a woiluview
chaiacteiistic of colonization, namely that the conqueieu space is uninhabiteu oi is
inhabiteu by "savages," by less-than-full-people (biologically, moially, ceitainly
politically) who neeu "saving" by the colonizei. This is the specific iteiation of
systemic iefusal anu systemic uestiuction.
The paitneiship between coipoiate entities anu goveinment uesciibeu
above fuithei chaiacteiizes neolibeial colonization of uiban space. In the specific
case of Cincinnati, the city goveinment paitneis with a uevelopment coipoiation
calleu the Cincinnati Centei City Bevelopment coipoiation, oi SCBC as it is
commonly known. Neaily thiity companies compose SCBC's boaiu, incluuing a
numbei of Foitune Suu companies with heauquaiteis in the city.
7
SCBC's influence
in 0vei-the-Rhine is immense. The city has auopteu SCBC's plan foi ieuevelopment
almost completely, uespite iesistance fiom community iesiuents, who aigue that
SCBC intenus only to gentiify the neighboihoou. SCBC claims to act in the public
inteiestwon't eveiyone in the city benefit fiom the new businesses anu new
homes, fiom "cleanei," less violent anu ciime-infesteu stieets. But, as many
iesiuents of the neighboihoou have noteu iepeateuly, the mateiial effect has been to

7
A summaiy uocument that uetails SCBC's piojects can be accesseu at http:southcaiolina.uli.oig
12

uisplace the many low-income iesiuents of the community, since they can no longei
affoiu to live in the newly gentiifieu spaces (uespite SCBC's claimeu inteiest to
cieate affoiuable housing foi low- anu miuule-income iesiuents). Concuiiently, the
city has eliminateu foimeily public spaces oi tiansfoimeu them to suit the neeus of
the coipoiate pioneeis (imagine young caieei piofessionals with uisposable
income) iathei than the community iesiuents. In 0vei-the-Rhine, foi example, the
paik that hau been an impoitant pait of neighboihoou life has been tiansfoimeu.
8

Basketball couits anu a swimming pool weie iemoveu anu ieplaceu with an outuooi
stage anu a uog paik that covei the paiking stiuctuie foi Nusic Ball, a cential touiist
hot-spot of the city's ievitalization pioject. Foi the city anu foi SCBC, these aie,
appaiently, collateial uamage.
V<.0W4-.W)-9=. =.9>-B60-662X 89=59==149X V-96E Accoiuing to the 2u1u
Ameiican Community Suivey (ACS) by the Census Buieau, between 2uuS anu 2uu9
the 0vei-the-Rhine neighboihoou of Cincinnati hau the highest level of income
inequality of moie than 61,uuu communities nationwiue (Pugh, Nov. 21, 2u11). A
closei look explains the uispaiity. "While two-thiius of |censusj Tiact 17's
9
S21
householus eain less than $1u,uuu a yeai anu aie miieu in poveity, a push to
gentiify the aiea has biought a wiuei mix of incomes.. Neaily 6 peicent of
iesiuents theie now eain between $2S,uuu anu $49,999" (Pugh, Nov. 21, 2u11).
Anothei 6 peicent make ovei $1uu,uuu. Foi some people, this inequality actually
ieveals the success of Cincinnati's effoits to ievitalize the neighboihoou. Paitly, the
commonsense suggests, "A iising tiue lifts all boats." That is, the capital infuseu into
the neighboihoou that is being useu to cieate iestauiants, bais, upscale housing
uevelopments, paiks, etc., is assumeu to mutually benefit all of the neighboihoou's
iesiuents in auuition to the laigei metiopolitan aiea. "The most significant lesson
|the uevelopment companyj SCBC offeis otheis is that highly focuseu leaueiship
anu capital can begin to solve any pioblem, no mattei how challenging oi enuuiing,

8
This laige uiban paik was cential to uaily life foi 0vei-the-Rhine iesiuents. It also was impoitant to
the homeless community in Cincinnatimany homeless people woulu sleep in the paik. 0f couise,
these "invisible" iesiuents contiibute to the uiban jungle image of the paik anu the laigei community
of which it, anu they, aie a pait.
9
0vei-the-Rhine encompasses 4 census tiacts: 8, 1u, 16, 17
1S

says Bouglas Bolton, managing piincipal, Cincinnati anu Bayton, at Cassiuy Tuiley
a national commeicial ieal estate seivices pioviueianu 0LI |0iban Leaueiship
Institutej membei" (Sheiiuan, Sept. 28, 2u11). Yet, theie is little eviuence of
economic integiation in the community. 0n the contiaiy, as ciitics of such high
levels of inequality note, the gentiification of the neighboihoou has cleai winneis
anu loseis, anu intentionally so (see, Button 2u12, foi example). Incieasingly, those
iesiuents with the lowest incomes aie uisplaceu by the lack of affoiuable housing.
"Resiuential income soiting has piofounu consequences foi society. Stuuies have
shown that a lack of miuule-class peeis, iole mouels anu social netwoiks in pooi
neighboihoous can huit school peifoimance anu contiibute to uiban
unemployment anu othei pioblems" (Pugh, Nov. 21, 2u11).
Accoiuing to the website of the Biop Inn Centei (http:www.uiopinn.oig),
the seconu laigest homeless sheltei in the state of 0hio, which also happens to be
locateu in 0vei-the-Rhine (at least foi nowuevelopeis have been aggiessively
tiying to move it foi yeais), theie weie 8Suu confiimeu homeless peisons in
Cincinnati in 2u1u. Theie aie moie than S.S million homeless peisons in the 0niteu
States; neaily 4u% of the homeless population is families with chiluien. Accoiuing
to the Fieestoie Fooubank (Feeuing Ameiica, 2u12), which tiacks foou secuiity
uata, about 14% of the population is foou insecuie.
An effect of the uominant naiiation of 0vei-the-Rhine is that the histoiy of
social stiuggle in the neighboihoou is eiaseu. Foi seveial uecaues, the 0vei-the-
Rhine People's Novement oiganizeu on behalf of neighboihoou iesiuents, which
uemonstiates that the sociocultuial foices of uomination, gentiification, etc. at woik
in the neighboihoou aie not inevitable, but iathei contain the histoiy of
contestation anu stiuggle. To what extent uo college stuuents in an uiban euucation
cohoit naiiate this contestation iathei than see neighboihoou conuitions as natuial
anu inevitable.
89=59==149 D3B795 *5-667@ Y8D*Z 1=2 894C 8.=4.0
FT
#512.QCE A stiong
coiielation exists between the mateiial iealities of the uiban neighboihoou anu the

1u
A pseuuonym, useu thioughout.
14

mateiial effects in uiban schools. The only uistiict public school iemaining in the
0vei-the-Rhine neighboihoou is City Centei Acauemy, which seives stuuents in
giaues k-8. That it still exists is thanks laigely to the effoits of a movement of
paients anu community membeis known as 0TREPS, oi 0vei-the-Rhine foi
Euucation in the Public Schools. This community gioup iallieu to iesist the uistiict's
effoits to close the school aftei it was slateu foi ieoiganization in compliance with
the No Chilu Left Behinu Act (NCLB), which allows "failing" schools to be
ieoiganizeu oi closeu if they fail to meet the basic stanuaius outlineu by the state
foi thiee consecutive yeais. 0f couise, theie was also substantial uebate that the
olu, ueciepit builuing was unwoithy of any moie uistiict (anu state) expense anu
shoulu simply be shut anu the stuuents moveu elsewheie. This is a common stoiy in
uiban communities (See Kozol, 1991, foi example). 0TREPS successfully petitioneu
the uistiict to keep the community's only iemaining school open anu to ienovate the
existing stiuctuie.
The woik begun by 0TREPS uiu not enu upon theii successful effoit to keep
the school open. They continue to suppoit the effoits to impiove City Centei anu
the 0vei-the-Rhine community. They iun the Paients' Centei at the school, which
pioviues impoitant suppoit to teacheis, auministiatois, paients, anu stuuents alike.
Nany of the Paient Centei volunteeis help uuiing anu aftei school with stuuent
supeivision, tutoiing suppoit, etc. They know the stuuents anu theii families
peisonally anu can offei impoitant insights into the stuuents' lives. They nuituie
anu caie foi the stuuents anu, at times, pioviue uiscipline.
In the 2u1u11 school yeai, ovei SS,uuu stuuents eniolleu in fifty-six
Cincinnati Public Schools: Neaily 69% of those stuuents weie Black, 24% weie
White. Acioss the uistiict, 7S% of stuuents paiticipateu in the Feueial Fiee anu
Reuuceu-Piice Lunch Piogiam. City Centei eniolleu ovei S6u stuuents--99% Black.
All paiticipateu in the Fiee Lunch Piogiam. Accoiuing to one school official, neaily 1
in 11 City Centei stuuents expeiienceu homelessness at some point uuiing the yeai.
These ciicumstances aie inuicative of the situations against which 0TREPS, the
Peoples' Novement, anu CPS stuuents anu teacheis stiuggle.

1S

&1001496= *95[=.@@
"Euucation is suffeiing fiom naiiation sickness."
-Paulo Fieiie, Z+8&<1<= 19 $.+ ]>>%+,,+8, p. 71.
Biazilian euucatoiactivist Paulo Fieiie aigueu that the teachei-stuuent
ielationship is inheiently baseu in naiiative. Be useu a "banking metaphoi" to
uesciibe the tiauitional stuuent-teachei ielationship. The banking metaphoi poses
the teachei as subject of knowleuge anu the stuuent as object. The teachei, as
knoweias possessoi of knowleugeactively ueposits (i.e., "teaches") anu the
stuuent, as object of knowleuge, passively withuiaws (i.e., "leains"). Fieiie aigues
that this uepositwithuiawal, subjectobject ielationship is uehumanizing. Insteau,
he calls foi euucation that is uialogically anu uialectically naiiative. That is,
stuuents anu teacheis aie both, anu at once, cieatois anu ieceiveis of knowleuge.
This alteis the ielationship to become one of teacheis-stuuents anu stuuents-
teacheis. "Euucation must begin with the solution of the teachei-stuuent
contiauiction, by ieconciling the poles of the contiauiction so that both aie
simultaneously teacheis &(8 stuuents" (Fieiie, 2uuu197u, p. 72).
Fieiie aiticulates the powei inequities inheient in the naiiation sickness.
Beie, his seminal text, Z+8&<1<= 19 $.+ ]>>%+,,+8, is quoteu at length:
Inueeu, the inteiests of the oppiessois lie in "changing the consciousness of
the oppiesseu, not the situation which oppiesses them"; foi the moie the
oppiesseu can be leu to auapt to that situation, the moie easily they can be
uominateu. To achieve this enu, the oppiessois use the banking concept of
euucation in conjunction with a pateinalistic social action appaiatus, within
which the oppiesseu ieceive the euphemistic title of "welfaie iecipients."
They aie tieateu as inuiviuual cases, as maiginal peisons who ueviate fiom
the geneial configuiation of a "goou, oiganizeu, anu just" society. The
oppiesseu aie iegaiueu as the pathology of the healthy society, which must
theiefoie aujust these "incompetent anu lazy" folk to its own patteins by
changing theii mentality. These maiginals neeu to be "integiateu,"
"incoipoiateu" into the healthy society that they have "foisaken."
16

The tiuth is, howevei, that the oppiesseu aie not "maiginals," aie not
people living "outsiue" society. They have always been "insiue,"insiue the
stiuctuie which maue them "beings foi otheis." The solution is not to
"integiate" them into the stiuctuie of oppiession, but to tiansfoim that
stiuctuie so that they can become "beings foi themselves." Such
tiansfoimation, of couise, woulu unueimine the oppiessois' puiposes.
(Fieiie, 2uuu197u, p. 74)
Notice that Fieiie locates the sickness within oppiessive social ielations. Be
continues, in latei chapteis of Z+8&<1<= 19 $.+ ]>>%+,,+8, to outline euucation as a
piactice of ciitique of oppiessive social ielations anu theii embeuueu naiiations.
Funuamentally, this tuins euucation away fiom banking anu towaiu uialogue, in
which teacheis anu stuuents engage one anothei in pioblem-posing, especially
pioblem-posing that foiegiounus the mateiiality of theii lives.
The implications foi teachei euucation aie immense, of couise. Foi one,
implicit in Fieiie's explanation is that many teachei euucatois aie meiely leaining
how to be goou schooling bankeis. Concuiiently, many of them aie being taught
thiough banking methous. Consequently, theii own euucation is uehumanizing
that is, it assumes they aie "objects" of knowleuge about teaching iathei than
subjects anu theiefoie passive ieceptacles of the foimal cuiiiculum of teachei
euucation, anu the values it uoesn't ieify. Pie-seivice teacheis aie iaiely taught to
ieflect on the sociocultuial, mateiial conuitions in which they cuiiently live anu
leain, nevei minu in which they will teach. Boing so might allow them to question
the ieality of theii woilu anu then act to change it, a theoiy-piactice syneigy Fieiie
calls piaxis (p. 79). "Tianslateu into piactice, this concept |banking euucationj is
well suiteu to the puiposes of the oppiessois, whose tianquility iests on how well
people fit the woilu the oppiessois have cieateu, anu how little they question it" (p.
76). Pie-seivice teacheis aie being taught as objects of knowleuge, anu expecteu to
uo little moie in theii futuie caieeis than to tiansfei that knowleuge, in theii new
piofessional iole as custouian of knowleuge, to stuuents. That is, fulfilling theii
teachei euucation cuiiiculum anu ieceiving theii cieuentialing fiom the univeisity
anu by passing the state's licensing exam (iionically calleu Piaxis), oiuains a teachei
17

as a bankei, ieauy to make knowleuge ueposits into the passive anu ieceptive
stuuents. The state has no inteiest in ievolutionaiy teacheis; quite the contiaiy, the
state iequiies teacheis who meiely instill, iepiouuce, oi "bank" uominant
naiiatives that suppoit the state's hegemony.
Relevant to this uisseitation, then, is an inquiiy into how pie-seivice
teacheis naiiate the teachei-stuuent ielationship. Bow they naiiate is no uoubt
constiucteu, multivocally, thiough an inteiplay of influential iueological,
peuagogical, anu mateiial contexts. Since most pie-seivice teachei euucation
,$"8+($, have been laigely schooleu thiough the banking appioach, one shoulu not
be suipiiseu if they similaily naiiate theii piesentfutuie as $+&!.+%,. 0f couise,
this naiiation may not be totalizing; peihaps the pie-seivice teachei's expeiience as
a stuuent (in k-12 paiticulaily) was one of alienation anu this is what uiaws them to
teach. They may be inclineu to iesist, still, what is being bankeu (of couise, being
too iesistant to schooling woulu ueciease the likelihoou a stuuent maue it as fai as
college). 0i, peihaps the stuuent has expeiienceu a pioblem-posing cuiiiculum that
alloweu them to ask ciitical questions about theii own expeiience in the woilu.
Regaiuless, theie is the potential foi these stuuents who aie going to be teacheis to
uevelop habits of ciitical piaxis. In fact, it is necessaiy if theie is any hope that oui
schools will one uay tiuly become sites of euucation, of ciitical ieflection, iathei
than meiely schools which iepiouuce hegemonic iueologies anu ieify hegemonic
social anu mateiial piactices.
80949517 D.21>6>C
The naiiation sickness uesciibeu in the pievious section exemplifies a
tiauition of scholaiship known as Ciitical Peuagogy, oi Ciitical Euucation Theoiy;
Paulo Fieiie is one of its most piominent aichitects. 0ften, ciitical theoiy is uifficult
to uesciibe "because (a) theie aie many ciitical theoiies, not just one; (b) the ciitical
tiauition is always changing anu evolving; anu (c) ciitical theoiy attempts to avoiu
too much specificity, as theie is ioom foi uisagieement among ciitical theoiists"
(Kincheloe, 2uu4, p. 48). I conceue theie is no unitaiy anu oithouox "ciitical
peuagogy." Rathei, it is itself a histoiically anu socially situateu epistemological
piouuction, with vaiying, if contesteu, iteiations, stianus, methouologies, anu so
18

foith. I will make no effoit to iesolve its tensions anu uisagieements heie. While
theie is no singulai uefinition of ciitical theoiy, it is possible anu necessaiy to
establish some coie iueas founu acioss scholaiship that claims a "ciitical"
oiientation. In uoing so, I will also situate myself epistemologically within Ciitical
Euucation Theoiy.
Ciitical theoiy scholai }oe Kincheloe uefineu ciitical peuagogy bioauly as
"the concein with tiansfoiming oppiessive ielations of powei in a vaiiety of
uomains that leau to human oppiession" (2uu4, p. 4S). Ciitical tiauitions stuuy how
powei opeiates in society, the inteiests seiveu by powei, how powei is insciibeu in
institutions oi on human bouies in ways that piomote oi limit human fieeuom.
Scholais woiking within ciitical oiientations aie geneially committeu to some sense
of social justice, equity, anu uemociacy (though the histoiy, meanings, anu effects of
these as uiscouises aie contesteu themselves, especially those whose scholaiship is
heavily post-stiuctuial, many of whom also ieject the "ciitical theoiy" monikei).
Consequently, ciitical theoiy is also inheiently noimativethat is, it seeks some
soit of social tiansfoimation as its pioject, though how this looks uiffeis uepenuing
on one's oiientation within ciitical uiscouises. Foi those most fiimly iooteu in
ciitical peuagogy a la the Fiankfuit School tiauition, the tiansfoimative pioject,
often enunciateu as "emancipation," evokes a moueinist image (at least, this is the
claim of some ciitics)the possibility of social tiansfoimation towaiu (social anu
economic) uemociacy. Especially, this means the potential to mobilize anu act in
soliuaiity to equitably anu justly iestiuctuie the mateiial anu social ielations that
govein uaily life.
Some scholais have ciitiqueu ciitical peuagogy (at least, its Fiankfuit-
influenceu aspects) foi being too moueinist in its oiientation. Foi example,
Elizabeth Ellswoith (1992) ciitiques ciitical peuagogy's alignment to moueinism
because moueinism has beenis inheiently patiiaichal, iationalistic, anu iequiies
tiopes of "sameness" iathei than uiffeience. To the contiaiy, Ellswoith anu similai
ciitics aigue, equity peuagogy must be founueu not on some (fictitious) inheient
sameness but insteau must be foigeu acioss uiffeience, minuful of inheient anu
unavoiuable powei inequities, but using those inequities to mobilize coopeiatively
19

towaiu a common pioject. Nany scholais who woik within the ciitical tiauition,
howevei, acknowleuge these limits, anu acknowleuge the limits of all claims to fix
anu auvance a singulai "tiuth." Touay, most ciitical theoiists accept the iuea that
tiuth is contingent, specific, contextual, imbueu with inteiests, anu contesteu.
Chaptei S of this uisseitation, Nethouology, fuithei elaboiates specifically
how I uiaw fiom ciitical theoiy, especially the woik of }uigen Babeimas anu
valentin volosinov, to conuuct this uisseitation. Beie, I offei only a biief synopsis of
how ciitical theoiy fiames this stuuy. Especially, I unueistanu ciitical theoiy as a
tiauition that
auuiesses the ielations among schooling, euucation, cultuie, society,
economy, anu goveinance. The ciitical pioject in euucation pioceeus fiom
the assumption that peuagogical piactices aie ielateu to social piactices, anu
that it is the task of the ciitical intellectual to iuentify anu auuiess injustices
in these piactices. (Popkewitz & Fenulei, 1999, p. xiii)
Ciitical theoiy, via the Fiankfuit School, "took as one of its cential values a
commitment to penetiate the woilu of objective appeaiances to expose the
unueilying social ielationships they often conceal" (uiioux, 198S, p. 8), that is, "a
uialectical fiamewoik by which to unueistanu the meuiations that link the
institutions anu activities of eveiyuay life with the logic anu commanuing foices that
shape the laigei social totality" (p. 9). Ciitical theoiy aiticulates a uistinction
between the ways the woilu is often piesenteu in cultuial symbols anu the way the
woilu is aiiangeu in mateiial social ielations. Society has inheient contiauiction
between the symbols that uesciibe the woilu anu the woilu as it is mateiially
oiganizeu. Funuamentally, then, this contiauiction encapsulates Fieiie's thesis of
naiiation sickness. Ciitical peuagogy seeks to expose anu tiansfoim this
funuamental contiauiction.
"The ciitical tiauition aims to tiouble commonsense, to uemystify the
mythologies of conventional thought, to align the naiiatives we tell of oui woilu
with the way that is congiuent with mateiial powei" (Quantz, 2u11, p. 177). 0nce
we have aligneu oui naiiatives with the iealities of mateiial powei, then, we can act
towaiu tiansfoimation of those iealities. But we may nevei consciously anu
2u

intentionally change those mateiial ielations if we ueny oi uistoit theii existence.
Bemystification of commonsense establishes the founuation foi uemociatic action.
Italian philosophei Antonio uiamsci uistinguishes "common sense" anu
"goou sense" (uiamsci, 2uu81971; Coben, 2uu2). The foimei, commonsense (the
two woius sometimes collapseu into one in ciitical uiscouises), contains the taken-
foi-gianteu, unexamineu, inteinalizeu knowleuge(s) of the uay. Colloquially,
commonsense can be thought of as the "geneial moou of the times." Especially, the
commonsense encapsulates those aspects of cultuie that aie taken as noims within
a given histoiical moment. uoou sense, on the othei hanu, is that which is ueiiveu
fiom ciitical ieflection on the commonsense anu the specific social conuitions in
which the commonsense is embeuueu. uoou sense expiesses the piocess anu iesult
of holuing the commonsense up to ciitical sciutiny. uoou sense is cieateu thiough
the meuium of politics (Coben, 2uu2) uesciibeu subsequently. Especially, then, this
means ievealing the iueological anu mateiial unueipinnings (anu contiauictions) of
the commonsense. "uoou sense is exemplifieu by the 'philosophy of piaxis.'. It is
inheiently coheient anu ciitical" (Coben, 2uu2, p. 269). Bowevei, while goou sense
anu commonsense aie uistinct, they aie not entiiely sepaiate fiom anu oppositional
to each othei. Rathei, they aie uialectically ielateugoou sense emeiges fiom the
ciitique of commonsense but may become commonsense itself (the geneial moou of
the times), theiefoie iequiiing ciitique anew. Anu, concuiiently, each histoiical
moment's commonsense may contain elements of goou sense fiom pievious
moments. Consequently, piaxis is not a movement fiom commonsense to
enlightenment that tianscenus histoiy. Insteau, piaxis is an ongoing political
pioject playeu out in each histoiical moment, as I uesciibe subsequently (Coben,
2uu2; Apple, 2uu1).
Commonsense anu goou sense aie also uistinguisheu by the inteiests each
seives. Commonsense seives the naiiow, specific, hegemonic inteiest. In uiamsci's
aiticulation, the political state useu iueology to ieify commonsense that ieflecteu its
own (the state's) mateiial-political inteiests. uoou sense, on the othei hanu, seeks
to uisestablish commonsense anu theiefoie challenge the naiiow inteiest of the
21

state anu insteau, thiough ciitique of how the commonsense woiks hegemonically,
to woik foi the public goou, the uemociatic inteiest.
Commonsense makes social ielations seem "natuial" iathei than
constiucteu. Consequently, because social ielations seem natuial theie is no ieason
to act to change existing social ielations. Bow can one change what is natuial.
Commonsense is mobilizeu to seive the status quothe hegemonic inteiestby
cieating a (naiiative) iueological ieality that mystifies anuoi uistoits social anu
mateiial ieality. Begemony cieates anu mobilizes a collective false consciousness
(commonsense) that uenies oi uistoits inequitable powei ielations. So, accoiuing to
commonsense, foi example, the pooi aie "not ieally pooi," oi they "ueseive to be
pooi" because of theii laziness, oi theii poveity is meiely an excuse to exploit those
who woik by taking theii money thiough taxes.
"Begemony.involves the piocess useu by uominant powei wielueis to
maintain powei. The key uimension of this piocess is the manipulation of public
opinion to gain consensus. When hegemony woiks best the public begins to look at
uominant ways of seeing the woilu as simply common sense" (Kincheloe, 2uu4, p.
6S). In fact, hegemony masks commonsense, it ienueis uominant ways of seeing the
woilu as "natuial," unquestioneu. Consensus is gaineu via uiffeient aspects of
cultuieof making meaning about the woilu. Consensus is also how the state
maintains the status quo without coeicion. Rathei than use foice to compel
compliance anu fealty to the state inteiest, the state mobilizes commonsense to
aiticulate consensus. Foi the sake of this uisseitation, I aigue, in pait, that theie aie
hegemonic commonsense naiiatives about uiban life in the 0.S. anu that a lack of
ciitique of these naiiatives unueimines the possibility of tiansfoiming uiban
euucation to bettei seive the inteiests of uiban stuuents anu theii families.
Ciitical peuagogy iejects an unueistanuing of the woilu as it is "in natuie,"
but insteau seeks to unueistanu the woilu "in histoiy," that is, in the contextual
specificity of the moment influenceu by uynamics of powei ielations. Bistoiy is the
piouuct of social action; natuie is unchangeable by human action. Commonsense is
ahistoiicalit collapses past, piesent, anu futuie, like a tiiune-gou that "evei was,
anu evei shall be." Beniy uiioux elaboiates on ciitical peuagogy's histoiicity:
22

What ciitical theoiy pioviues foi euucational theoiists is a moue of ciitique
anu a language of opposition that extenus the concepts of the political not
only into munuane social ielations but into the veiy sensibilities anu neeus
that foim the peisonality anu psyche. The achievements of the ciitical
theoiists aie theii iefusal to abanuon the uialectic of agency anu stiuctuie
(i.e., the open-enueuness of histoiy) anu theii uevelopment of theoietical
peispectives that tieat seiiously the claim that histoiy can be changeu, that
the potential foi iauical tiansfoimation exists. (uiioux, 198S, p. S)
This, then, is what giounus ciitical peuagogy's inteiest in iace, class, genuei,
sexuality, etc. as these aie common sites of contestations oveithiough powei.
Iuentity maikeis like iace constitute "texts" that help both piouuce one's iuentity
anu help one "ieau" anothei peison's iuentity (uiioux, 198S, p. 1S9). Foi example,
hegemony constitutes the mobilizing of paiticulai texts about iace that seive
paiticulai iacializeu inteiests (which come to be iacializeu accoiuing to social,
cultuial, mateiial iewaius, foi example what Roeuigei |1999j calls "the wages of
whiteness").
*C=6;@9@ 6: 8-1;4.0@
In 8-1;4.0 I, I uetail ielevant liteiatuie fiom uiban euucation. I auuiess
texts that uiscuss teaching uiveise populations, teaching uiban euucation
specifically, anu texts that exploie challenges of uiban teaching. Auuitionally, I
auuiess liteiatuie about the mateiial iealities of uiban life. 8-1;4.0 M establishes
the methouology of naiiative ciitique. I uiaw piimaiily on the woik of valentin
volosinov to theoiize cultuial naiiatives. I then uesciibe cuiiiculum ciitique anu
how I will use ciitique to stuuy the naiiatives useu by stuuents in the 0iban
Teaching Cohoit. 8-1;4.0 H sets the context foi the stuuy. It uesciibes Niami
0niveisity, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit piogiam, anu the 0TC's community paitneis.
8-1;4.0 O is the naiiative ciitique. It contains the naiiative cuiiiculum of the 0TC,
outlines majoi themes, anu analyzes the naiiatives that stuuents ueploy to make
sense of uiban life anu schooling. Finally, 8-1;4.0 L uiscusses conclusions anu
implications of the stuuy foi the fielu of Teachei Euucation geneially anu the 0TC
2S

specifically. It also offeis a few cuiiiculai suggestions in light of some of the stuuy's
finuings.
S01Q9=> 4-. D06B7.QG +-. ?.Q6>01;-95 "Q;.0149<.
Ameiican schools aie becoming moie uiveise even as the teaching foice
iemains pieuominantly composeu of white women (NCES).
11
This phenomenon
expiesses what }ames Banks (2uu6) uesciibes as a 8+51<%&>.)! )5>+%&$)*+ (p. 144).
The uemogiaphic impeiative is a claim that as the stuuent composition of Ameiican
schools becomes moie uiveise that teachei euucation piogiams must begin to
change the way they piepaie teacheis so they can meet this impeiative. Naiilyn
Cochian-Smith (2uu4) consiueis this uemogiaphic impeiative to be of paiamount
impoitance to euucating teacheis anu finus cuiient teachei piepaiation piogiams,
anu the uiscouises that uiive them, insufficient. She asks, "What is the uemogiaphic
impeiative foi teachei euucation at the beginning of the 21
st
centuiy." Answeiing
hei own question, she states, "In shoit, it is iecognition that biiuging the chasm
between the school anu life expeiiences of those with anu without social, cultuial,
iacial, anu economic auvantages iequiies funuamental changes in the ways teacheis
aie euucateu" (p. 7).
As Cochian-Smith implies, the uemogiaphic impeiative piecipitates a
uiscuisive impeiativea funuamental shift in the way we think about, talk about,
anu stiuctuie teachei euucation. This shift must tuin teachei euucation away fiom
a piogiam of technical tiaining, which ieuuces teacheis' job to a mattei of
instiumental uecisions conceining methous oi "how to," anu towaiu piepaiation of
teacheis as ciitical ethical anu political thinkeiactois. She notes, "0ne can see that
teachei piepaiation neeus to be unueistoou as both a leaining pioblem (iathei than
a tiaining-anu-testing pioblem) anu a political pioblem ielateu to issues of equity
anu social justice (iathei than simply a policy implementation pioblem)" (p. xix). In
a sense, she anu Banks posit what one might call an "unpiepaieu teachei thesis,"

11
Accoiuing to the National Centei foi Euucation Statistics, in 2uu7u8 about 76% of public school
teacheis weie female anu 8S% of public school teacheis weie white. Complete uetails available at the
following links:
http:nces.eu.govpubs2uu92uu9S24tablessassu7u8_2uu9S24_t12n_u2.asp anu
http:nces.eu.govpubs2uu92uu9S24tablessassu7u8_2uu9S24_t12n_uS.asp
24

one that suggests that teacheis entei the woikfoice touay unpiepaieu to meet the
challenges piouuceu by the uemogiaphic impeiative (anu often unawaie that the
impeiative exists oi matteis). They offei claims about tiansfoiming teachei
euucation to "ieveise the tiue," so to speak, of this uemogiaphic ieality.
The pioblem is compounueu given cuiient political uiscouise that positions
teaching as an evei-moie-technical enteipiise, eviuenceu by the incieasingly
populai effoit to link teachei pay to stuuent peifoimance, geneially on stanuaiuizeu
assessments. Even when issues of social justice aie consiueieu in teachei euucation
uiscouise touay, they aie often ieuuceu to technical piocesses. Cochian-Smith
notes,
Euucational equity is incieasingly being conceptualizeu as
oppoitunities foi all stuuents to be helu equally accountable to the
same high-stakes tests, uespite unequal iesouices anu oppoitunities
to leain. Teachei piepaiation is incieasingly being conceptualizeu as
a tiaining anu testing pioblem to ensuie that all teacheis have basic
subject mattei knowleuge anu the technical skills to woik in schools
uevoteu to biinging pupils' test scoies to ceitain minimum thiesholus.
(Cochian-Smith, 2uu4, p. 1)
uiven this uominant uiscouise of teachei tiaining, we shoulu not be suipiiseu if the
pie-seivice teacheis who giauuate fiom these piogiams inteinalize notions that
teaching is a technical iathei than a piactical enueavoi.
Nowheie aie the uemogiaphic anu uiscuisive impeiatives moie eviuent than
in uiban schools in the 0niteu States. Niami 0niveisity has cieateu an 0iban
Teaching Cohoit (0TC) within its teachei euucation piogiam, the intent of which is
to effectively piepaie teacheis foi the unique ciicumstances of uiban schooling,
paiticulaily minuful of the incumbent uemogiaphic anu uiscuisive impeiatives.
Funuamentally, then, this uisseitation will investigate how pie-seivice 0iban
Teaching Cohoit teacheis make sense of these uiscouises.
Specifically, this is a stuuy of the uialectical ielationship between the
naiiatives that pie-seivice 0TC stuuents use to talk about (uiban) teaching anu the
socialmateiial ieality of uiban euucation in the 0.S. Bow uo stuuents unueistanu
2S

this social ieality. Bo the naiiatives they ueploy to uiscuss uiban euucation moie oi
less neaily ieflect the social ieality.
26

8-1;4.0 IG J94.01430. ).<9.K
This ieview of the ielevant liteiatuie is not intenueu to be compiehensive of
the entiie fielu, but iathei iepiesents a synopsizeu exploiation of thieaus anu
themes most ielevant to this stuuy anu its ieseaich question, which is fuithei
uevelopeu anu inteipieteu in futuie chapteis.
+.15-9=> ?9<.0@. D6;371496=@
Fiist, I uiscuss texts whose geneial focus is teaching uiveise populations.
These woiks focus on the tensions of the uemogiaphicuiscuisive impeiative.
Paiticulaily, these aie piimaiily texts that each offei suggestions foi how
(especially, White) teacheis may teach uiveise stuuents effectively anu justly. These
woiks aie impoitant because they fiame a sense of what's possible, anu even what
is consiueieu "best piactice" (oi peihaps "just piactice") in teachei piepaiation.
0ften citeu, one might, in a sense, take these as a paitial "canon" of ieauings about
multicultuial anu socially just teaching.
Lisa Belpit, foi example, uetails the uynamics of a stiuggle foi hegemony as
the "cultuie of powei" (2uu6). Theie aie people who have access to the cultuie of
powei anu may moie easily mobilize its effects to theii benefit. Nany of the so-
calleu ueficiencies piojecteu on stuuents may actually ieveal uenial of access to the
cultuie of powei iathei than any actual ueficit in intellect, ability, uesiie, woik ethic,
anu so foith. The legitimacy of cultuial powei is linkeu to its mateiial, stiuctuial
ioot. Effective teaching of "othei peoples' chiluien" (as fiameu in the title of hei
book by the same name) incluues an acknowleugement of the cultuie of powei anu
how to teach against it.
Similaily, ueneva uay, in R"#$"%&##= ^+,>1(,)*+ G+&!.)(< (2uuu), aigues foi
powei peuagogy, which consiueis that, "Teaching is a contextual anu situational
piocess. As such, it is most effective when ecological factois, such as piioi
expeiiences, community settings, cultuial backgiounus, anu ethnic iuentities of
teacheis anu stuuents, aie incluueu in its implementation" (p. 21). Access to the
cultuial of powei, then, iequiies teacheis to know stuuents' cultuie anu context in
auuition to theii own. She iuentifies six chaiacteiistics that the cultuially
iesponsive teachei will embouy. Cultuially iesponsive peuagogy is valiuating (of a
27

stuuent's cultuie), compiehensive (teaches the whole chilu), multiuimensional
(accounts foi cuiiiculum content, classioom climate, etc.), empoweiing,
tiansfoimative, anu emancipatoiy (pp. 29-S6).
uay notes the uifficulty of cultuially iesponsive teaching, especially given the
hegemony of ethnocentiism (othei authois aie moie oveit in naming it white
piivilege oi supiemacy; see 0kun, 2u1u; Bowaiu, 1999; Boivat anu 0'Connoi,
2uu6), which
effectively block|sj the acquisition of anu application of new, cultuially
ielevant peuagogical knowleuge, skills, anu will.. Some euucatois fail to
iealize that the assumptions, expectations, piotocols, anu piactices
consiueieu noimative in schools aie not immutable. They aie baseu on the
stanuaius of the cultuial system of one ethnic gioupEuiopean
Ameiicansthat have been imposeu on all otheis. (uay, 2uuu, p. 2u8)
Consequently, one might infei fiom uay's woik, piogiams like the 0iban Teaching
Cohoit, oi any that auvocate cultuially iesponsive peuagogy, must iequiie stuuents
to confiont the hegemonic constiucts actively woiking to subveit cultuially
iesponsive teaching.
uloiia Lauson-Billings, in hei noteu woik R%1,,)(< ]*+% $1 R&(&&(O G.+
01"%(+= 19 [+6 G+&!.+%, )( X)*+%,+ R#&,,%115, (2uu1) posits cultuially ielevant
peuagogy baseu on thiee piopositions: acauemic achievement; cultuial competence;
anu sociopolitical consciousness. These piopositions aie inteiielateuthat is,
while uistinct they also iely on each othei. So, foi example, cultuial competence anu
a consciousness of how sociopolitical foices may be woiking to piomote oi
unueimine it, is key to acauemic achievement of uiveise stuuents.
Impoitantly, Belpit's, uay's, anu Lauson-Billings' explanations of cultuial
competence as ciitique of cultuial powei anu hegemony suggest that cultuial
competence expiesses an epistemological, ontological, anu ethical iathei than a
meiely technical unueistanuing. While one may employ specific classioom
peuagogical piactices anu techniques that may ieveal a syneigy with stuuents'
cultuial iuentities, if these techniques fail to help stuuents attain access to cultuial
powei themselves then these techniques aie ineffective oi, woise, even still
28

cultuially iiielevant. So, a cultuially ielevant peuagogy must be both cultuial anu
ielevant. 0ften, we might infei fiom these texts, the foimei exists without the lattei.
Yet, the lattei is most impoitant. Teacheis' peuagogy must especially be %+#+*&($, it
must allow stuuents ieal entie into the cultuie of powei.
+.N4@ +-14 ?9@53@@ %0B1= D.21>6>C *;.59:95177C
Nany texts builu upon the geneial texts about teaching uiveise leaineis to
specifically aiticulate teaching uiban stuuents as a unique sociocultuial
uemogiaphic. Inueeu, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit, the focus of this uisseitation, is
infoimeu by many of the iueas founu in this liteiatuie.
}oigelina Abbate-vaughn, 0lga Fiechon, anu Biian L. Wiight (2u1u) suggest
that accomplisheu uiban teaching iequiies something uiffeient fiom what is
iequiieu of subuiban teaching. 0i, at the least, what is iequiieu is taken foi gianteu
by teacheis in subuiban schools, especially because most subuiban teacheis weie
themselves iaiseu in the subuibs. Piepaiation of uiban teacheis iequiies making
explicit what is often taken foi gianteu. The authois acknowleuge foui uistinct
uimensions they finu unique to accomplisheu uiban teaching: 1) shaiing authoiity,
2) linking cuiiiculum to stuuent expeiience, S) linking cuiiiculum to stuuent
communication patteins, anu 4) the uevelopment of countei-naiiatives that ciitique
at-iisk anu ueficit steieotypes.
This last aspect, the uevelopment of countei-naiiatives, is paiticulaily
ielevant to this stuuy since it implies a ciitical unueistanuing of the context in which
uiban stuuents, families, anu schools live anu woik. The authois note, foi example,
that accomplisheu uiban teacheis uo not ueny the effects of iace anu poveity on
theii stuuents, but iathei than essentializing theii stuuents' expeiience, blaming
stuuents foi the sociocultuial iealities in theii lives, anu loweiing stanuaius out of
pity, they insteau use sociocultuially ielevant peuagogy to help stuuents meet
expectations. Elaboiating this point, uiban euucation scholais }effiey Buncan-
Anuiaue anu Einest Noiiell (2uu8) ieject the ihetoiic of "uiban school failuie." "At
some point we must come to giips with the fact that we aie not a nation of
oppoitunity foi all but a nation built upon gianu naiiatives of oppoitunity foi all"
(Buncan-Anuiaue & Noiiell, 2uu8, p. S). Insteau, they note, these uiban schools aie
29

uoing exactly what they aie uesigneu to uo in oui economic systemieinfoice
social uispaiity, ieify "winneis anu loseis," anu give cieuence to the myth of
meiitociacy.
Buncan-Anuiaue anu Noiiell liken this meiitociacy myth to a iiggeu game of
Nonopoly. 0n the suiface, it seems that eveiyone staits at the same place with the
same chance to auvance anu win. Bowevei, the authois note, in ieality not
eveiyone actually uoes begin the game equally with the same chance to auvance.
Those with moie economic, social, anu political capital auvance with much gieatei
ease. They fuithei note the impoitance of publicizing Boiatio Algei-like stoiies of
stuuents who "make it" out of the faileu ciicumstances as ciucial piojects to suppoit
anu ieinfoice meiitociatic myths (Buncan-Anuiaue & Noiiell, p. S). Bespite oui
ihetoiic of schools as gieat mechanisms of social uplift anu equality, the eviuence
suggests that the system is uesigneu foi piecisely the opposite, as one that iequiies
some to lose while otheis win.
The woik of noteu uiban euucatoi Naitin Babeiman pioviues anothei
ielevant insight to this thieau to the liteiatuie. Bis woik focuses specifically on
what constitutes "goou" uiban peuagogy. In paiticulai, Babeiman notes both
iueological anu technical uistinctions between ineffective uiban teaching, what he
calls the Peuagogy of Poveity, anu goou teaching, exemplifieu by Stai Teacheis
(2uu4, Chaptei 1u). Babeiman aiticulates a "menu" of teachei functions that he
says have come to chaiacteiize most teaching in uiban schools. These incluue:
giving infoimation, giving uiiections, making assignments, ieviewing assignments,
asking questions, monitoiing seatwoik, assigning homewoik, ieviewing homewoik,
punishing non-compliance, settling uisputes, maiking papeis, giving tests, ieviewing
tests, anu giving giaues. Inueeu, these aie the tasks assumeu to be appiopiiate by
auministiatois, paients, community anu the geneial public as well as teacheis anu
stuuents in uiban schools (2uu4, p. 47). Babeiman links these simple tasks to the
iueology unueilying them, an iueology which assumes that these aie what these
stuuents "ueseive," that they aie incapable of little else. Be also notes that the
peuagogy of poveity appeals to ceitain constituencies, namely, those who have not
uone well in schools themselves, those who iely on commonsense iathei than
Su

ciitique, those who feai minoiities anu the pooi, those with low expectations of
pooi anu minoiity stuuents, anu those who uon't know the iange of possible
peuagogic options available to euucatois (p. 49). 0f couise, these teachei behaviois
miiioi a laigei sociocultuial commonsense about uiban stuuents that naiiates
uiban stuuents as inheiently violent, oi at least misbehaveu (anu theiefoie in neeu
of "contiol"), unconceineu about theii euucation (anu theiefoie in neeu of
manipulation to "invest" in theii own schooling), anu less intelligent.
Euucational sociologist Stanley Rothstein (1994) pioviues a uetaileu socio-
histoiical analysis of the genesis anu evolution of sociocultuial naiiatives goveining
uiban schooling anu the instantiation of those naiiatives into uiban school
piactices, which can pioviue gieatei context to Babeiman, Buncan-Anuiaue anu
Noiiell, anu Abbate-vaughn, et al. noteu pieviously. Rothstein uemonstiates that
the iuea that poveity equates with moial failuie, licentiousness, etc. has a long
histoiy in the 0niteu States. Paiticulaily, this naiiative of moial failuie wasis given
vigoi by (Piotestant, Puiitan) Chiistian moiality, which suggests that the way one
eains uou's favoi is thiough haiu woik anu thiift. This naiiative states that, cleaily,
those who aie pooi have not woikeu haiu anu have not, theiefoie, eaineu uou's
blessing. Fiom theii eaily emeigence, cities in the 0niteu States weie vieweu as
cites of social upheaval anu low moiality. "Theie weie many who believeu that the
chiluien of the pooi weie potential souices of uniest anu ciime; uiban youth,
especially, weie seen as noisy, uisiespectful, uisobeuient savages" (p. 1). Revealeu
heie is also an assumption of youth as a time of temptation, instability, an "animal
natuie" (p. 1u), anu coiiuption without the leveling foice of (Chiistian) euucation.
Schools coulu cuie coiiupt chiluien of theii moial uefects. Eaily schools weie also
iigiuly hieiaichical. "Because the pooi weie to uo the lessei woik of society, theii
euucation woulu have to piepaie them accoiuingly. They weie iuentifieu at an eaily
age anu tiaineu to accept theii futuie places in auult society" (p. 11).
The eaily common schools, especially incluuing those foi pooi anu uiban
chiluien, weie uesigneu especially with a tacitly socially euucative function
(Rothstein, 1994). That is, they weie to socialize stuuents into theii futuie ioles as
woikeis anu (seconu-class) citizens in inuustiial Ameiica. This focus pioveu
S1

paiticulaily intense as the nation's uiban schools weie flooueu with immigiants.
Schools iesponueu with ieuoubleu effoits to socialize the (peiceiveu) uangeious,
potentially seuitious anu licentious natuie out of pooi anuoi immigiant chiluien.
Stanley Rothstein (1994) aigues that these eaily legacies peisist in mouein
schooling, anu we may see this ieflecteu in what Babeiman (1996) aiticulates as the
peuagogy of poveity.
As an alteinative to the peuagogy of poveity, Babeiman posits an alteinative,
which he uesciibes as "goou teaching" (2uu4, p. S4). Be notes,
The few uiban schools that seive as mouels of stuuent leaining have teacheis
who maintain contiol by viitue of theii ability to establish tiust anu involve
theii stuuents in meaningful activities iathei than by imposing some
authoiitaiian system of classioom uiscipline. Foi genuinely effective uiban
teacheis, uiscipline anu contiol aie piimaiily a consequence of theii teaching
anu not a pieiequisite conuition of leaining.... Engageu stuuents aie not
pioblems. (p. S4)
Consequently, this "flips" the blame fiom stuuents to the school. That is, this
peuagogy iecognizes that stuuents' behaviois aie foimeu in iesponse to
institutional stiuctuies iathei than some innate moial pathology. Foi example, as
Bonalu Caiuinal aigues, in effect, we "ieau" the moiality of uiban youth incoiiectly.
Be aigues, "A chilu in uiban Ameiica who behaves in a mannei that is juugeu to be
unfit, can be opeiating unuei the same set of moial values as is the univeisity
piofessoi who is vieweu quite uiffeiently, anu investeu in quite uiffeiently, by
society" (p. S6). So, when uiban kius peifoim in ways that we see as moially
suspect, it may well be that theii moial ieasoning is actually quite consistent with
the moial ieasoning of non-uiban chiluien. Anu the opposite is also tiue; when they
"misbehave" they may be uoing so piecisely because of the available social cues anu
expectations. It is the context in which that ieasoning that occuis that is uiffeient,
anu theiefoie the way we "ieau" the ieasoning is uiffeient. Foi example, when a
stuuent chooses to sell uiugs, the tenuency is to "ieau" that behavioi as inuicative of
pooi chaiactei. Yet, the stuuent may well be selling uiugs because uoing so
pioviues the best oppoitunity to pioviue foi his familya socially appiopiiate
S2

choice, necessitateu by his social ciicumstances. 0f couise, oui ieauing is also
embeuueu with iacial, genuei, class, anu all soits of othei cultuial cues.
Consequently, youth "neeu to be shown alteinative ways of behaving that aie
consistent with both theii values anu the iules of the gieatei social stiuctuie" (p.
S4), anu met with meaningful peuagogy such as is taken foi gianteu in non-uiban
schools.
8-177.=>.@ 6: %0B1= D.21>6>C
0f couise, implementing "effective" uiban peuagogy is complicateu. While
some of the afoiementioneu ieseaich inuicates what goou uiban teaching ,.1"#8
look like, the ieceiveu cuiiiculum of uiban peuagogy is an even moie complex
mattei. Reseaich that exploies some of the complications of piepaiing teacheis to
teach in uiban settings, specifically how the attituues, beliefs, values, anu naiiatives
these teacheis ueploy to make sense of uiban euucation, pioves paiticulaily
impoitant.
Shaion uilbeit (1997) conuucteu a stuuy of the attituues anu beliefs that
piospective teacheis holu about uiban teacheis, stuuents, anu cuiiiculum. She
notes that peiceptions of uiban teacheis aie geneially quite positive even while
peiceptions of uiban stuuents aie quite negative. She notes, "0iban teacheis weie
uepicteu piimaiily as heioines anu heioes in a wai against a uangeious uiban
enviionment which affects teacheis, pupils, anu the schools" (p. 92). Peiceptions of
uiban schools anu stuuents weie piimaiily chaiacteiizeu by ueficit thinkingfocus
on violence, stuuentpaient apathy oi antipathy towaiu school, pooi behavioi,
etc.anu teacheis who chose to woik in these schools then, weie seen as heioically
choosing to woik uespite these oveiwhelming challenges. 0f couise, few of the
teacheis suiveyeu actually hau peisonal expeiience woiking in uiban schools anu
so weie geneially ieflecting bioauly helu steieotypes. This also meant many of the
piospective teacheis assumeu a paiticulai set of neeus foi uiban teacheis,
especially bettei stiategies of classioom management, uealing with uiveisity, anu
tiansmission of basic skills cuiiicula.
In a similai stuuy, Kenya Walkei (2u1u) stuuieu ten Afiican-Ameiican
teacheis woiking in a laige uiban school uistiict. Theii piincipals nominateu these
SS

teacheis foi the stuuy as effective teacheis of Afiican-Ameiican stuuents. The focus
of the stuuy was the peispectives of those teacheis towaius theii Afiican-Ameiican
stuuents. She uses Lauson-Billings' theoiy of cultuially ielevant peuagogy (1994;
2uu1) as hei fiame of inquiiy anu analysis. The iesults of hei stuuy suggest that
teacheis' peiceptions of Afiican-Ameiican stuuents aie complicateu, sometimes
ievealing chaiacteiistics of cultuially ielevant peuagogy while othei times
ieinfoicing ueficit thinking. Especially, she notes, though, that piincipals consiueieu
these teacheis "effective" laigely because of theii ability to suppoit anu impiove
stuuents' acauemic peifoimance iathei than foi theii ability to fostei cultuial
competence.
Felicia Saffolu anu Bope Longwell-uiice (2uu8) conuucteu a stuuy of how
thiee white, female pie-seivice teacheis came to unueistanu "goou uiban teaching."
This stuuy speaks specifically to the plethoia of ieseaich conceineu with the
"uemogiaphic impeiative" iefeiieu to pieviously. Especially, then, this stuuy
fuitheis a line of stuuies that auuiess how to bettei equip the typical uemogiaphic
cuiiently enteiing the teaching foice (piimaiily Euiopean-Ameiican women) to
woik with uiveise stuuent populations. The authois founu thiee unueilying themes
eviuent in the thinking of theii stuuy's thiee White female subjects, though they
note that the subjects' thinking was iathei heteiogeneous acioss the themes: "1)
changing views of uiban teaching; 2) stiuggles with coloiblinuness; anu S) speaking
piogiam ihetoiic vs. teaching ieality" (p. 19S).
Fiist, Saffolu anu Longwell-uiice's stuuy uemonstiates that, in geneial,
stuuents' thinking about uiban teaching shifteu "fiom how an uiban euucatoi must
teach as someone who is theie to iescue stuuents to someone who builus on the
stiengths appaient anu the possibilities inheient in theii stuuents' lives" (p. 19S).
Seconu, the authois uemonstiate how the subjects manifest coloiblinuness in theii
thinking about uiban schooling anu that those manifestations aie iooteu in theii
own upbiinging anu theii fielu expeiiences. Each felt that they hau been taught
(anu leaineu) to tieat each peison with iespect iegaiuless of iace. Yet, the subjects
also ieflecteu on theii fielu expeiiences that they thought uiban stuuents felt
uisconnecteu fiom many of theii teacheis anu fiom the school. The subjects
S4

stiuggleu to navigate how iace was implicateu in the uisconnect. All mentioneu
they thought it might be easiei foi teacheis of coloi to teach stuuents of coloi, not
because these teacheis woikeu to builu tiusting anu caiing ielationships, but
meiely because of the natuialness of theii iacial similaiity. Finally, Saffolu anu
Longwell-uiice note that while all thiee paiticipants weie ielatively auept at
speaking the ihetoiic of theii teachei-euucation piogiam, theie was a gap between
theii speaking that ihetoiic anu theii peiceptions of the ieality of uiban teaching.
0ne may see eviuence of this gap in theii coloiblinuness, but also in the subjects'
geneial inexpeiience in teaching, which often causeu them to feel unpiepaieu
anuoi to iely on tiial anu eiioi of peuagogical techniques that uemonstiateu theii
stiuggle to implement the piogiam's theoiy into piactice.
In a stuuy of a mathematics-tutoiing piogiam in an uiban high school in New
Yoik, Eiica Walkei (2uu7) investigateu the peiceptions about uiban stuuents anu
schools helu by pie-seivice teacheis who paiticipateu as tutois in the piogiam. In
pait, she also wanteu to know if paiticipating in the uiban school setting woulu
uiffeientially impact these stuuents' peiceptions. Bei investigation ievealeu a
numbei of peiceptions. 0ne piominent peiception was that the uiban teachei
seives a soit of missionaiy function, saving uiban kius fiom themselves anu theii
negative ciicumstances. Inteiestingly, some pie-seivice teacheis, uespite eviuence
of the uiban stuuents' engagement anu motivation in the tutoiing piogiam, still
useu ihetoiic to chaiacteiize uiban stuuents negativelyas pooily motivateu,
uninteiesteu, etc. In a sense, then, the high school stuuents they tutoieu exemplifieu
the exception iathei than the iule. Ceitainly, this is eviuence of the hegemonic
stiength of ueficit naiiatives uespite peisonal expeiience that shoulu uisconfiim the
naiiative.
Not all of the pie-seivice teacheis in Walkei's stuuy peiceiveu stuuents
negatively oi unciitically. Two teacheis noteu the uistinct uiffeience between
common peiceptions of uiban (as negative, ueficient) anu theii expeiiences in the
school. Both useu countei-naiiatives that poitiay uiban stuuents as motivateu,
capable, anu as ueseiving of quality euucation, iesouices, anu high expectations.
Lauien Anueison anu }amy Stillman (2u11) conuuct a qualitative stuuy of
SS

some fiist yeai elementaiy school teacheis to assess the impact of those teacheis'
stuuent-teaching expeiiences in uiban, high-neeus uistiicts. Especially, the stuuy
investigateu the complexity of leaining given uiffeiential stuuent teaching
placements, some of which moueleu "goou piactice" in uiban teaching by
coopeiating teacheis, otheis which uiu not. In this stuuy, goou piactice meant,
paitially, those consistent with liteiatuie on goou cultuially ielevant teaching, but
also situations in which the placements exhibiteu piactices consistent with those
taught in the teachei euucation piogiam. "0veiall, finuings inuex the challenges of
pioviuing mentois who can mouel 'what's possible' in the face of tightly iegulateu
iefoims &(8 giant PSTs |Pie-seivice teacheisj access to the backstage laboi that
unueigiius excellent teaching" (p. 4S9). The authois aigue that while inuiviuual
placements aie impoitant, teachei euucation piogiams must also consiuei how
leaining occuis acioss multiple placements (p. 4S8). So, while the effects of a single
placement may not always pioviue the most positive example foi stuuents, having
multiple placements both incieases the possibility of bettei placements but also the
oppoitunity foi stuuents to ienuei compaiisons acioss placements. Consequently,
the authois also note the impoitance of ueveloping anu suppoiting exemplaiy
coopeiating teacheis to mentoi stuuents. Finally, the authois aigue that it is
ciucial foi teachei euucatois to uiaw on anu cieate oppoitunities anu
meuiating tools that piess PSTs not only to 6&$!. otheis giapple but also to
<%&>>#+ themselves with the tensions between stuuent-centeieu teaching anu
a policy context that incieasingly stanuaiuizes instiuction anu assessment in
uiban, high neeus schools. (p. 46u)
Finally, Byan Watson (2u11) investigateu the peiceptions of sixteen teacheis'
evaluations of theii schools. Theii expectations anu satisfaction of theii placements
weie highly coiielateu to theii peiceptions of how uiban theii stuuents weie.
Especially, Watson consiueieu "how anu when these teacheis use the woius "%7&(
anu ,"7"%7&( anu what values, inteipietations, anuoi conflicts, if any, they attach
to these teims anu to teaching in these contexts" (p. 24). Watson uiscoveieu two
finuings especially impoitant to this uisseitation. Fiist, the teacheis in the stuuy
vieweu non-uiban (i.e., subuiban) teaching as noimal teaching, while uiban
S6

teaching was seen as something extia--"teaching >#"," (p. 26). This implies that
teaching in an uiban setting iequiies a set of uiffeient skills, uispositions, anuoi
piactices fiom "noimal" teaching in nonuiban settings. 0f couise, this iuea is coueu
with iacial anu class implications. The teacheis uevelopeu anu evaluateu stuuents
accoiuing to what Watson uesciibes as a "iubiic of uibanness. If the stuuents (anu
theii families) weie peiceiveu as ueficit-lauen, lacking ceitain cultuial anu symbolic
iesouices, the stuuents weie labeleu "%7&(" (p. 27). Anu, contiaiily, when stuuents
weie peiceiveu as alieauy having the necessaiy cultuial anu symbolic iesouices to
"uo school" effectively, the stuuents weie labeleu as ,"7"%7&(. Consequently, then
(anu the seconu impoitant implication foi this stuuy of the 0TC), stuuents' most-
uesiieu placements weie "uibanesque" (p. 28)-- that is, somewheie neai the miuule
of the iubiic of uibanness they constiucteu in theii minus. Stuuents in these
placements weie uiban, but not too uiban. They might be of coloi anu pooi, but uiu
not beai some of the peiceiveu ueficits of stuuents in uiban schools.
Watson aigues, "the moie !"#$"%&##= uiban the stuuents weie, the moie
negative expectations the teachei hau anu the moie the teachei believeu she oi he
neeueu to know about iace," though, "it was iaie to heai a paiticipant mention iace
oi use tiauitional iace woius (i.e., 19 !1#1%B U#&!AB -.)$+B M,)&() oi woius that oveitly
inuicateu class" (p. S1). This ieinfoices hei finuings that uiban teaching is teaching
>#",, since uiban teaching means teaching stuuents with these iacial anu class
peiceptions. Anu, as Watson notes, this also evinces Whiteness anu miuule-
classness (which aie often subsumeu) as cultuial noims. The moie ieminiscent of
the cultuial noim of Whiteness anu miuule-classness the moie likely the teacheis
aie to choose anu be satisfieu with that placement (anu ieau it as less uiban).
80949517X ?917.549517 %=2.0@41=29=> 6: \%0B1=]
Annette Bemmings (2u11) wiites an eminently ieauable yet compiehensive
text that uetails how the "social" (i.e., mateiial) anu the "cultuial" (i.e., symbolic)
have been anu continue to be contesteu in 0.S. uiban schools. She pioviues a
uetaileu histoiy of uiban(izing) euucation anu thoioughly explains numeious
theoiies that have been useu to analyze uiban euucation.
Implicit in Bemmings' analysis is the centiality of a uialectic between social
S7

anu cultuial unueistanuings of "uiban" euucation. A full unueistanuing of uiban
schools iequiies an unueistanuing of how paiticulai social foims aie oiganizeu anu
mobilizeu in uiban schools as well as the symbolic constiuctions anu contestations
ovei meaning that happen in uiban schools. Theoiies that tieat only the social aie
insufficient; so, too, aie those that account only the cultuial. By extension, the
implication is that to unueistanu uiban euucation, scholais (anu teacheis) shoulu
unueistanu how a sociocultuial uialectic shapes uiban schools. In this, Bemmings'
woik is cential to this uisseitation. Funuamentally, this uisseitation is a stuuy of the
inteiplay between symbolic anu mateiial meanings of uiban euucation, anu whethei
anu how the symbolic colonizes anu uistoits the mateiial (to use Babeimasian
language to uesciibe this uialecticsee Chaptei S, Nethouology, foi fuithei
uiscussion of Babeimas).
The "uialectics of the uiban" (Leonaiuo anu Buntei, 2uu7) means that "the
uiban is socially anu uiscuisively constiucteu as a place, which is pait of the
uialectical cieation of the uiban as both a ieal anu imagineu space" (p. 779).
Specifically, "it is a seaich foi a piopei ielation between iueology anu mateiial life,
two piocesses that aie uialectically linkeu insteau of opposeu.. |Ijt uoes not
piopose a spatial theoiy of the uiban context, but a theoiy of the uiban imagination"
(p. 78u). Leonaiuo anu Buntei uesciibe anu analyze foui paiticulai hegemonic
uiban imaginings, expiesseu in two uialectics. The fiist is uiban authenticityin
which theie is cultuial stiuggle about what anu who best iepiesents "authentic"
uiban cultuie, expiesseu via "uiban as sophisticateu playgiounu," cite of high
cultuie, ait, enteitainment, anu "uiban as piofane," as ghetto, uecaying anu
uilapiuateu. The seconu is "uiban as jungle," wastelanus teeming with violence,
uiug use, anu othei foims of social upheaval that iequiie contiol anu ueem
investing fuithei money anu iesouices as "thiowing goou money aftei bau" while at
the same time making the uiban neighboihoous as taigets foi economic, cultuial,
anu even spiiitual salvation.
0f couise, the uiban uialectic that Leonaiuo anu Buntei uesciibe is not
sociocultuially innocent. In ^&!+B R"#$"%+B &(8 $.+ R)$=, Stephen Baymes explains the
iacialization of uiban iuentity. Be states, "The uiban has become a metaphoi foi
S8

iace anu in a white supiemacist cultuie that iuentifies iace with being black, the
uiban becomes anothei way to signify the pleasuies anu uangei of blackness in the
city" (199S, p. 22). Theie aie mateiial anu cultuial implications of this iacializeu
uiban uialectic. Baymes continues,
In the context of gentiification oi |uibanj ieuevelopment, mainstieam white
consumei cultuie's exoticization of the city has meant the uevelopment of
"white pleasuie spaces," places wheie mainstieam whites, in what weie once
pooi black neighboihoous, inuulge in the exotic consumption of black music,
uance, spoits, anu fashion, with the secuiity of police anu electionic
suiveillance to guaiu against the uangeious blacks. (199S, p. 2S)
Consequently, uiban "ienewal" is a site of economic anu cultuial consumption
embeuueu within both consumei capitalism anu iacializeu naiiatives of blackness
anu uibanness. White iuentity is constiucteu in opposition to a iacializeu, i.e.,
"Black" uiban 0theiexoticizing anu commouifying blackness.
The specific implications foi uiban euucation aie stiiking. Foi one, the
constiuction of a white (uiban) teachei iuentity, then, may similaily iequiie such
exoticism anu commouification. Anu, one must not lose sight of who is being
exoticizeu anu commouifieu, namely uiban stuuents. To follow Baymes' aigument,
White teacheis, especially uiban White teacheis, actually iequiie ueficit naiiatives
of black uiban stuuents in oiuei to cieate theii own sense of iacial iuentity--ueficit
iuentifications by White teacheis of black stuuents (ie)piouuce Whiteness.
0ne of the most common pioposals foi solving the "pioblem" of "bioken"
uiban schooling in Ameiica is the implementation of school choice measuies,
especially chaitei schools anu vouchei piogiams. Anu one must not foiget Teach
foi Ameiica (TFA), whose pioject is to entice high-calibei college giauuates
(typically, not giauuates of teachei euucation piogiams) to uevote two yeais to
teaching in high-neeus schools thioughout the countiy; typically this means in
uiban schools, anu often in chaiteis. Chaitei schools may be seen as exemplais of
iacializeu consumption in theii own iight. That is, many of these schools,
philanthiopically funueu anu iun, may also exemplify spaces that ieify the
iacialization of White pleasuie anu Black pathology: "Beioic" White teacheis anu
S9

theii unueiwiiteis valiantly seiving to "save" pooi Black chiluien fiom themselves.
Embiacing Baymes' thesis, the constiuction of a "stable" White (philanthiopic)
(teachei) iuentity, then, may similaily iequiie such naiiatives because a sense of
White iuentity in a uiveise cultuial milieu comes fiom its constiuction in
oppositional ielation to a |peiceiveuj Black 0thei. Consequently, one might wonuei
if the Teach foi Ameiica (anu, foi that mattei, the 0iban Cohoit) teachei foims hei
his sense of iuentity as a philanthiopic, community leauei in this paiticulaily
iacializeu way.
Leonaiuo anu Buntei enu theii analysis with a call to ie-imagine the uiban as
a site of cultuial contestation anu stiuggle. "It also necessitates an equally iauical
questioning of the way euucatois anu conceineu people cuiiently imagine the uiban
fiom a place of uecline to a place of possibilities" (Leonaiuo anu Buntei, 2uu7, pp.
797-798). This holus impoitant implications foi the piepaiation of "uiban" teacheis
(anu even what that means), of couise. At the least, it suggests that euucation of
uiban teacheis must engage the uiffeient imaginings of uiban that ciiculate in
populai cultuie anu that piospective teacheis employ anu fuithei iequiies them to
holu the imaginings to ciitique anu tiansfoimation.
J94.01430. 6= 4-. !14.0917 ).17949.@ 6: %0B1= J9:. 1=2 (2351496=
Fiom heie, I tiansition in the liteiatuie towaiu what I mean by the "mateiial"
anu "social" ieality of uiban life. The Bemmings text anu the Leonaiuo anu Buntei
text pieviously citeu, among otheis, aiticulate the social iealities of uiban aieas as
they seek to uemystify naiiatives that mis-iepiesent those social iealities.
I see two impoitant stianus in liteiatuie about the mateiial iealities of uiban
euucation. 0ne, in the vein of Kozol's lanumaik opus K&*&<+ ?(+L"&#)$)+, (1991),
exposes vast inequities in funuing anu iesouices both in uiban communities anu
uiban schools. To this enu, uata on uemogiaphics anu concentiation of uiban
poveity aie ciucial, as is uata iegaiuing uiban school (ue)funuing, eniollment,
giauuation iates, etc. This uata is paiticulaily impoitant because, as Bemmings anu
Leonaiuo anu Buntei suggest, it is against this context that naiiatives about uiban
aie being constiucteu anu contesteu.
The seconu impoitant stianu in this liteiatuie is extensive, also, anu speaks to
4u

the hegemony of technical, basic-skills cuiiiculum anu peuagogy in uiban schools.
Eviuence is laceu thioughout the liteiatuie alieauy noteu about teaching uiveise
stuuents (see Belpit, 2uu6; uay, 2uuu; Babeiman, 2uu4; Lauson-Billings, 2uu6) that
uemonstiates that stuuents in uiban aieas get substantially uiffeient cuiiiculai
options anu peuagogical piactices than theii subuiban counteipaits. 0iban schools
geneially have moie naiiow cuiiiculum options, emphasize basic skills anu
vocational tiaining, emphasize submission anu contiol of stuuents (minu as well as
bouy), have significantly highei uisciplinaiy iefeiials anu moie seveie suspension
anu expulsion iates, uiagnose stuuents as "at-iisk" anu "special neeus" at iates
uispiopoitional to the geneial population, anu so foith (see Anyon, 1997; Lauson-
Billings, 2uu4; Rothstein, 1994; Lyons & Biew, 2uu6).
The funuamental questions of this uisseitation become eviuent heie. Bow uo
pie-seivice teachei euucation stuuents who have committeu to woik in uiban
settings naiiate this social ieality. What soit of "uialectic of uiban" is eviuent in the
naiiatives they ueploy. Bo the naiiatives they use meiely ieify hegemonic
uiscouise that asciibes blame to uiban stuuents, paients, anu communities but ueny
the social iealities. 0i, given the intenueu mission of the 0iban Teaching Cohoit
anu having piogiesseu thiough its enacteu cuiiiculum (Eisnei, 2uu2; Naish anu
Willis, 2uu7) uo stuuents ueploy naiiatives of ciitique, with iich countei-naiiatives
that contextualize anu uemystify the social iealities of uiban euucation. These
questions fiame this liteiatuie ieview anu uiive this stuuy.


41

8-1;4.0 MG !.4-62676>C
The object of this stuuy is the uialectical ielationship between the naiiatives
pie-seivice uiban teachei euucation cohoit stuuents use to talk about school anu
the mateiial iealities of uiban schooling in Ameiican society. This question is
iooteu in an unueistanuing that a subject's meaning making uoes not exist outsiue
of social context. That is, while inteipietive ieseaich tiauitions suggest that one
might get to an "essential unueistanuing" of a subject's thinking thiough the
language they use to constiuct meaning, ciitical uiscouises (anu theii "post"
cousins) ieject the notion of "essential" oi "oiiginal unueistanuing." Insteau ciitical
uiscouises posit that meaning is socially locateu anu politically inteiesteu. Neaning
uoes not exist by itself but is always constiucteu in ielation to existing ways of
thinking anu talking about the woilu iooteu in laigei social context. So iathei than
a phenomenology, which woulu tiy to uiscein stuuents' iauical anu iational sense-
making of the phenomenon of teachei euucation, this stuuy is a ciitique of the
naiiatives that pie-seivice teachei euucation stuuents in the 0iban Teaching Cohoit
employ to talk about teaching, with the basic assumption that those naiiatives aie
not "oiiginal" to the stuuents' sense-making but insteau ieflect a fielu of uiscuisive
possibility given specific histoiical, socially constiucteu, anu pie-existing (the
stuuents as subjects) meanings. That is, the specific naiiatives these stuuents
ueploy will point to unueilying cultuial naiiatives. The lifewoilu is not just the site
in which stuuents make meaning, it also constitutes a fielu of existing meanings
upon which stuuents uiaw foi theii meaning-making.
Ciitical theoiy uoes not completely ieject inteipietive uiscouise. Teu Benton
anu Ian Ciaib (2uu1) note that some of those who influenceu the Fiankfuit School
anu those who latei auvocateu foi ciitical theoiy hau come out of inteipietive
uiscouise anu, consequently, uiu not totally iepuuiate it so much as founu it
incomplete. I think heie, paiticulaily, of Babeimas's setting out of the emancipatoiy
iealm uistinct fiom the technical anu piactical (to which I will ietuin below).
Babeimas's cential claim seems to be that the potential pioblem with inteipietive
ieseaich, anu its iequisite uesiie foi Q+%,$+.+(, is that it assumes that peoples'
unueistanuing of the woilu is, in fact, iational anu self-unueistoou. But Babeimas
42

suggests unueistanuing is actually mystifieuthat things like iueology mask
iationality.
Babeimas (19711968) uistinguishes between technical, piactical, anu
emancipatoiy iealms. The technical anu piactical iealms each seive a specific
inteiest. The technical iealm seives the technical inteiest while the piactical iealm
seives the piactical inteiest. In tuin, both of these inteiests seive the status quo, the
inteiest of each iealm. 0n the othei hanu, the emancipatoiy iealm, which iesolves
the uialectic between the technical anu piactical iealm, seives the geneial inteiest,
which is what makes it "emancipatoiy." Nystification happens when knowleuge
that seives the specific inteiest of eithei the technical iealm oi the piactical iealm
(sometimes iefeiieu to as the lifewoilu) colonizes the knowleuge of the othei.
Technical knowleuge is that which ieflects the mateiial woilu, the way the woilu
actually is. Technical knowleuge also incluues those tools of analysis that help
uiscein the technical woilu (i.e., "science"). The piactical iealm, oi piactical
inteiest, is the lifewoilu, wheie inuiviuuals make meaning about the woilu. The
piactical iealm is also conceineu with values anu ethics.
Benton anu Ciaib (2uu1) anu }onathan }oseph (2uuS) both illuminate limits
of Babeimas, paiticulaily in teims of his ovei-ieliance on iationality anu consensus.
Extenuing Babeimas, Quantz (n.u.) aigues that non-iational thought also
chaiacteiizes the lifewoilu. Inueeu, the non-iational may be moie impoitant than
the iational. Quantz iuentifies multiple ieasons foi this: people uon't always think
iationally anu so one must account foi this non-iational thinking. The non-iational,
living in the lifewoilu, may pioviue veiy stiong cultuial cues, stiongei even than
iationality. That is, the cultuial meaning-making messages that compose the
lifewoilu may be quite stiongthey have foicethey FEELSEEN "tiue" enough to
us. Consequently, the non-iational is moie likely to be (oi at least moie intensely)
"mystifieu," uistoiteu, unieflective of the "iational" woilu (anu the mateiial woilu,
paiticulaily). Paiticulaily, those with mateiial powei, but also with cultuial
symbolic powei, use the non-iational to consoliuate anu ieify theii powei thiough
uistoition.
4S

Quantz (n.u.) aigues elsewheie, paiticulaily iefeiencing volosinov, that
"meaning" is both inuiviuual (insiue) anu cultuial (outsiue). Any given specific
utteiance is foimeu inthioughfiom a laigei uialogue, oi socio-histoiical inteiplay
of (successful) utteiances. A specific speech act, occuiiing in a given
histoiicalsociocultuial moment, beais the context of that moment as well as the
legacies of pievious speech acts. So, uialogue is at once unique anu histoiical. A
cultuial naiiative uoesn't exist "in natuie," pei se. That is, while they may incluue
the iueological uialogic content that is ueployeu in specific utteiances, these uo not
exist as some cultuial essence, as heimeneutics inteipietivism might imply.
V= 4-. *432C 6: &100149<.@
I pause at this point foi a biief explanation of how I unueistanu anu use the
iuea of naiiative thioughout this ieseaich.
Foi the puipose of this stuuy, I conceive of naiiative similaily to, though with
impoitant alteiations fiom, the heimeneutic tiauition, inflecteu by Cultuial Stuuies.
That is, naiiative constitutes an example of a type of cultuial text that may be ieau
anu analyzeu. In paiticulai, "Cultuial ieseaich is often seen as text woika woik
on textsbut it can also be seen as a piouuction of texts in ielation to othei texts, oi
as a woik on anu with )($+%$+V$"&# %+#&$)1(,.)>,. Reauing anu wiiting aie heie
unueistoou as foims of uialogue oi, moie technically, as foims of inteitextuality"
(italics in oiiginal, }ohnson, Chambeis, Raghuiam, & Tincknell, 2uu4, p. 76).
Inteitextual ielationships, oi as I expiess in this stuuy, the inteiplay of naiiatives,
aie expiessive of cultuial powei. So as I stuuy the naiiatives that pie-seivice
teacheis use to talk about how they unueistanu teaching anu schooling, these
naiiatives aie not oiiginal constiuctions within theii minus but iathei ieflect, at
least in pait, naiiatives about uiban communities anu schooling that alieauy
ciiculate in the wiuei cultuie. Some of these naiiatives have moie cultuial powei
than otheis. I analyze how these naiiatives aie manifesteu in anu thiough stuuents'
language but also how they inteiplayhow they aie negotiateu anu contesteu.
But what, piecisely, aie naiiatives. Bow am I using that teim in uistinction
fiom usages in othei uiscouises. Naiiative inquiiy is a populai sub-fielu of
qualitative ieseaich in which people use peisonal stoiies of inuiviuuals as the
44

cential focus of theii stuuy (See Clanuinin anu Connelly, 2uuu). In liteiatuie,
naiiative is a paiticulai genie with paiticulai conventions, most commonly lineaiity
anu some element of peisonal stoiy oi iecollection of events. Keith Baiton anu
Linua Levstik (2uu4) note that histoiical naiiative stiuctuie follows a similai
conventionactoi, action, event, usually implying a cause anu effect ielationship
between each (p. 1Su). They aie also caieful to note, though, that naiiative
stiuctuie is a convention anu as a convention has paiticulai effects. Foi one, it uoes
seem to "simplify" sense making foi stuuents, a convenient way foi them to ienuei
meaning out of events. The uiawback of this simplification is that as a simplification
it may, in fact, be constiaining. Baiton anu Levstik (2uu4) note, "naiiative not only
helps solve the pioblems of life (in this case, making meaning fiom the past) but also
limits the iange of solutions by naiiowing peiceptions of ieality. Naiiative limits
anu thus uistoitsunueistanuing" (pp. 1S6-1S7). Bow we select anu oiganize, anu
bounu, the naiiative is a politically inteiesteu act. Ny unueistanuing of naiiatives
in this stuuy is closei to that pioviueu by Baiton anu Levstik than fiom liteiatuie oi
naiiative inquiiy uiscouises.
Finally, I take to this last point, that naiiative limits anu thus uistoits
unueistanuing anu ietuin to my oiiginal point in this section about some naiiatives
having moie cultuial powei than othei naiiatives. As uistoitions, the naiiatives
that ciiculate often function iueologically. Iueology, as Naixists aiticulate it, "At its
simplest,.is useu to mean a set of iueas which seive the inteiests of a paiticulai
social class" (Benton & Ciaib, 2uu1, p. 111). In the language of Babeimas, then, one
might say that iueology is a set of iueas that seives a ,>+!)&# inteiest, eithei the
technical oi the piactical. So one woulu expect to see naiiatives that stuuents use
that ieify the technical inteiest, oi naiiatives that ieify the piactical inteiest (though
I suspect that the foimei uominate anu obscuie the latteian essential point of
ciitical theoiy). These naiiatives aie contesteu constiuctions that ieflect
uiffeiential, iueologically-ueteimineu cultuial powei.
The bioauest, commonsense oi colloquial usage of the teim "naiiative" is
synonymous with stoiy, oi foi any liteiatuie having a stoiy-like foim. ueneially, in
naiiatives chaiacteis aie connecteu via a plot that chionicles a sequence of events
4S

with a cause-effect ielation. In this usage, one might heai a teachei ask hei stuuents
to compose a naiiative of theii summei vacation, foi example. The stuuent woulu
then wiite (typically) a fiist-peison account of some of the things they expeiienceu
ovei the summei (anu peihaps what they think about theii expeiiences).
Alteinately, a histoiian might wiite a (thiiu peison) naiiative about some histoiical
event oi sequence of events uetailing the piominent chaiacteis anu often expiessing
a cause-effect ielation (event A happeneu, which causeu event B, etc.).
Naiiative inquiiy is an incieasingly common foim of euucational ieseaich,
anu its geneial appioach is autobiogiaphical. In naiiative inquiiy, one tells hishei
stoiy, iecounts hishei expeiiences, in the hope that one may finu meaning in anu
thiough the telling (see Clanuinin anu Connelly, 2uuu, foi example). This is much
like a "fiist-peison heimeneutics." In heimeneutics, one analyzes a text to seaich
foi meaning thiough the piocess of ielating paits to othei paits to constiuct the
whole. If we think of naiiative inquiiy as a fiist-peison heimeneutic, then, we can
see a naiiative as a self-text, embouieu anu wiitten, anu open to analysis. The
wiitei is attempting to make meaning, anu peihaps ieveal hishei subjectivity, as
they analyze anu theoiize in theii expeiience. Naiiative inquiiy is not meiely
centeiing oneself as the "heio" of one's own stoiy, howevei. 0n the contiaiy
(paiticulaily because many who employ naiiative inquiiy come fiom post-mouein
anuoi post-stiuctuial oiientations), many naiiative inquiiy scholais seek to ue-
centei oi ue-constiuct theii subjectivity. It is iooteu in an unueistanuing that "the
peisonal is political." Bowevei, one's use of naiiative is not meiely convenientit
is easily ueployeu anu commonly availablebut it is also useful. That is, naiiative
peifoims a social function that is both (instiumentally) communicative anu
iueological.
The naiiative inquiiy appioach (of Clanuinin anu Connelly) is useful only in
pait foi this uisseitation. Theii scholaiship tenus to aiticulate the self as
constitutive of meaning in itself, thiough ieflexively inquiiing into one's expeiiences
to seaich foi meaning. As volosinov (1986) aigues, though, meaning is a socially
constiucteu piocess anu so, even when one inquiies into the "self," that self can only
46

be unueistoou ielationally to otheis anu a laigei uialogue against which one must
ieau oneself.
This uisseitation is not explicitly autobiogiaphical in two majoi ways, at least
not as unueistoou in the naiiative inquiiy appioach. Those committeu to naiiative
inquiiy might aigue that all knowleuge piouuction is autobiogiaphical anu
inheiently naiiativeit tells a stoiy about the authoi whethei the authoi explicitly
acknowleuges it oi not. I agiee. 0navoiuably, this uisseitation tells a stoiy about
me as the authoi. In the Pieface I biiefly position myself autobiogiaphically. But, I
am not explicitly the subject of this inquiiy; my intent heie is not to consiuei my
own life anu the naiiatives I ueploy to make sense of it. 0n the contiaiy, this stuuy
is inteiesteu in how pie-seivice teacheis use paiticulai stoiies. 0f couise, I coulu
use a naiiative inquiiy appioach that woulu ask stuuents to ieflect on the
ciicumstances of theii own lives anu link those to the stoiies they tell, but I have
chosen a uiffeient focus.
In uistinction fiom its usage in naiiative inquiiy, my usage of the teim
naiiative is iooteu in volosinov's theoiy of uialogic speech acts. volosinov aigues
that meaning is locateu neithei within the stiuctuie of language itself, noi within
one's inuiviuual psyche. Be aigues, to the contiaiy, that meaning is uialectically
constiucteu. Be also iejects notions that uetach meaning fiom mateiiality. Signs
point to things, in inteiaction with themselves, but have no meaning apait fiom
theii pointing (what Quantz |n.u.j calls signification). volosinov notes,
Neaning is the expiession of a semiotic ielationship between a paiticulai
piece of ieality anu anothei kinu of ieality that it stanus foi, iepiesents, oi
uepicts. Neaning is a function of the sign anu is theiefoie inconceivable
(since meaning is puie ielation, oi function) outsiue the sign as some
paiticulai, inuepenuently existing thing. (volosinov, 1986, p. 28)
It is also impoitant to unueistanu that foi volosinov the "inuiviuual" anu the "social"
aie not binaiy opposites but aie constitutive of one anothei.
Accoiuing to volosinov's theoiy, the smallest unit of meaning is the utteiance
iathei than the woiu oi the sign. The uistinction is that the utteiance is the piouuct
of a semiotic ielationship wheie meaning is constiucteu uialectically between
47

intenueu meaning of the speakei anu the ieceiveu meaning of the listenei.
0tteiances aie locateu in histoiy. Signs point to things but have no meaning in
themselves. Signs gain meaning thiough theii usage in social tiansactions.
volosinov aigues,
Eveiy sign, as we know, is a constiuct between socially oiganizeu peisons in
the piocess of theii inteiaction. Theiefoie, $.+ 91%5, 19 ,)<(, &%+ !1(8)$)1(+8
&71*+ &## 7= $.+ ,1!)&# 1%<&()4&$)1( 19 $.+ >&%$)!)>&($, )(*1#*+8 &(8 &#,1 7= $.+
)55+8)&$+ !1(8)$)1(, 19 $.+)% )($+%&!$)1(. (italics in the oiiginal, p. 21).
The location of meaning within a uialogue of utteiances is cential to
volosinov's theoiy. Be aigues that uialogue is the inteiplay of utteiances whose
meaning is at once both unique to the (socioeconomic political histoiical) context
of those utteiances but also uiaws on meaning available fiom pievious utteiances.
M(= "$$+%&(!+, no mattei how weighty anu complete in anu of itself, ), 1(#= &
515+($ )( $.+ !1($)("1", >%1!+,, 19 *+%7&# !155"()!&$)1(: But that
continuous veibal communication is, in tuin, itself only a moment in the
continuous, all-inclusive, geneiative piocess of a given social collective.
(italics in the oiiginal, volosinov, 1986, p. 9S)
In othei woius, utteiances aie spoken into specific contexts that shape the meaning
of those utteiances.
volosinov is funuamentally inteiesteu, along with his contempoiaiies in
what comes to be calleu the Bakhtin Ciicle, in fosteiing a moie useful Naixist
uialectic. As a Naixist, volosinov is, of couise, inteiesteu in how the mateiial
oiganization of society impacts social ielations anu meaning (what is commonly
iefeiieu to as the link between base anu supei-stiuctuie). Be iejecteu theoiies that
ovei-emphasizeu base to the exclusion of supei-stiuctuie, anu he iejecteu theoiies
that unuei-emphasize oi ueny the impoitance of the (socioeconomic) base.
Rooteu in volosinov's notion of uialogic speech acts, suppoiteu by Quantz's
explanation of signification anu non-iational iitual ciitique (Quantz, 2u11), my
usage of the teim naiiative seeks to sutuie these multiple meanings, though it most
closely iesembles the meaning offeieu pieviously by Baiton anu Levstik. Foi one,
my usage of the teim naiiative implies a stoiy-like foim, though these stoiies aie
48

typically shoit-hanueu in theii application acioss anu within contexts. I also
uistinguish between what I consiuei ,>+!)9)! (&%%&$)*+, anu !"#$"%&# (&%%&$)*+,.
Specific naiiatives aie those spoken by the inuiviuuals in a specific inteiaction of
utteiances. Specific naiiatives often uiaw on cultuial naiiatives, oi stoiies that
ciiculate (iueologically) piioi to the utteiance anu which the speakei may ueploy.
Naiiatives aie a type of speech act, a type of utteiance. They aie a paiticulai
way that inuiviuuals constiuct meaning into the woilu. Naiiatives aie at once both
histoiical anu unique. They aie iueological stoiies, lauen with cultuial meaning.
They aie, in pait, what imbue a uialogue with (iueological) meaning. 0f couise, the
meaning of specific naiiative utteiances may iefiact meaning uiawn fiom cultuial
naiiatives, but the iemnants of the cultuial naiiative, anu the social conuitions that
fiame the uialogue, shoulu be eviuent.
Naiiatives, in theii stoiy-like foim, geneially contain paiticulai elements,
though these vaiy in foim anu content. Stoiies have plots, which piogiess (usually)
in a lineai, cause-effect tiajectoiy anu incluue challenges oi obstacles foi chaiacteis
to oveicome oi issues to be iesolveu. Plots typically have chaiacteis that piopel the
action, oveicoming the challenges of the plot (oi, of theii own shoitcomings); I
piefei the teim "chaiacteiization," a concept I boiiow fiom theatie that implies that
theie's a "back-stoiy" to a chaiacteipaiticulai chaiactei tiaits, histoiy, habits, anu
so foith that give the paiticulai chaiactei shape anu uiiection. I will use the teim
"chaiacteiization" insteau of "chaiactei" thioughout this uisseitation. Naiiatives
also typically have a theme oi a moialtheii unueilying iueological message. The
theme is the most impoitant aspect of the naiiative foi the sake of this uisseitation,
as it is what communicates the noimative iueological message of the stoiy. The
theme communicates a "lesson" about how the woilu is, how people aie to live, what
is "goou" oi "iight" behavioi (anu, of couise, bau, wiong, unacceptable). Both
specific naiiatives anu cultuial naiiatives, I suggest, geneially contain these basic
elements anu foim. Impoitantly, as I note pieviously, oui telling of specific
naiiative stoiies is often shoitcut. They neeu not unfolu the entiie plot uiawn fiom
the unueilying cultuial naiiative oi ieveal the entiie chaiacteiization. Rathei, they
neeu meiely alluue to these elements, its common tiopes, etc. (e.g., "epic heio")
49

since the "meaning" of the naiiative is locateu, laigely, in its iueological meaning. In
fact, that the iueologically message iemain hiuuen is what gives it ihetoiical effect.
0ne's invocation of a naiiative has the effect of situating oneself within
naiiative. That is, "I" (the subject) takes on the chaiacteiization implicit in the
naiiative. In this way, use of the naiiative is not just iepiouuctive, but it is
cieativeit is establishing a sense of (self) meaning. Consequently, when a teachei
ueploys a paiticulai naiiative, it both ieifies that naiiative but also cieates
piouuces ieifies a subjectivity. I come to know "me" as a teachei by placing myself
within this laigei naiiative uialogue. If I violate the naiiative, iesist its iueological
meaning, theie is cultuial (i.e., symbolic) iisk, but theie may be mateiial iisk as well,
given the uialectical ielationship between the mateiial anu symbolic woilus.
830095373Q "=^390C 1=2 (2351496=17 8094959@Q
Because the context of this uisseitation is a cohoit of stuuents in an
unueigiauuate teachei euucation piogiam, this is also a cuiiiculum stuuy.
Paiticulaily, the naiiative speech acts of the stuuents in the uiban teaching cohoit
can be taken as a cuiiiculum. That is, the naiiatives that stuuents use evince
multiple uialogues about teaching that the stuuents paiticipate in anu utilize to
make meaning. Theii expeiience of the foimal cuiiiculum of teachei euucation, anu
especially of theii uiban cohoit classes, cultivates anu shapes paiticulai types of
naiiatives via explicit, implicit, as well as null cuiiicula (Eisnei, 2uu2). Naiiatives
that ciiculate outsiue foimalofficial acauemic ciicles, of couise, also have impoitant
influences on the naiiatives stuuents use.
As a cuiiiculum inquiiy, this stuuy illuminates the (naiiative) cuiiiculum of
stuuents in the uiban cohoit piogiam. Anu as a cuiiiculum inquiiy, analytic tools
appiopiiate to cuiiiculum inquiiy aie calleu foi. In paiticulai, I will use Eisnei's
(2uu2) theoiy of euucational ciiticism, exemplaiy of Naish anu Willis' (2uu7) iuea
of liveu oi expeiienceu cuiiiculum. Naish anu Willis note, "The cuiiiculum
expeiienceu in the classioom is often thought of as a one-way tiansmission of iueas
anu infoimation fiom the teachei to a gioup of passive iecipients, but in ieality it
consists of an ongoing seiies of communications, ieactions, anu exchanges among
inuiviuuals" (p. 1S).
Su

Naiiatives as examples of sociocultuial cuiiiculai texts open the possibility
of ciitiqueciiticism as analytic tool. Eisnei pioviues a helpful constiuct,
connoisseuiship, as a foim of euucational ciiticism. Eisnei's (2uu2) theoiy of
euucational ciitique anu connoisseuiship is oiienteu towaiu the aesthetic anu
captuies the "living," the notion that cuiiiculum exists not statically, meiely on
papei as a lesson plan oi uesign, but as the embouieu expeiience of human subjects
as they leain anu encounteiit lives, it changes, anu it may best be uesciibeu
aesthetically. Eisnei posits euucational ciiticism (oi ciitique) as a way to conuuct
euucational ieseaich anu any subject mattei may be its focus.
Eisnei uses the teim connoisseuiship to expiess the uialectic between
obseiving anu appieciating. A connoisseui uoes not meiely obseive anu uesciibe
the phenomenon; in the uesciiption is an aii of appieciation. Inueeu, the entiie
function of the connoisseui may be iooteu in appieciation. It is the connoisseui's
appieciation of the phenomenon, its aesthetic appeal oi its ielevance oi potential
impoitance that uiives the connoisseui to offei a uesciiption anu evaluation.
Especially, the connoisseui possesses "an ability not only to peiceive the subtle
paiticulais of euucational life but also to iecognize the way those paiticulais foim a
pait oi a stiuctuie within the classioom" (2uu2, p. 217). The connection between
the paiticulais of stuuents' naiiative speech acts anu the stiuctuies that unueiscoie
those naiiatives is the object of this stuuy anu qualifies ciiticism as an appiopiiate
tool.
Eisnei (2uu2) anu uail NcCutcheon (1979) note that euucational ciiticism is
both piocess anu piouuct. Ciiticism is "an encountei between the ciitic anu an
euucational phenomenon" (NcCutcheon, 1979, p. 6). Each uesciibes the piocess
similaily to incluue uesciiption, inteipietation, anu evaluation (which NcCutcheon
calls appiaisal). Within the evaluative piocess, Eisnei also eluciuates a thematic
aspect. The ciitic eluciuates the euucational phenomenon, uesciibes it, notes its
aesthetic anu ielevant qualities, appiaises its value, etc. In this, ciiticism is
inheiently noimative. It is also inheiently public. That is, a ciitic peifoims ciiticism
foi the sake of making public the euucational phenomenon, iathei than ciitiquing
meiely foi the ciitic's peisonal enjoyment oi knowleuge. NcCutcheon elaboiates:
S1

An euucational ciitic's puipose is to examine an euucational phenomenon
anu illuminate it foi otheis, thinking in public about it. A ciiticism pioviues
the ieauei a peispective on the chaiactei of that phenomenon.. Seconuly, it
ieveals ielationships among those qualities, theii significance foi piesent
euucational piactice, yesteiuay's piactice, anu theii significance in ielation to
piinciples fiom behavioial sciences, euucational theoiy oi cuiient tienus.
Thiiuly, it pioviues an example of the ciitic thinking alouu; the piocess of
ciiticism, of encounteiing the |phenomenonj anu thinking about it aie
ievealeu. (NcCutcheon, 1979, pp. 6-7)
Laigely heuiistic, these piocesses aie inteiielateu anu uifficult to uistinguish as the
ciitic conuucts a stuuy. That is, while each inuiviuual piocess may coiiesponu,
moie oi less, to uistinct sections of a stuuy (oi chapteis of a uisseitation), each
section will likely also contain elements of each piocess.
The fiist aspect, 2.@509;496=, "is essentially an attempt to iuentify anu
chaiacteiize, poitiay oi ienuei in language the ielevant qualities of euucational life"
(Eisnei, 2uu2, p. 226). Eisnei suggests that this iequiies a "biacketing of
peiception" (p. 227) as the ciitic illuminates the phenomenon foi the ieauei. The
ciitic makes selections about which aie the most ielevant aspects to incluue oi not.
}ust as an ait ciitic woulu uevote a poition of theii ciitique to uesciibe the woik of
ait to make it familiai to the ieauei, so the euucational ciitic must uesciibe the
euucational phenomenon.
In this uisseitation, the ieauei will finu aspects of uesciiption thioughout.
Setting the context of the stuuy, incluuing its paiticipants, anu the planneu anu
enacteu cuiiiculum (Naish anu Willis, 2uu7) of the 0iban Teaching Cohoit piogiam
will be laigely uesciiptive. Also, the empiiical section(s) of the uisseitation will
incluue uesciiptions of the naiiatives of 0TC stuuents as well as the context fiaming
those utteiances.
The seconu aspect, 9=4.0;0.41496=, "asks: What uoes the situation mean to
those involveu. Bow uoes this classioom opeiate. What iueas, concepts, oi theoiies
can be useu to explain its majoi featuies" (Eisnei, 2uu2, p. 229). The inteipietive
S2

phase most closely iesembles the heimeneutic tiauition anu is wheie iueas fiom the
social sciences aie most typically employeu in ciiticism.
NcCutcheon (1979) offeis a moie thoiough uiscussion of inteipietation that
uistinguishes intiinsic anu extiinsic inteipietation. Intiinsic inteipietation
consiueis the phenomenon itself anu incluues patteining anu social meaning
(explaineu subsequently), wheieas extiinsic inteipietation ielates the phenomenon
to theoiies fiom social anu behavioi sciences, histoiy, (etc.), anu to piinciples anu
theoiies of euucation. Patteining involves exploiing anu establishing a pattein of
themes baseu in commonalities within anuoi acioss phenomena. Foi this
uisseitation, that will mean establishing similaiities of naiiative utteiances among
0TC stuuents. Intiinsic inteipietation also involves inteipieting social meanings of
phenomena to establish why paiticulai patteins emeige. Foi example, if theie aie
patteins to the naiiatives 0TC stuuents use, then an investigation of the social
meaning of those patteins tiies to establish possible ieasons foi those patteins
locateu in theii social context. In chaptei S, I use thiee paiticulai themes that
emeige in my obseivation. Is theie something in the social context of 0TC stuuents
that may explain the pattein. While NcCutcheon fails to note it explicitly, the
ieseaichei must also consiuei outlieis, oi negative cases, phenomena that uon't fit
the patteins. Extiinsic inteipietation, then, uses theoiy to fuithei illuminate the
meaning of the phenomenon, which, in a sense, auus anothei, peihaps fullei, layei to
the inteipietation.
The thiiu piocess of euucational ciitique is .<1731496=, oi appiaisal. 0f
couise, as noteu pieviously, ciiticism has an inheiently noimative oiientation.
Thioughout a stuuy the ieseaichei's task is evaluative. Because the ieseaichei-
ciitic cannot possibly see anu wiite eveiything about a given phenomenon, she
must choose what to incluue anu omit fiom the stuuy. Such a selection is a value
juugment, at least iequiiing an assessment of what is most ielevant oi impoitant to
the stuuy. 0f couise, contexts of powei, iueology, the ieseaichei-ciitic's own
political anu moial values, etc. aie also implicateu. This aspect of evaluation will be
auuiesseu fuithei subsequently (in a uiscussion of cieuibility).
SS

Appiaisal also consiueis questions like, "Was it woith uoing. Was it uone
well." These aie questions about the meiit of a phenomenon, in essence a juuge of
its "goouness." Eisnei consiueis this the 4-.Q1495 aspect of ciiticism, which helps
establish how the specific phenomenon ielates to anu may help explain othei
euucational phenomena. NcCutcheon (1982) wains that in this, ciiticism often has
a conseivative unueitone. ueneially, a ciitic ienueis theii appiaisal in ielation to a
stanuaiu, often one establisheu by a paiticulai aesthetic community. In ait, foi
example, this has often meant a ueteimination of whethei a given woik even
constitutes "ait," anu which qualities of that ait most neaily iesemble establisheu
aitistic conventions. Consequently, one may concluue, the ciitic must be foithiight
about the values by which such juugments aie maue. In this uisseitation, the
chaptei communicating "implications" oi "conclusions" will most tacitly ienuei an
appiaisal.
Remembei that a ciiticism is pait of a public uialogue. At the least, it is a
uialogue between the ciitic anu (an imagineu oi ieal) public. But, paiticulaily in the
case of this uisseitation pioject, it is also the iesult of a uialogue among ciitics,
among a numbei of those sensitive to the case anu specializing in vaiious acauemic
uisciplines (of euucational ieseaich). Auuitionally, since the puipose of a
uisseitation is to make a unique contiibution to the fielu, this stuuy is inheiently a
noimative, evaluative enueavoi, one that comments on the consequences anu
implications of this paiticulai case foi the euucation fielu wiit laige.
Eisnei pioviues a useful summation of the piocess of ciiticism:
The uesciiptive aspect aims at the viviu ienueiing of the qualities peiceiveu
in the situation. The inteipietive attempts to pioviue an unueistanuing of
what has been ienueieu by using, among othei things, iueas, concepts,
mouels, anu theoiies fiom the social sciences anu fiom histoiy. The
evaluative aspect of euucational ciiticism attempts to assess the euucational
impoit oi significance of the events oi objects uesciibeu oi inteipieteu.
(Eisnei, 2uu2, p. 2S4)
NcCutcheon comments on the slippeiiness of euucational ciiticism as a
ieseaich constiuct (1982). In giving a biief histoiy of usages of ciitique as a
S4

concept, she calls foi a moie piecise explication of methous of euucational ciiticism
(which she hau outlineu in hei pievious woik |1979j). NcCutcheon uesciibes a
thiee-phase piocess, though each phase is inteiconnecteu anu may oveilap. Theie
aie similaiities in these phases to the puiposes of ciiticism (uesciiption,
inteipietation, appiaisal) outlineu pieviously, though they aie not synonymous.
Togethei, these thiee phases of ciitique constitute the ieseaich plan.
The fiist phase is 6B@.0<1496=. Buiing the obseivation phase, which
constitutes the longest phase of my pioject, the ieseaichei is in the setting, seeing
what's theie. Especially, this constitutes the collection of the stuuy's empiiical uata.
NcCutcheon uesciibes a uual ielationship of the ciitic with the phenomenon
"ueveloping an intimacy with the paiticulais of the case anu playing that intimacy
against knowleuge of othei cases," which iequiies cognitive flexibility "as the ciitic
engages in a mental uialogue, compaiing this case to otheis anu to infoimation fiom
othei fielus of knowleuge anu euucation" (p. 7). The ieseaichei in the obseivation
phase will keep extensive fielu notes as they obseive the phenomenon (heie, the
woik may iesemble that of ethnogiaphei). Since the ciitic's task is, in pait, to
uesciibe the phenomenon, the astute ciitic must spenu a gieat ueal of time anu
effoit obseiving the phenomenon, so as to uevelop such a familiaiity that she may
cieuibly uesciibe, inteipiet, anu appiaise.
I have spent the past foui yeais obseiving the 0iban Teaching Cohoit
thiough my paiticipation on its Cuiiiculum Committee anu as the uiauuate
Assistant to the Biiectoi of the Cohoit, ioles in which I have helpeu shape the foimal
cuiiiculum, teach couises that seive the piogiam, facilitate ietieats anu othei 0TC-
ielateu piogiams. Foi this uisseitation specifically, I spent a semestei obseiving the
seconu semestei of the stuuents' fiist-yeai seminai couise, calleu Empowei II,
which I uesciibe in Chaptei 4. Foi this stuuy, obseiving is moie accuiately
"listening," as I listeneu to the uialogue stuuents useu thioughout the semestei. I
conuucteu fielu notes, aitifact analysis, anu inteivieweu Cohoit stuuents who hau
iecently stuuent taught in an uiban school. These I ieflecteu upon anu useu as the
basis foi my ciitique, founu in Chaptei S.
SS

Buiing the seconu phase, 0.:7.5496=, the ieseaichei asks, "What was
encounteieu." (NcCutcheon, 1979, p. 8). Why aie things happening. Bow uoes the
context ielate to the phenomenon. Beie, inteipietation begins with foice. In this
phase, the ciitic selects the most salient uetails fiom the obseivation anu ponueis
how those uetails connect oi, if necessaiy, uo not connect. The ciitic consiueis
which theoietical tiauitions may be most useful to unueistanu, explain, anu evaluate
the phenomenon. The ciitic ieflects on the obseivations maue, but with an
emeiging sense of how to ienuei those obseivations. In this, ieflection, as an
inteimeuiate phase oveilays the otheis.
Specific to this uisseitation, ieflection occuiieu thioughout the obseivation
phase, but intensifieu especially in the weeks immeuiately following completing
uata collection. In auuition to ieflection on my own, I uiscusseu my finuings with
the Cohoit's Biiectoi, my ieseaich auvisoi, anu with the Cuiiiculum Committee at
one of its meetings. These uiscussions helpeu illuminate anu claiify themes, note
tensions oi inconsistencies, anu offeieu theoietical anu ihetoiical uiiection.
In the final phase, 0.=2.09=>, the ciitic makes uecisions about how to ciaft
the ciiticism foi an auuience. This, then, is the "public" phase of the ciiticism wheie
the uesciiption, inteipietation, anu appiaisal culminate. The ciitic ueciues how best
to piouuce a cieuible ienueiing of the phenomenon, hopefully so the ieauei gets as
full a sense of it as the connoisseui. The able connoisseui, in theii ienueiing, can
enable the ieauei to expeiience the phenomenon anew. Eisnei offeis an impoitant
insight heie. "The language of ciiticism.infoims not by pointing to the facts of the
woilu but iathei by intimation, by using foims to >%+,+($ iathei than %+>%+,+($
conception oi feeling" (italics in the oiiginal, Eisnei, 2uu2, pp. 22S-224). This
piesupposes that meaning is meuiateu anu is consistent with volosinov's
conception of uialogue of utteiances. The meaning of the ciiticism is founu in a
uialogic constiuction between the ciitic anu the ieauei, not in an oiiginal, natuial,
authentic meaning of the phenomenon, which may be passeu on by the ciitic to
hishei auuience.
In my ienueiing, which is founu in Chaptei 4 & S, I have chosen to pioviue an
oveiview of the Cohoit piogiam's philosophical giounuing, it's foimal cuiiiculai
S6

components, anu uetails about the specific couise I obseiveu. Fiom that
backgiounu, I then ienuei what I teim the "naiiative cuiiiculum" of the 0TC, wheie
I illuminate majoi themes that emeigeu as I obseiveu the couise anu listeneu to
stuuents. Ny ienueiing shoulu not be taken as a "uiiect iepoit" of stuuents' woius
as one woulu a phenomenology oi ethnogiaphy. Rathei, my ienueiing is, as Eisnei
suggests, its own piesentation baseu in my obseivations anu inteiviews. It is,
theiefoie, a meuiationmy "ieauing" of the cuiiiculai text I encounteieu.
Asiue fiom piactical consiueiations, a majoi ieason I have selecteu a
qualitative foim of inquiiy like euucational ciiticism is political. Namely, conuucting
euucational ciiticism iejects hegemonic scientistic assumptions about ieseaich,
assumptions that also uominate contempoiaiy populai uiscouise about euucation
ieseaich (see Lathei, 2uu6; St. Pieiie, 2uu6; Baez anu Boyles, 2uu9). Note,
especially, commonsense language aiounu "ieseaich-baseu piactices" anu
"scientifically-baseu ieseaich." Acolytes of scientism often accuse qualitative
ieseaich of lacking iigoi anu valiuity.
Insteau of valiuity, Eisnei uiscusses cieuibility, because "What we can
piouuctively ask of a set of iueas is not whethei it is %+&##= tiue but whethei it is
useful" (italics in oiiginal, Eisnei, 2uu2, p. 2S7) to answei paiticulai questions. Foi
Eisnei, cieuibility is a mattei of consensual valiuation. That is, how uo ieseaicheis
make anu suppoit claims about what they believe such that otheis may accept the
ieasonability of those claims even if they ieject the claims themselves. Similaily,
Quantz (2u11), whose piimaiy inteiest is in iitual iathei than cultuial naiiative,
aiticulates cieuibility as "inteipietive usefulness." Be notes,
Empiiical eviuence cannot settle such aiguments |about the tiuth of
paiticulai sets of iueasj because they aie aiguments of concept, not fact. Ny
inteiest is not in 8),!1*+%)(< what iitual actually might be )( $.+ woilu, but
how we might ",+ it to make sense of 1"% woilu.. While we want a cleai
uefinition., the test of the legitimacy of |thej concept. is not in its empiiical
valiuity, but in its )($+%>%+$)*+ ",+9"#(+,,. (Quantz, 2u11, p. 2S; biackets
auueu, italics in the oiiginal)
S7

The cieuibility of my claims about cultuial naiiative, then, lies in theii intellectual
usefulness.
Eisnei posits two main piinciples that suppoit consensual valiuation, which
he calls ,$%"!$"%&# !1%%171%&$)1( anu %+9+%+($)&# &8+L"&!= (2uu2, pp. 2S7-242).
Stiuctuial coiioboiation is the iuea that all of the pieces of eviuence fit togethei anu
aie consistent with each othei. The ieauei of euucational ciiticism shoulu be able to
follow the eviuence as it is ievealeu thiough the ciitic's line of ieasoning.
Refeiential auequacy means that the ciitic consistently centeis the ciitique aiounu
the phenomenon, iefeiiing back to it so the ieauei may veiify that the eviuence
offeieu by the ciitic is "tiue" to the phenomenon. As noteu pieviously, this is one of
the ieasons foi uetaileu uesciiption of the phenomenon, so that the ieauei has a
iefeient by which they may veiify the cieuibility of the ciitic's analysis.
!.4-62@
While I have alluueu to my methous in the pievious section, heie, I offei a
moie conventional uesciiption of the specific methous useu to conuuct the stuuy, in
biief uetail.
S9.72 6B@.0<1496=@: I conuucteu fielu obseivations of 0TC stuuents uuiing
seven weeks of a spiing semestei. The "spiint" couise, so uesignateu because it only
lasts half the time of a full-semestei couise, is calleu Empowei II anu offeieu thiough
the Social }ustice Stuuies (S}S) piogiam at oui univeisity. The sections I obseiveu
weie populateu almost entiiely by 0TC stuuents. Each week, two sessions of the
same class occuiieu, a "Weunesuay gioup" anu a "Thuisuay gioup." I attenueu both
sessions each week foi the entiie seven weeks. The Weunesuay gioup incluueu seven
stuuents, thiee male anu foui female. 0ne male stuuent in this gioup was a Social
}ustice Stuuies stuuent anu not a membei of the 0TC. The Thuisuay gioup hau
thiiteen stuuents, five male anu eight female. Theie weie thiee S}S stuuents in this
gioup. I iecoiueu uetaileu notes in uesignateu notebooks useu exclusively foi the
puipose of uisseitation fielu notes. Thioughout the uisseitation, in compliance with
the univeisity's Institutional Review Boaiu (IRB), stuuents' names aie ieplaceu with
pseuuonyms to piotect confiuentiality.
S8

#049:154 1=17C@9@: In auuition to obseivations, I analyzeu aitifacts piouuceu by
anu foi the 0iban Teaching Cohoit. Specifically, I analyzeu the 0TC's website, the
couise syllabus, anu, foi stuuents who gianteu access, assignments they piouuceu
uuiing theii paiticipation in the couise. Analysis occuiieu thioughout the semestei,
concuiient with fielu obseivation, to coue ielevant themes anu emeigent naiiatives.
"=4.0<9.K@E I conuucteu semi-stiuctuieu inteiviews with five 0TC stuuents foi
this uisseitation. Foui of the stuuents hau completeu stuuent-teaching the pievious
semestei. 0ne was a stuuent in the couise I obseiveu anu was cuiiently stuuent-
teaching. All five taught in uiban schoolsfoui at City Centei Acauemy in 0vei-the-
Rhine (see Chaptei 1), anu thiee of those foui completeu the iesiuency piogiam
(uesciibeu in Chaptei 4). The othei stuuent taught at 0iban Acauemy,
12
a uemociatic
school in Niuuletown, 0hio anu uiu not paiticipate in a iesiuency piogiam. I chose
stuuents who hau stuuent-taught because I wanteu to see if theii expeiiences, anu
consequently, the naiiatives they use, aie maikeuly uiffeient fiom the newei 0TC
stuuents in the Empowei couise. Each inteiview lasteu appioximately thiity minutes.
With inteiviewee's peimission anu in compliance with the univeisity's IRB, I uigitally
iecoiueu the inteiview anu latei maue typeu tiansciiptions.

12
A pseuuonym.
S9

8-1;4.0 HG *432C 86=4.N4
I have been a stuuent at Niami 0niveisity foi the last five yeais; foi the last
foui yeais, I have been the giauuate assistant foi the 0iban Teaching Cohoit
piogiam in the School of Euucation, Bealth, anu Society at Niami. While a giauuate
assistant foi the 0TC I have seiveu on the Cuiiiculum Committee wheie I have kept
minutes anu helpeu shape the foimal cuiiiculum as well as its mission anu vision.
Auuitionally, I have helpeu uevelop anu teach couises that seive the piogiam anu
facilitate ietieats, weekenu community immeisions, anu othei 0TC-ielateu
piogiams. As I set the context foi this stuuy, I wiite piimaiily fiom peisonal
expeiiential knowleuge gaineu ovei the past five yeais at the univeisity anu my foui
yeais of my involvement with the 0TC piogiam. I also uiaw fiom extant souices
anu conveisations with otheis who have knowleuge of the context, especially of the
uiban communities with which the 0TC paitneis. I will iefeience these, as
appiopiiate.
In this chaptei, I uesciibe the context of this stuuy, especially Niami
0niveisity, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit piogiam anu the Teachei Euucation
uepaitment, anu the communities with which the 0TC paitneis. Foi this
uisseitation, I spent a semestei obseiving the seconu of the 0TC stuuents' fiist-yeai
seminai couise, calleu Empowei II, which I uesciibe latei in this chaptei, anu
inteiviewing some 0TC stuuents who hau completeu stuuent-teaching. Chaptei S
contains my ciitique of the naiiative cuiiiculum of the 0iban Teachei Cohoit baseu
on my obseivations anu inteiviews.
!91Q9 %=9<.0@94CX VN:602X V-96
Like many stuuents, I was attiacteu to Niami in pait because it is a beautiful
campus. viitually eveiy builuing on campus is auoineu in ieu biick that veiitably
shines on sunny, clouuless uays. The campus is known foi its ueoigian-inspiieu
aichitectuie; many of its builuings aie toppeu by cupola anu two bell-toweis toll the
houi oi chime a catchy tune. Floweis aie abunuant anu lawns aie well manicuieu;
the smell of fiesh-cut giass often wafts thiough the aii. 0n sunny uays in the fall
anu spiing, it is quite common to see stuuents stuuying in the shaue of a laige tiee,
tossing a football oi Fiisbee, oi woiking on theii tan. The beauty of campus is one of
6u

the univeisity's key maiketing points. It even notes on its website that Robeit Fiost
once calleu it, "the most beautiful campus theie evei was" (Niami 0niveisity, 2u11).
0xfoiu is nestleu in the soft hills of Southwest 0hio, suiiounueu piimaiily by
faimlanu. It has aiounu 2u,uuu iesiuents, neaily half of whom aie Niami stuuents
(City of 0xfoiu, 2u11). Like many college towns, uptown 0xfoiu uoes much to catei
to the stuuent population, with establishments like Biick Stieet Bai (an allusion to
the biick-paveu stieets uptown), Nac 'n }oe's, Skippei's Pub, anu Bagel N Beli,
among otheis. The uptown paik is a hub of activity foi town iesiuents anu stuuents
alike, a populai venue foi conceits anu festivals oi to shaie a bite to eat ovei a picnic
table.
Niami is piouu of its many tiauitions. Niami touts its many alumni who aie
what they call "Niami Neigeis," a maiiiage between two Niami alums. Its
nicknames incluue "The Ciaule of Coaches" anu "Nothei of Fiateinities." Anu one of
its most well known tiauitions, often to the chagiin of univeisity auministiation, is
uieen Beei Bay, an often-iaucous celebiation that happens eveiy yeai to celebiate
St. Patiick's Bay. Niami also has a ieputation as "}-Ciew 0," nameu foi the high-
status clothing company. The }-Ciew 0 monikei is typically meant pejoiatively, a
comment on the peiception of Niami as a campus composeu oveiwhelmingly of
uppei-miuule class anu affluent stuuents. If you stioll aiounu campus touay, you'ie
likely to encountei stuuents in Speiiy shoes, iiuing boots anu skinny jeans, oi in the
wintei, Noith Face jackets anu 0gg boots. uuys often weai the collais on theii polo
shiits flippeu up aiounu theii neck. Accoiuing to the 0ffice of Institutional Reseaich
(2u12), 44% of incoming Niami stuuents have paients with income above $1Su,uuu,
but 19% have income below $Su,uuu. Anu 47% of stuuents iequiie some soit of
financial aiu. So, while its uppei-class image peisists, anu many stuuents tiy to
"keep up appeaiances," theie aie plenty of stuuents foi whom uoing so is uifficult.
Like many stuuents, I also chose Niami because of its stiong acauemic
ieputation, a ieputation in which it takes gieat piiue. Its website notes,
Niami is uistinguisheu by a faculty who love to teach anu mentoi stuuents.
In fact, in a new ianking in Ameiica's Best Colleges, Niami has been
iecognizeu by 0.S. News & Woilu Repoit foi its unusually stiong
61

commitment to unueigiauuate teaching. We believe that this commitment to
teaching is uemonstiateu in oui iecoiu of exceptional ietention anu
giauuation iates, which iemain some of the highest in NCAA Bivision I
schools. (Niami 0niveisity, 2u11)
0vei two-thiius of Niami's enteiing fiist-yeai stuuents giauuateu in the top 2S% of
theii high school class; a quaitei of its incoming class has an ACT composite scoie
above 29 (College Poitiait, 2u11). While it offeis bacheloi's uegiees in moie than
1uu aieas, it also maintains a stiong libeial aits coie calleu the "Niami Plan."
Niami eniolls about 17,uuu stuuents on its 0xfoiu campus uistiibuteu ovei
five acauemic uivisions anu the uiauuate School: Euucation, Bealth, anu Society,
Business, Engineeiing, Fine Aits, anu Aits anu Sciences. The unueigiauuate stuuent
bouy of about 1S,uuu is composeu of 82% White stuuents, S% Black stuuents, anu
S% inteinational stuuents. Two-thiius of Niami's stuuents (67%) come fiom 0hio
(College Poitiait, 2u11).
*5-667 6: (2351496=X _.174-X ` *659.4C 1=2 ?.;104Q.=4 6: +.15-.0 (2351496=
The School of Euucation, Bealth, anu Society (EBS) has five acauemic
uepaitments: Teachei Euucation, Euucational Psychology, Euucational Leaueiship,
Family Stuuies anu Social Woik, anu Kinesiology anu Bealth. Theie aie moie than
26uu unueigiauuate anu 4uu giauuate stuuents in the uivision (School of Euucation,
Bealth, & Society, 2u12), which accounts foi ioughly 16% of the univeisity
eniollment. The School is houseu in Ncuuffey Ball, nameu foi William Bolmes
Ncuuffey, authoi of Ncuuffey's Reaueis, who was a piofessoi at Niami in the eaily
19
th
centuiy. A statue of Ncuuffey keeps vigil ovei the couityaiu outsiue the
euucation builuing anu his foimei home, now a museum iun by the univeisity, sits
just a block away.
The Bepaitment of Teachei Euucation (EBT) is the uepaitment on campus in
which pie-seivice teacheis woik towaiu licensuie. It woiks veiy closely with
Euucational Psychology anu with Euucational Leaueiship, as many of its stuuents
take classes oi have minois oi concentiations in these othei uepaitments. The
0iban Teaching Cohoit is one of thiee specializeu piogiams stuuents within EBT
62

may take. The othei two aie Teaching English Leaineis (oi TELLS) piogiam anu
ulobal Euucation expeiience (Bepaitment of Teachei Euucation, 2u12).
%0B1= +.15-9=> 86-604 ;06>01Q
As I uesciibe pieviously, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit (0TC) piogiam is
houseu in the Bivision of Euucation, Bealth, anu Society. It is one of thiee piogiams
fiom which teachei licensuie stuuents may choose to supplement theii majoi fielu.
Accoiuing to Bi. Tammy Schwaitz, Biiectoi of the 0TC, appioximately fifty stuuents
paiticipate in Cohoit ielateu activities eithei as membeis of a yeaily cohoit oi as
paiticipants in the 0iban Leaueis stuuent oiganization. Each yeai, the Cohoit
aumits ioughly twenty stuuents.
The 0iban Teaching Cohoit cuiiiculum committee plays a key iole in
ueveloping the piogiam anu its cuiiiculum. The committee has about a uozen
membeis fiom acioss the uivision, incluuing faculty, staff, anu giauuate stuuents.
We meet eveiy othei week thioughout the yeai, anu typically holu extenueu
"ietieat" meetings twice a yeai.
The 0TC also ielies heavily on its paitneiships with the 0ffice of Community
Engagement anu Seivice at Niami anu on long-establisheu paitneiships in uiban
neighboihoous.
D-976@6;-CG 86QQ3=94C ;01N9@. 0n its website, The 0iban Cohoit notes
that "Teaching is a situateu piactice, anu the goal is to piouuce a new kinu of teachei
who is both teachei scholai anu uiban scholai" (School of Euucation, Bealth, &
Society, 0iban Cohoit webpage, 2u12). Bi. Schwaitz intiouuceu the cuiiiculum
committee to the woik of Petei C. Nuiiell, }i. as a text to theoietically giounu its
piactice anu auvance its stateu goal. Nuiiell, }i. (2uu1) auvances a peuagogy of
ecosocial community piaxis. Conceptually, this means giving stuuents oppoitunities
to leain in anu fiom multiple sites of influence on uiban schools, incluuing
community-baseu agencies anu seivices, community membeis, euucational suppoit
stiuctuies, anu, of couise, uiban schools themselves. In fact, the lattei is often the
last pait of the uiban ecosocial system (Nuiiell, }i., 2uu1) that stuuents encountei
in the 0TC cuiiiculum. The intent is foi stuuents to leain fiom anu paiticipate as
"insiueis," as membeis of uiban communities, befoie they set foot in an uiban
6S

classioom. The hope is that, having been piivy to this insiuei peispective will help
alleviate, oi at least mitigate, many of the typical misconceptions that many uiban
teacheis holu about theii stuuents. Anu, as paiticipants in uiban community life,
they will be co-stakeholueis in fosteiing uemociatic euucational tiansfoimation.
uuiueu by Nuiiell, }i.'s woik, then, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit believes in the
uevelopment of !155"()$= $+&!.+%, to seive in uiban schools. Nuiiell, }i. explains,
Community teacheis uiaw on a iichly contextualizeu knowleuge of cultuie,
community, anu iuentity in theii piofessional woik with chiluien anu
families in uiveise uiban communities. Theii competence is eviuenceu by
effective peuagogy in uiveise community settings, stuuent achievement, anu
community affiimation anu acknowleugement of theii peifoimance.
Community teacheis have a cleai sense of theii own cultuial, political, anu
iacial iuentities in ielation to the chiluien anu families they hope to seive.
(Nuiiell, }i., 2uu1, p. 4)
The cuiiiculum committee has conceiveu a numbei of expeiiences to facilitate this
piocess of contextualization foi stuuents, incluuing couisewoik, co-cuiiiculai anu
community-leaining expeiiences, anu mentoiing; I uesciibe these expeiiences in the
next section of this chaptei. This uisseitation is (at least paitially) an eaily effoit to
assess how stuuents' naiiatives evince the goals Nuiiell outlines, especially
contextualization of knowleuge, community, anu iuentity.
S60Q17 530095373QE The Cuiiiculum Committee, of which I have been pait
foi the past foui yeais, woiks to establish the foimal cuiiiculum of the 0iban
Teaching Cohoit, which is composeu of thiee piimaiy components: couisewoik,
uiban fielu expeiiences, anu stuuent teaching. While stuuents may choose othei
supplementaiy expeiiences,
1S
I will focus on those components that might be
consiueieu "coie" piogiam components. As one may infei fiom the 0TC's mission,

1S
Theie aie othei couises anu expeiiences that Cohoit stuuents may have that supplement what I
uesciibe heie. Thioughout the piocess of cieating the Cohoit anu its cuiiiculum, 0TC leaueis have
likeneu the piocess to "iiuing a bicycle while we builu it." So, theie aie components to the piogiam
that aie in uevelopment but not yet implementeu anu expeiiences that once existeu that no longei
uo. Institutional constiaints (e.g., scheuuling) also impact stuuents' expeiiences.
64

the intent is that stuuents syneigize knowleuge fiom couisewoik anu fielu
expeiiences as theii leaining culminates in an uiban stuuent teaching placement.
Stuuents typically apply to the 0iban Teaching Cohoit uuiing the spiing of
theii fiist unueigiauuate yeai, though they must have fiist been accepteu into theii
subject anuoi giaue-level cohoit.
14
To apply, stuuents complete an essay anu a
two-step inteiview. The Biiectoi of the 0TC conuucts the fiist inteiview,
1S
which
uses the STAR Inteiview Pioceuuie cieateu by Naitin Babeiman; a panel conuucts
the seconu inteiview. Typically, the panel incluues a teachei fiom an uiban school,
a iesiuent of an uiban community (often, a paient fiom the school), a cuiient 0TC
stuuent, anu often an uiban school piincipal oi othei peisonnel. Each yeai's cohoit
incluues appioximately 1S-2u stuuents anu each cohoit iuns concuiiently.
"#$%&'() *+,-+,./0.12/ *0.3-45 -6 (1726 "3.,20-+68 Nany 0TC stuuents,
even piioi to foimal aumission to the Cohoit, take a special section of a social
founuations of euucation couise iequiieu of all teachei euucation majois, which
concuiiently fulfills a humanities iequiiement in the 0niveisity's libeial euucation
plan. I helpeu uesign the couise anu have taught it twice. The goals of EBL2u4,
Sociocultuial Stuuies in Euucation, aie aligneu with the goals of the 0TC. Stuuents
leain the skills of text ciitique anu engage iace, social class, genuei, anu sexuality as
inteipietive contexts. They also spenu appioximately twenty houis ovei the couise
of the semestei seiving in an uiban community wheie they apply these newly
foiming ciitical analytic skills. The couise pioviues a fiist oppoitunity foi stuuents
to "ieau" the uiban enviionment anu begin to engage the "uialectics of uiban" (see
uiscussion of Bemmings, 2u11, anu Leonaiuo anu Buntei, 2uu7, fiom Liteiatuie
Review in Chaptei 2), as they analyze how "uiban" gets constiucteu in texts anu
how those constiuctions compaie with theii liveu expeiience in theii community
setting.

14
Because acceptance to the 0TC is conuitional on theii acceptance to theii subject giaue-level
cohoit, some stuuents apply as sophomoies.
1S
Recently, othei faculty have been tiaineu to use the STAR pioceuuie anu also conuuct these entiy
inteiviews.
6S

(1726 -99415-+6 4:;41-46,458 0ne of the stuuents' fiist expeiiences in an
uiban community is thiough what aie calleu weekenu uiban immeision
expeiiences. These twenty-foui houi expeiiences allow stuuents to spenu a small
amount of time gaining initial exposuie to an uiban setting. The 0ffice of
Community Engagement anu Seivice on campus geneially facilitates these
expeiiences because it alieauy has establisheu ielationships with community
oiganizations in a numbei of neaiby locales. Accoiuing to the Community
Engagement 0ffice's website, on each immeision stuuents will
Immeise themselves oveinight in a vibiant, uiban community
Biscuss anu ieflect on homelessness, piivilege, anu oppiession
Biscovei 0vei-the-Rhine's long-stanuing tiauition of aitistic expiession
anu aichitectuial beauty
Engage with community oiganizeis
volunteei with local non-piofit oiganizations (0ffice of Community
Engagement anu Seivice, Niami 0niveisity, 2u12)
Nany of the 0TC stuuents have spent little time in an uiban community befoie
paiticipating in the Cohoit; theie is a ceitain necessity to have stuuents begin to
familiaiize themselves with the uiban community befoieas they paitnei with it.
The intent is that thiough these expeiiences 0TC stuuents have a point of iefeience
to begin to gain a ciitical inteipietive language, one that allows them to question
hegemonic naiiatives about uiban life. In the next chaptei, I uevote a gieat ueal of
uiscussion to how Cohoit stuuents aie naiiating theii expeiiences in uiban
communities anu especially whethei they aie meiely iepiouucing hegemonic
cultuial naiiatives of uiban life.
Anothei impoitant community-leaining expeiience is the Cincinnati Summei
Immeision Piogiam, oi CSIP. Buiing this thiee-week long expeiience stuuents live,
woik, anu stuuy in an uiban community. Stuuents live in the house owneu by the
univeisity (known as the "iesiuency house")
16
anu woik in local social suppoit

16
The aichitectuie uepaitment at the same univeisity has a iesiuency paitneiship in 0vei-the-Rhine
anu has its own house in the neighboihoou. 0TC stuuents stay in that house eithei alongsiue
66

agencies, which aie uispeiseu thioughout two uiban communities anu iequiie that
some stuuents iiue public tianspoitation (often, foi the fiist time in theii lives). A
community membei paitneis with a univeisity faculty membei to facilitate
ieflection in the evening. Typically, this incluues jouinaling anu often culminates in
some soit of pioject to be shaieu with the gioup at the enu of the thiee weeks.
Stuuents ieceive couise cieuit foi this expeiience since it occuis uuiing the fiist
summei-school session. Cohoit stuuents typically paiticipate uuiing theii fiist
summei in the piogiam anu ietuining Cohoit stuuents have also paiticipateu as
mentois uuiing these expeiiences. Impoitantly, this expeiience is not confineu
exclusively to the 0vei-the-Rhine neighboihoou but insteau bianches into othei
neaiby uiban neighboihoous in Cincinnati (Tammy Schwaitz, peisonal
coiiesponuence).
<45-346,= ;1+>1298 The most extensive community leaining expeiience is
the option to live in the uiban community in which the stuuent completes heihis
stuuent-teaching assignment. The 0TC has hau stuuents paiticipate in the iesiuency
piogiam foi the past two yeais. This means that unlike the typical stuuent-teachei,
these stuuent-teacheis actually live as neighbois of theii stuuents iathei than
iemoving themselves fiom the neighboihoou at the enu of the school uay. The hope
is that this embeuueu living offeis the iesiuency stuuents valuable insight into the
liveu uaily expeiiences of theii stuuents, as well as cieating a sense of shaieu
community with stuuents, paients, anu school. While stuuents who aie stuuent-
teaching aie highly encouiageu to live in the neighboihoou they aie not iequiieu to
uo so. Some, foi example, cannot live at the iesiuency house foi financial ieasons.
All thiee of the stuuents I inteivieweu foi this stuuy that hau completeu the
iesiuency piogiam founu it veiy helpful to theii teaching because it helpeu
contextualize theii stuuents' lives anu helpeu builu iappoit anu tiust with theii
stuuents.
?+@+10 549-6215 263 "9;+A41 ,+.154B5C8 Thiough the uuiation of theii
time in the Cohoit, stuuents enioll in one- oi two-cieuit seminais. The seminais

stuuents in the aichitectuie piogiam, oi they stay in the house uuiing the "off" semestei foi
aichitectuie stuuents when the house woulu otheiwise be unoccupieu.
67

that stuuents take theii fiist yeai in the piogiam aie calleu Empowei, a seivice-
leaining uesignateu couise offeieu thiough the Social }ustice Stuuies piogiam.
Accoiuing to Bi. Tammy Schwaitz, Biiectoi of the 0TC, these weie chosen as the
intiouuctoiy couises laigely because of the iequiieu seivice-leaining component
(peisonal coiiesponuence). They aie one of the few alieauy-existing sequence of
couises that most closely aligneu with the 0TC's goals anu incluueu a seivice-
leaining uesignation. The fiist Empowei semestei, S}S 21S, is subtitleu _8"!&$)1(&#
&(8 _!1(15)! 0",$)!+ &(8 K+%*)!+ `+&%()(<. The couise was co-taught the fiist
semestei by a giauuate assistant foi the 0TC anu an employee of the 0ffice of
Community Engagement anu Seivice Leaining. Bi. Schwaitz anu hei giauuate
assistant co-taught the seconu semestei couise. Each Empowei couise iuns foi
seven weeks. The seconu semestei couise, S}S 216, which is the one I obseiveu foi
this uisseitation, is subtitleu G.+ ?($+%,+!$)1(, 19 ^&!+B R#&,,B &(8 _8"!&$)1(.
Accoiuing to the syllabus,
The puipose of the couise is to help stuuents think ciitically about what iace
anu euucation mean both foi themselves anu in the 0niteu States of Ameiica;
to test theii assumptions about what public euucation consists of; to help
them see anu compaie vaiious peispectives on euucational iefoim; anu to
help them exploie the sociological issues at the heait of woik in the
euucational system. It is a couise oiienteu to both ciitical examination of
euucation as well as helping builu skills anu stiategies foi futuie engagement
in political anu euucational spheies.
Buiing subsequent yeais, then, stuuents enioll in 1-houi seminais. These aie semi-
stiuctuieu anu pioviue oppoitunities foi stuuents to uiscuss issues, engage with the
community, anu continue to bonu with each othei. Bi. Schwaitz anu anothei
Teachei Euucation faculty membei facilitateu these seminais this yeai.
The seconu semestei Empowei couise was the focus of my obseivations foi
this uisseitation. I conuucteu fielu obseivations of 0TC stuuents uuiing seven
weeks of a spiing semestei. The "spiint" couise, so uesignateu because it only lasts
half the time of a full-semestei couise, is calleu Empowei II anu offeieu thiough the
Social }ustice Stuuies piogiam at oui univeisity. The sections I obseiveu weie
68

populateu almost entiiely by 0TC stuuents. Each week, two sessions of the same
class occuiieu, a "Weunesuay gioup" anu a "Thuisuay gioup." I attenueu both
sessions each week foi the entiie seven weeks. The Weunesuay gioup incluueu
seven stuuents, thiee male anu foui female. 0ne male stuuent in this gioup was a
Social }ustice Stuuies (S}S) stuuent anu not a membei of the 0TC. The Thuisuay
gioup hau thiiteen stuuents, five male anu eight female. Theie weie thiee S}S
stuuents in this gioup. I iecoiueu uetaileu notes in uesignateu notebooks useu
exclusively foi the puipose of uisseitation fielu notes.
Each Empowei II session met in a confeience ioom in the euucation builuing;
stuuents, instiuctois, anu I sat aiounu an oblong confeience table, which foi the
smallei section was quite comfoitable but foi the laigei section was quite ciampeu.
0n the wall hang pictuies of benefactois foi the univeisity anu the School of
Euucation, Bealth, & Society, as if obseiving anu enuoising oui woik. As a seminai
class, uiscussion was the piimaiy moue of inteiaction. The coie text foi the couise
was Kozol's (2uu6) `+$$+%, $1 & a1"(< G+&!.+%, which pioviueu the founuation foi
most uiscussions. Each week incluueu othei supplemental ieauings. I founu the
tenoi of the couise to be geneially infoimal, comfoitable, anu ielaxeu. The syllabus
incluues the following explanation of the couise's peuagogical appioach:
This couise is baseu on the piinciples of Seivice-Leaining, anu as such, uses a
ciitical peuagogy appioach. Ciitical peuagogy is an appioach to teaching anu
leaining that aims to iaise leaineis' ciitical consciousness iegaiuing
oppiessive social conuitions. It also assumes that eveiyone can contiibute to
the euucational expeiience. The classioom is envisioneu as a place wheie
new knowleuge, giounueu in the expeiiences of stuuents anu teacheis alike,
is piouuceu thiough meaningful uialogue. Theiefoie, instiuctois anu
scholais will exploie anu leain fiom one anothei. This expeiience is
uesigneu to use gioup activities anu uiscussion as catalysts foi leaining. By
foiming a netwoik anu ueveloping oui skills we can begin to cieate a
suppoitive community foi fellow seivice leaueis anu volunteeis. This
collaboiative effoit can ultimately stiengthen seivice effoits anu maximize
the benefits both oui community anu foi you as inuiviuual stuuents.
69

The smallei size of the Weunesuay gioup seemeu to me to be amenable to the
couise's seminai style. In that gioup, neaily eveiyone paiticipateu iegulaily. In the
laigei Thuisuay gioup, uiscussions often only incluueu a hanuful of voices that
paiticipateu iegulaily while othei membeis chimeu in moie inteimittently. 0f
couise, the gioup uynamic might also have iesulteu simply fiom the peisonality of
its membeis; the Thuisuay gioup containeu a couple of big peisonalities, stuuents
who talkeu often, with gieat enthusiasm anu vigoi in theii voice. By the enu of the
semestei in each session, inteiestingly, stuuents hau become comfoitable enough
with each othei to auuiess each othei uiiectly, even saying to one anothei "I
uisagiee" oi "can you explain what you mean."
The Empowei II couise syllabus iuentifies five main assignments: Stuuents
weie iequiieu to complete a "This I believe" essay that askeu them to exploie theii
peisonal values; a "Ny stoiy of euucation" in which they self-ieflectively uiscuss
theii euucational expeiience, especially in teims of how iace anu socioeconomic
status impacteu theii euucation; an "Iuentity naiiative" in which they ieflect on
aspects of theii iuentity they finu most salient; a ieflection papei on theii immeision
expeiience fiom that semestei; anu a final ieflection in which they ieflecteu on theii
expeiience in the couise, what they've leaineu, how they've changeu, anu so foith
(couise syllabus). The week each assignment was uue, the couise instiuctois gave
stuuents the option to shaie anu many uiu. As they shaieu, I saw them comfoit one
anothei with hugs oi pats on the back when the shaiei was moveu to teais, while
othei times theii shaiing leu to laughtei, oi piovokeu even fuithei uiscussion. I uiu
not obseive any moments of oveit hostility between classmates, even in moments of
uisagieement.
_1Q9746=X V-96 9QQ.0@96= .N;.09.=5.X *;09=> ITFIE Empowei stuuents
coulu choose among immeision expeiiences uuiing theii semestei accoiuing to
what suiteu theii scheuule. The fiist option was a visit to a community centei in
Bamilton, 0hio, which is about 1S miles fiom 0xfoiu. Bamilton is a city of
appioximately 6u,uuu iesiuents, 82% of whom aie White, 8.S% Black, anu 6.S%
Latino (Auvameg, Inc., City Bata, 2u12). The Black anu Bispanic populations aie
concentiateu on the east siue of town (also, east of the iivei). The community
7u

centei is in an east-siue neighboihoou. Stuuents aiiive in theii caipool fiom 0xfoiu;
the uispaiity fiom theii pastoial enclave in 0xfoiu is stiiking. Bomes in the
neighboihoou aie small. Nany builuings aie iun-uown anu seemingly unoccupieu.
Theie is little gieen space. The community centei is a laige biick builuing with a tall
fence aiounu the play aiea. The centei is a hub of community activity. It pioviues
an aftei school piogiam anu uEB tutoiing. It has a gym anu aquatic centei. The
stuuents met theii community liaison foi theii walking toui of the local
neighboihoou. These walking touis of the neighboihoou aie impoitant paits of the
immeision expeiience, a way foi stuuents to see the neighboihoou thiough the eyes
of a community membei iathei than meiely uiiving thiough. It also gives the
community membei a chance to talk to stuuents about neighboihoou lanumaiks,
histoiy, anu politics. Buiing theii walk in the community, the iesiuents showeu the
stuuents the main tiaffic light that bisects the uiban neighboihoou anu hau them
time how long it stayeu gieen each uiiection. Stuuents noteu that it stays gieen on
the way east anu west thiough town foi a long time, but stays gieen foi a veiy shoit
time on the cioss stieets. In chaptei S, I uetail how this became an impoitant
exemplai of the politics of uiban space foi the stuuents. The stuuents also visiteu a
Latino community maiket, the only gioceiy in the neighboihoou (Bailee uibbons,
0TC uiauuate Assistant, peisonal coiiesponuence).
!9227.46K=X V-96 9QQ.0@96= .N;.09.=5.X *;09=> ITFIE Niuuletown,
0hio is a community of appioximately 48,uuu iesiuents ioughly 2S miles fiom
0xfoiu; 81.S% of its population is White, 11.S% Black, anu neaily 4% Latino
(Auvameg, Inc., City Bata, 2u12). Stuuents who paiticipateu in the Niuuletown
immeision met with a panel of community leaueis who talkeu to them about
Niuuletown anu some of its key issues. Rathei than a walking toui of the
community, stuuents ioue the city bus, many of them foi the fiist time. The
stuuents' seivice expeiience was at Bope Bouse Rescue Nission, a homeless sheltei
anu iehabilitation facility. Its website notes that 1 in S chiluien in the city live in
poveity (Bope Bouse, 2u12). Stuuents helpeu soit clothing uonations at the sheltei
anu got to meet some of the homeless iesiuents who stay at the sheltei anu heai
theii stoiies.
71

V<.0W4-.W)-9=.X 89=59==149X V-96E In chaptei 1, I uesciibe 0vei-the-Rhine
anu the many challenges it faces as a iesult of gentiification. Niami 0niveisity has
hau a foimal paitneiship in the neighboihoou foi a uecaue via the Centei foi
Community Engagement in 0vei-the-Rhine, though theii infoimal ielationship
extenus back moie than thiee uecaues thiough Niami piofessoi Thomas A. Button's
affiliation with the 0vei-the-Rhine Peoples' Novement (About the CCE, 2u1u). The
Centei opeiates a facility in 0vei-the-Rhine calleu "Buuuy's Place," nameu foi a
piominent leauei of the Peoples' Novement; it also opeiates the iesiuency house
that 0TC stuuents may live in while they stuuent-teach. The 0TC's paitneiship with
the Centei foi Community Engagement anu 0vei-the-Rhine is quite iecent anu
uepenus gieatly on the establisheu paitneiships built ovei the past thiee uecaues.
Typically, on immeisions in 0vei-the-Rhine, stuuents visit Finulay Naiket, an
outuooi maiket anu impoitant neighboihoou lanumaik, wheie they aie iequiieu to
tiy to eat lunch by only spenuing $1 each as a way to illustiate one of the challenges
people in extieme poveity face. Anothei common expeiience is foi stuuents to visit
the Biop Inn Centei, a laige homeless sheltei wheie stuuents often seive a moining
meal.
17



17
Ny uesciiption of the 0vei-the-Rhine expeiience heie comes fiom talking to Bailee uibbons, a
uiauuate Assistant foi the 0TC who cooiuinates the expeiience anu foimeily woikeu in the
Community Engagement 0ffice at Niami, anu fiom my own fiist-hanu expeiience as a paiticipant.
72

8-1;4.0 OG +-. &100149<. 830095373Q 6: 4-. %0B1= +.15-9=> 86-604
The pievious chaptei uesciibes the context in which the 0iban Cohoit
conuucts its piogiam anu in which its stuuents leain. This chaptei piesents one
aspect of the piogiam's ieceiveu cuiiiculum, what I call the (&%%&$)*+ !"%%)!"#"5.
Remembei that in Chaptei S, Nethouology, I outline my explanation of (cultuial)
naiiatives. These naiiatives take a stoiy-like foim, with plot, chaiacteiization, anu
a theme oi moial. They communicate an iueological stoiy in auuition to theii
specific stoiy. Anu they aie often shoit-hanueu. That is, people alluue to the
unueilying cultuial naiiative anu its coie elementsplot, theme, chaiacteiization
but may not specifically uetail each of these, choosing insteau to iely on common
tiopes that point to these elements anu the unueilying theme. Anu iemembei that it
is this veiy shoitcutting that allows the stoiy its ihetoiical effect because it sets the
stoiy anu its theme as a given, one that eveiyone knows, anu knows is tiueas
commonsense. As ciitical peuagogy teaches, it is just this soit of mystification that
fuels hegemony. Ciitique investigates the commonsense, exposes iueology anu the
inteiests it seives.
The object of this stuuy is the uialectical ielationship between the naiiatives
pie-seivice uiban teachei euucation cohoit stuuents use to talk about school anu
the mateiial iealities of uiban schooling in Ameiican society. In what follows, I lay
out some of the naiiatives to which stuuents in the 0TC alluueu uuiing my
obseivation of theii Empowei couise, in papeis they wiote foi the class, anu in my
inteiviews with them. These aie my inteipietations of theii woius. As I uetail in
Chaptei S, Nethouology, I claim that one may take the stoiies stuuents tell as the
ieceiveu cuiiiculum (Eisnei, 2uu2), as a "text" to be inteipieteu. I am, theiefoie,
"ieauing" the naiiative text as a sociocultuial text. The cultuial naiiatives to which
stuuents iefei, I aigue, aie alieauy "out theie" in the cultuie, many of them with
cultuial hegemony, they aie not meie constiuctions of my inuiviuual unueistanuing;
inueeu, they shoulu be laigely familiai to you, the ieauei (especially those
naiiatives that aie hegemonic).
0ne of the challenges that emeigeu as I obseiveu anu listeneu to stuuents
anu as I ieflecteu on the uata in my fielu notes is that as a seminai-style uiscussion
7S

class stuuents' inuiviuual utteiances weie iaiely moie than a few lines.
Consequently, uisceining naiiatives that they, as inuiviuuals, weie ueploying
pioveu uifficult. Anu, as conveisations, stuuents' exchange of utteiances was often
not lineaithat is, many conveisations uiu not pioceeu natuially fiom point A, to B,
to C seamlessly. Theie weie inteijections, asiues, tangents, non-sequituis, all paits
of oiganic uialogue but which amplifieu the challenge. Theiefoie, consistent with
Eisnei's aiticulation of cuiiiculum ciitique as a piesentation iathei than ie-
piesentation (see explanation in Chaptei S), I have, at times, ie-constiucteu
stuuents' utteiances into a moie seamless uialogue in oiuei to moie effectively
communicate to the ieauei, anu because meaning is founu in the meuiation anu
contestation of uialogue, as volosinov (1986) claims. I incluue anu puisue the
tangents only when they seem cential to unueistanuing the uialogue's meaning.
I oiganize the chaptei accoiuing to thiee conceptual themes thiough which I
fiame stuuents' naiiations. I intuit these inteipietive fiames fiom my oveiall
ieauing of stuuents' naiiatives thioughout the semestei. Fiist, in the section titleu
"tiaffic-light politics" I ieveal how stuuents' naiiatives account foi the mateiial
iealities of uiban aieas. The seconu section, titleu "heugeu naiiatives," uiscusses
naiiatives stuuents ueploy that inuicate an iueological miuule-space between
unciitical iepiouuction of commonsense naiiatives anu ciitical naiiatives of piaxis.
The final section, calleu "naiiating social class anu iace," then, uiscusses how the
stuuents' naiiatives evoke paiticulai conceptions of theii own iuentity, conceptions
that aie lauen with complicateu class anu iace consciousness. Within each fiame, I
outline the naiiatives stuuents ueploy anu analyze the iueological contestations at
woik in theii ueployment.
+01::95W79>-4 D679495@
(Peyton):
18
"I likeu getting to walk aiounu with elueis fiom the community,
to get an insiue stoiy. Like the stoplight that goes east anu west thiough the

18
All stuuent names in this chaptei aie pseuuonyms ueiiveu fiom a list of unisex names. uenueieu
pionouns (he, she, his, heis) aie useu ianuomly so as to conceal stuuents' actual genuei, an act
piompteu by Institutional Review Boaiu conceins that since the stuuy contains a small peicentage of
stuuents of one genuei, those stuuents may be moie easily tiaceu. I also acknowleuge that this
uecision ieifies a two-sex genuei binaiy as the noim.
74

community." (Tayloi): "Yeah, theie's a uefinite EastWest uiviue. Theie's no
gioceiy on the east siue, anu no public tiansit." (Aveiy): "Yeah, theie's also a big
iacial uiviue."
0ne impoitant uiscussion stuuents hau uuiing the Empowei 2 couise
centeieu on theii expeiience visiting an uiban neighboihoou in Bamilton.
19
Piioi to
theii visit, the couise instiuctoi hau given them an oveiview of some of the politics
of the city, especially ielative to the community centei the stuuents woulu visit. She
explaineu that the city has taigeteu the lanu immeuiately suiiounuing the centei as
attiactive to ieal estate uevelopment along the iiveisiue. Buiing stuuents' visit,
membeis of the neighboihoou walkeu aiounu with stuuents anu talkeu to them
about life in theii neighboihoou. Community membeis pointeu out that the tiaffic
lights on the majoi thoioughfaie that iuns east anu west thiough the entiie city anu
that bisects the neighboihoou stay gieen foi an inoiuinate amount of time. The
cioss stieets stay gieen foi a veiy shoit time. This phenomenon piompteu a lengthy
uiscussion (one that stuuents iefeienceu iepeateuly in ensuing weeks) fiom which
the uialogue that opens this section is uiawn. Fiom this uiscussion, I employ the
teim "tiaffic light politics" as a metaphoi foi how 0TC stuuents naiiate the politics
of uiban space anu the mateiial iealities of uiban life, to ieveal the "uialectics of
uiban" (Leonaiuo & Buntei, 2uu7) that stuuents naiiate. Beie, I uiaw fiom fielu
notes of stuuents' uiscussions about multiple uiban communities with which they
hau contact, inteiviews with stuuents, anu fiom papeis they wiote ieflecting on
theii community expeiience. In theii naiiations, one will notice significant leaks in
the hegemonic cultuial naiiatives anu iueology goveining uiban life.
When stuuents uiscusseu the paiticulai phenomenon of tiaffic lights staying
gieen foi an extenueu time, they speculateu on why that was, anu the effects it has
on the communities thiough which the tiaffic passes. 0ne stuuent, foi example,
noteu that that ioau was the majoi access ioute to the inteistate, which iuns
noithsouth just to the east of the city. So, "maybe it makes sense to keep the lights
gieen so that people can get thiough town quickly anu get on the inteistate." Beie,

19
Bamilton, 0hio is a city of appioximately 6u,uuu iesiuents locateu about 1S miles fiom the
univeisity's main campus. See chaptei 4 foi moie uetail of the neighboihoou.
7S

the stuuent's comment evokes a "maiket impeiative" naiiative. The plot of the
maiket impeiative naiiative iuns something like this: I have to be able to get to
woik as quickly as possible, oi be able to have quick anu easy access to majoi
consumei centeis. I uo not want my commute's time extenueu because I have to
stop fiequently at tiaffic lights. So, the city neeus to pioviue quick ioutes thiough
town. The cential chaiacteiizations of this naiiative aie the business commutei oi
the soccei mom, peihaps. Beie, one may think of the business peison, coffee in cup-
holuei on the centei console, cell phone to the eai, oi peihaps attacheu to the uash,
on speakei-phone. The theme is obvious given the plot: Whatevei is economically
necessaiy anu efficient is what is iight anu justifiable. Whatevei is most efficient to
piomoting economic activity shoulu be the public's gieatest concein anu, theiefoie,
the goveinment's. Consequently, it is in peoples' best inteiest to have the quickest
anu easiest access to businesses, both so that they may eain theii paychecks anu so
they can consume piouucts. Becisions shoulu be maue accoiuing to this inteiest,
anu so it just makes sense to time the tiaffic thiough town in a way that expeuites
people getting fiom the iesiuential aieas to the business uistiicts. This naiiative is
piimaiily evocative of neolibeial iueology.
In iesponse, othei stuuents counteieu that, while it may be tiue the lights on
the ioau stay gieen especially foi efficiency's sake, the specific effect on the
neighboihoou was that it felt cut off, as though the intention of the city was to make
suie tiaveleis uiun't have to stop in the "uangeious" east-siue neighboihoous. Foi
them, it was emblematic of laigei issues about the cultuial anu mateiial politics
(though stuuents iaiely use the woiu "politics") that goveins spatial anu human
geogiaphy of the city. Remembei volosinov's (1986) aigument that uialogue is the
inteiplay of specific utteiances, the meaning of which is cieateu in the moment fiom
multiple pievious uialogues on which the speakei uiaws to make meaning. So, in
theii ietoit, these stuuents uiaw on a uiffeient set of meanings as they "ieau" this
specific uialogue. Foi one, theii ieauing seems to be built less on a maiket
impeiative naiiative, but moie on the "uiban jungle" naiiative. That is, piompteu
by the expeiience they hau with community membeis in one of the neighboihoous
the ioau cuts thiough, they ieau the iationale foi the length of time lights stay gieen
76

tiaveling thiough the city as a ieification of the uiban jungle naiiative, which says
that the city anu its people aie chaotic, wiought with violence, poveity, uangei, anu
theiefoie iequiie avoiuance, isolation, oi uispeisal. In the uiban jungle naiiative,
the cential chaiacteiizations aie the uiban vagiant on the one hanu anu the uiban
pioneei on the othei (see chaptei 1). The uiban pioneei who sweeps into town to
pioviue an escape, thiough cieating business establishments anu enteitainment
venues, a symbol of community uplift, ieplaces the uiban vagiant who mills about
the stieet, peihaps selling uiugs oi committing petty ciimes. Bowevei, stuuents
note that the uiban jungle naiiative is loaueu with iacializeu couing, in the case of
Bamilton, about Latino iesiuents as well as Black. In the exchange that opens this
section, stuuents naiiate the city as a iacializeu space with cleai social anu
economic uispaiities. (Aveiy): "Theie's a uefinite east west uiviue. It's uiviueu by
a iivei. Like, liteially, by the iivei." Yet, as I will uemonstiate subsequently, iathei
than ieifying the uiban jungle naiiative, stuuents ueployeu uiffeient naiiatives
about the politics of tiaffic lights, of city space, naiiatives that exemplify leaks in the
hegemonic uiban jungle naiiative anu the maiket impeiative naiiative.
Aveiy anu the othei stuuents who iefute the uiban jungle anu maiket
impeiative naiiative appaiently iely insteau on a segiegation naiiative. The plot of
the segiegation naiiative suggests that cities uiviue neighboihoous to sepaiate
paiticulai gioups fiom having contact. Civic leaueis, who, the stoiy assumes, aie
White anu miuule-class anu above, conspiie to tiap pooi minoiity populations in
neighboihoou enclaves, but to pioviue expeuient movement thiough those
neighboihoous so that White tiaveleis neeu not stop, neeu not be botheieu by the
uiban vagiant. As }oiuan exclaimeu uuiing the uiscussion, hei voice uistiesseu,
"0gh, they |societyj aie giving up on them |uiban iesiuentsj!" Inteiestingly, while
stuuents naiiateu the segiegation of the neighboihoou, they only vaguely alluueu to
the iacialization of segiegation. That is, while Aveiy anu othei stuuents noteu the
uistinct EastWest iacial uivision of the city, when they speculateu about specific
ieasons foi the segiegation, they uo not oveitly explain segiegation as a iesult of
"white iacial piojects" (0mi & Winant, 1994), as ievealeu in the following exchange.
They name "}im Ciow" anu "white flight" but uo not specify that each is a iacial
77

pioject, meant to affoiu iewaius to White bouies anu ueny them to Black bouies.
2u
I
will uiscuss this ue-iacialization phenomenon in gieatei uetail in the section on
heugeu naiiatives latei in this chaptei.
(Angel) |in iesponse to why communities aie segiegateuj: "Aie you talking
about }im Ciow."
(Cameion): "Aie you talking about white flight. Bow it left a community
theie. Steieotypes. The people in powei."
(Bailey): "I think most people just uon't question, anu they uon't have to go
into those spaces."
(}oiuan): "The iich want to stay iich anu keep the pooi, pooi."
(Angel): "Boes it all just come uown to money, to mateiial things, to
secuiity."
(Teagan): "Right, like people who aie similai feeling safe."
The stuuents have begun to aiticulate that mateiial, economic inteiests aie at the
ioot of why communities aie uiviueuthe invocation of the "white flight" anu "iich
get iichei" tiopes, foi exampleyet have not explicitly iacializeu that economic
segiegation.
}oiuan, who giew up on the city's east siue, iecounteu uuiing a latei class
uiscussion about Bamilton how she was once uiiving thiough hei east-siue
neighboihoou with two fiienus, both Black. As she uiove thiough the neighboihoou
to uiop them off, one askeu, "Aien't you going to lock youi uoois." They assumeu
she woulu since she is not Black anu even though she, too, is fiom the same
neighboihoou. "It's inteiesting how he tieateu me like an outsiuei even though I'm
fiom theie!" Cleaily, hei fiienus weie iesponuing to pievious expeiiences of the

2u
Also see ueoige Lipsitz, (2uu6). G.+ Z1,,+,,)*+ ?(*+,$5+($ )( -.)$+(+,,O N16 -.)$+ Z+1>#+ Z%19)$
9%15 ?8+($)$= Z1#)$)!,. In it, he aigues,
that public policy anu piivate piejuuice woik togethei to cieate a "possessive investment in
whiteness" that is iesponsible foi the iacializeu hieiaichies of oui society.. Whiteness has a
cash value: it accounts foi auvantages that come to inuiviuuals thiough piofits maue fiom
housing secuieu in uisciiminatoiy maikets, thiough the unequal euucational oppoitunities
available to chiluien of uiffeient iaces, thiough insiuei netwoiks that channel employment
oppoitunities to the ielatives anu fiienus of those who have piofiteu most fiom piesent anu
past iacial uisciimination, anu especially thiough inteigeneiational tiansfeis of inheiiteu
wealth that pass on the spoils of uisciimination to succeeuing geneiations. (p. vii)

78

iacial couing of tiavel thiough "bau" neighboihoous that invoke "uangei" tiopes.
Notably, this also inuicates how hegemonic naiiatives aie meuiateu anu contesteu
acioss iacial linesthat is, both White anu Black people know anu often act in
iesponse to the same goveining naiiatives. Appaiently, though, foi }oiuan the
neighboihoou uiu not elicit assumptions about iacializeu uangei the way it might
foi "visitois" oi "outsiueis" to the neighboihoou. 0n the contiaiy, one might infei
naiiatives about "home," about safety anu familiaiity iathei than pathology that
shape why }oiuan ieau the social situation uiffeiently anu chose not to lock hei
uoois.
In the following exceipt a stuuent ieflects at some length on the immeision
weekenu in Bamilton that she attenueu in the miuule of the semestei.
21
In it, one
may see how the stuuent unueistanus tiaffic light politics:
The longei that we stayeu in Bamilton the angiiei I founu myself getting at
the city, anu moie piouu of the people that I met. Befoie we went on the
plunge, we talkeu about how the city was tiying to biing in outsiue "help" to
|thej Community Centei, anu then when they uiun't "fix" the pioblem they
woulu be able to close uown the centei anu uevelop the wateifiont foi what
they want. Bowevei, fiist of all, the city uoesn't make it easy foi |community
centeij to exist as it uoes now. They uo not pioviue funuing foi an executive
uiiectoi, which to theii knowleuge is the only place wheie this situation
exists. Seconu of all, |the centeij to me, in the limiteu amount of time I spent
theie, uiu not appeai in anyway bioken.. I was also angiy to see that
Bamilton hau gotten iiu of some of the lowei-income housing, even though
they weie feueially funueu, making the action not only mean, but illegal.
Wheie uo they want the people who live theie to go. Each peison who liveu
hau some soit of a life uevelopeu oi ueveloping in Bamilton anu suuuenly
they weie foiceu out of it. To me, this gives the message that some people's
lives aie moie valuable then otheis, anu just because someone is pooi, then
those in chaige can push them aiounu. (Peyton, stuuent essay)

21
Stuuents hau the option to choose to attenu immeisions in Bamilton, Niuuletown, oi 0vei-the-
Rhine. They weie then iequiieu to wiite shoit papeis ieflecting on theii expeiience.
79

Notice how the stuuent iesponus to the uominant naiiative about the ielationship
between the community centei anu the city, one that ieifies the uiban pioneei
naiiative, anu iefutes that naiiation with an econociue naiiative.
22
Remembei that
the theme of the uiban pioneei naiiative is that these uiban spaces aie "bioken,"
"empty," unsettleu, anu theiefoie woithy of economic ievitalization by an
auventuious entiepieneui. In the specific case of Bamilton, the plot iuns something
like this: East-siue iesiuents have let theii community get iun-uown, which has
uecieaseu the attiactiveness of that space to the iest of the city. The people that live
in the neighboihoou cleaily have no inteiest oi ability to take caie of theii
neighboihoou. Theiefoie, the city goveinment will allow foi the ieinvestment of
that vacant oi ueteiioiating space, embouieu thiough the chaiacteiization of
coipoiate (anu inuiviuual) uiban pioneeis who come to "save the uay."
The stuuent uoesn't meiely iefute the specifics of the stoiy, but concuiiently
iejects the unueilying iueological assumptions of the stoiy. That is, in contesting
the uominant naiiative, the unueilying iueology of that naiiative is contesteu too.
So, wheieas the unueilying iueology of the uiban pioneei naiiative is the neolibeial
maiketplace, which makes the city's ieplacing of the community centei with a
uevelopeu wateifiont justifiable, in hei ciitique is an implieu countei-naiiation that
piivileges economic justice, which iequiies piotecting the community's economic
anu political inteiests. She ueploys a naiiative that suggests it is unfaii foi
"outsiueis" to uictate to community membeis how they shoulu use theii space. The
plot implies that neighboihoou iesiuents aie uoing the best they can to live theii
lives but that, in fact, the city has causeu the uecline of the neighboihoou by
withholuing funuing foi the community centei anu by closing some of the
neighboihoou's low-income housing. In this naiiative, the uiban pioneei is a villain
iathei than a heio.
0ften, stuuents weie spenuing focuseu time in the community foi the fiist
time, anu some weie suipiiseu at theii own ieactions. In paiticulai, they expiesseu
some unceitainty anu even a measuie of shame ovei how they iesponueu. In the

22
Econociue is a iefeience to Appauuiai (2uu6) anu is uefineu, in shoit, as "the woiluwiue
tenuency. to aiiange the uisappeaiance of the loseis in the gieat uiama of globalization" (p. 41).
8u

following extenueu exceipt, a stuuent elaboiates on hei visit to 0vei-the-Rhine anu
in paiticulai ieflects on how the things she hau been tolu weie tiue, how the
naiiatives she hau foimeily ielieu upon about the neighboihoou, weie challengeu
thiough hei expeiience. It is goou eviuence of how influential the uiban jungle,
uiban ciiminality anu violence, anu uiban pioneei naiiatives aie to 0TC stuuents,
but also how the stuuents begin to contest those naiiatives to explain the
expeiience when it uis-confiims theii pievious unueistanuing. Beie, too, one sees
the stuuent uiscuss how the mateiial effects of gentiification anu the loss of public
spaces in the city impact iesiuents' uaily lives:
0ftentimes the community uiun't suipiise me as much as my own ieactions.
I have been iaiseu knowing that 0vei-the-Rhine was a uangeious
neighboihoou. Subtle hints like my paients locking the uoois, oi the meuia
staiting eveiy news show with some inciuent that happeneu on such anu
such block of this stieet in 0vei-the-Rhine. The one thing that always
iemaineu consistent was that 0vei-the-Rhine meant bau news. At least it
was supposeu to. Bowevei, on the community toui I was able to expeiience
0vei-the-Rhine fiom a community membei's expeiience, iathei than the
stoiy that I hau giown up heaiing..
I am the fiist to say that befoie this tiip I nevei saw a huge pioblem
with gentiification. }ust like my peeis I uiun't see anything wiong with
making a place moie "upscale" than what it was oiiginally. 0ntil I iealizeu
that upscale uiun't mean bettei. These stoies weien't bettei stoies than the
ones that came befoie they weie just moie expensive. Ny own piivilege ian
thiough those thoughts. I woulu hate it if someone came in anu tuineu the
convenience stoie at the enu of my stieet into a fuinituie stoie, paiticulaily
because a fuinituie stoie woulu have no value to me; yet, I woulu expect
those in 0vei-the-Rhine to "appieciate" the nicei things. This logic uiun't last
long once I was tiuly expeiiencing the community.
It seemeu like eveiywheie we went I was being tolu hello. In fact, as
ashameu as I am to say it, I woulu often tighten up. I uiun't unueistanu why
they weie talking to me. I uiun't know what was going to be saiu next. I
81

type-casteu the people who weie sitting outsiue as lazy people who hau
nothing bettei to uo. This is wheie my next lesson came. Theie aie not
paiks to hang out in. Theie weie no community meeting spots. But, theie
weie siuewalks. So the community membeis useu the stieets as places to
convene, anu talk, anu shaie life togethei. Yet, fiom the outsiue I thought
they weie just up to no goou..
That was until I staiteu to ieally see the goou in the community,
iathei than the stiuggles. In the Empowei class we once talkeu about
community-monitoiing piogiams. This community knew each othei. They
watcheu out foi one anothei anu they weie genuinely conceineu about 0vei-
the-Rhine. }en, on oui toui, even saiu that a fiienu of heis woke up eaily
eveiy moining to sweep the siuewalk outsiue of his house. I uon't iemembei
the last time any iesiuent of my town took the time to clean a public aiea.
This maue me question community. I wonueieu how they coulu love a
neighboihoou so much that they woulu saciifice theii own time foi
something that benefiteu otheis befoie themselves. Bow can that be
ieplicateu in my own life. Bow can I take auvantage of this collective
community insteau of being inuiviuualistic. These simple talks, such as
sweeping the siuewalks, biought a motive to the community. They weie
motivateu to take caie of one anothei anu make 0vei-the-Rhine bettei than
when they got theie. (Bailey, stuuent essay)
This stuuent acknowleuges hei feai anu locates that feai within the uominant
naiiation of 0vei-the-Rhine as a uangeious place. Yet, as she encounteieu the liveu
expeiience of the community, anu hau alteinate unueistanuings at hei uisposal via
hei 0TC expeiience, she questioneu these olu naiiatives. She self-ciitiqueu hei own
ieauing of the community as she ieau the uaily expeiience of the community itself,
which is a majoi goal of ciitical peuagogy anu the 0TC. Simple acts like being tolu
"hello" iepeateuly anu iesiuents sweeping siuewalks with one anothei upset the
conventional plot of the naiiative that suggests that uiban people uo not take caie
of themselves oi theii community anu aie unfiienuly, especially to outsiueis, anu
especially to White outsiueis. 0f couise, hei new naiiation was not oiiginal, as
82

volosinov woulu ieminu. Insteau, one can see this stuuent ieaiticulate hei
unueistanuing by piivileging an alteinate naiiative. She ie-coues the neighboihoou
as "noimal" anu "goou," exemplaiy of just being veiy similai to hei own
neighboihoou (bettei, even) by ueploying an alteinate naiiative. Such a naiiative
ieaiticulation is not iueologically innocent; on the contiaiy, it inuicates an
iueological ieaiticulation also, fiom one that piivileges piivate anu inuiviuual
inteiests to one that piivileges collective community inteiests anu peispectives,
evocative of community empathy naiiatives, which I uesciibe subsequently.
Significantly, one must note that it was the stuuent's encountei with the
mateiial ieality of uiban spaces geneially anu 0vei-the-Rhine paiticulaily that
alloweu the possibility to upset hei pievious unueistanuing. Specifically, Bailey
connects the community iesiuents' piesence on the fiont stoops of theii living space
to the lack of public space that iesulteu fiom gentiification piojects in the
neighboihoou. 0f couise, this also uemonstiates the neeu foi ciitical naiiatives that
help stuuents ueconstiuct hegemonic cultuial texts. The Empowei couise pioviueu
both the necessaiy exposuie to communities anu initial language to facilitate
stuuents' ciitique, eviuent thioughout my ciitique in this chaptei.
86QQ3=94C .Q;14-CE 0ne of the funuamental naiiative themes that
emeiges fiom stuuents' ieflections on theii expeiiences in uiban communities anu
thiough theii couise uiscussions is that of community empathy. As one 0TC
stuuent, Roiy, who liveu in 0vei-the-Rhine while she stuuent taught noteu, "they
|community iesiuentsj feel that they'ie being 'happeneu to' a lot. They uon't feel
that they have a lot of contiol in |uecisions that affect themj'" (peisonal inteiview).
The city, the "public," anu uevelopeis typically uo not legitimize the peispectives
anu the inteiests of neighboihoou iesiuents. Empathy iequiies that one take the
peispective of the othei, unueistanu anu ielate to theii feelings, to see the othei's
viewpoints anu legitimize them. Repeateuly, 0TC stuuents began to align theii
naiiatives about the neighboihoous they visiteu with many of the naiiatives of the
communities themselves. They also have begun to align themselves iueologically on
the siue of communitiesthat is, they have begun to iecognize injustices facing
uiban communities anu commit to auuiess them. While many stuuents still aie not
8S

suie exactly theii iole in auuiessing the injustices oi sometimes claim that "we have
to listen to both siues," they at least iecognize the injustices anu that they ought to
be iesolveu.
As fuithei example, uuiing the uiscussion of theii Bamilton visit, Angel
noteu, "They |politiciansj uon't know anything oi listen to the people in the
community. It ieally says a lot about how othei people value them if no one will
builu a business theie." Cameion auueu, "Each town is its own oiganismyou can't
make any juugmentscan't think you alieauy know an aiea." Angel continueu,
"Eveiyone juuges, but the key is to acknowleuge anu then ask 'why.' anu 'what uo I
uo with this.'" Anu, ieflecting on the uispaiities between hei own school expeiience
anu that of many uiban schools, Peyton says,
The biggest change in myself that I have noticeu is how stiongly I agiee with
the notion of helping veisus seiving. I tiuly believe that eveiy community
has assets anu that insteau of looking uown on aieas that have a lowei socio-
economic status anu aie mostly minoiities, we shoulu look at what they aie
uoing well anu then guiue them to solving theii pioblems.
Anothei stuuent talkeu about ieplacing the pool anu basketball couits in
0vei-the-Rhine with a uog paik: "It's awful! So iuue to the people that live theie!"
0bviously, he was able to feel the fiustiation, conuescension, anu uisiespect many
iesiuents in the community feel. Be also commenteu on the seivice expeiience he
paiticipateu in while in 0vei-the-Rhine:
I uon't ieally agiee with the seivice we uiu, cleaning the paiking lot. It
seemeu countei to what we just leaineu. We coulu have been uoing so many
moie things. Cleaning the paiking lot foi the people builuing the uog paik.
We weie like, "What.!" I nevei knew seivice coulu be so contiauicting. It
maue me think about the unueilying message.
In empathizing with the community's peispective, this stuuent also ieveals the
politics of "community seivice" anu questions the inteiests it seiveu in that context
anu that moment. Foi him, cleaning the uog paik appaiently uiu not iueologically
align anu he questioneu whethei uoing something that was contiaiy to the
84

community's wishes anu inteiests shoulu be consiueieu to be uoing them any
seivice.
Beie, two unueilying iueological positions aie contesteu. In the fiist,
"seivice" is what one with goou iueas anu an abunuance of iesouices pioviues to
those who have not, but with little concein whethei those ieceiving the seivice
actually neeu anuoi want what is pioviueu, a "libeial uo-goouei" naiiative.
Impoitantly, the act may inueeu be well-intentioneu. The cential chaiacteiization of
this naiiative is the missionaiy. In the seconu naiiative, which the above stuuent
seems to be ueploying, seivice must be oiganic to the community's wishes anu
inteiests. To be ethical, in this naiiative, those pioviuing the seivice will weu theii
(cultuial anu socioeconomic) iesouices with those of the community to mobilize on
behalf of the community anu its inteiests, a "community oiganizei" naiiative,
nameu foi its cential chaiacteiization.
Note that these two naiiatives, anu theii iueological unueipinnings, have
some similaiities. 0ne might even consiuei them both "libeial" naiiatives (in the
sense that they aie often embouieu to vaiying uegiees by people fiom the left of the
Ameiican political spectium). In both, people with a ielative abunuance of mateiial
anu cultuial iesouices offei those iesouices to the community. Both invoke tiopes
about a uesiie to "make a uiffeience," to "shaie theii blessings with otheis." Yet, the
effects of each aie quite uiffeient anu ieveal quite significant iueological uiffeiences.
In the best cases, those acting in accoiuance with the uo-goouei naiiative often
leave communities feeling imposeu upon ("happeneu to," in 0TC stuuent Roiy's
woius, citeu pieviously), as though they weie meiely the giounu foi a social pioject
whose intention was to satisfy an altiuistic impulse uespite whatevei positive
outcomes acciue to the community. In the woist cases, community membeis feel
colonizeu, uisempoweieu, possesseu
2S
by the inteiests of the uo-gooueis. The
"community oiganizei" naiiative, on the othei hanu, empoweis the neighboihoou.

2S
I intenu at least two meanings of "possesseu" heie: 1) oveicome byas one is possesseu by a(n)
(evil) spiiit; 2) owneuas one has become someone else's commouity piopeity. See Lipsitz, 2uu6,
foi example.
8S

Casey, who liveu anu stuuent taught in 0vei-the-Rhine, naiiates a passionate
iejection of the "uo-goouei" naiiative anu cites that naiiative as the hegemonic
naiiative of the univeisity in my inteiview with hei:
Casey: Anothei thing that ieally gets to me.. Ny mom'll uo this. |anuj
fiienus oi whatevei, especially my guy fiienus, they'll be like "you'ie uoing
such gieat things, you'ie going out, you'ie helping make the woilu a bettei
place." It makes me ieally mau! 'Cause, no I'm not! I uon't know, this is what
I'm ieally into anu I think that theie's injustices in oui countiy anu I think
theie's things that neeu to change, but I'm not "helping" these families. I
uon't know, it makes me look. I uon't, I'm not a missionaiy, I uon't like that.
Bo you know what I'm saying.
KT: 0h yeah, well.
Casey: I mean, it iubs me the wiong way. (KT: suie) 'Cause this is my job,
this is what I'm into, but I'm not like a "Sally uo-goouei" this isn't "white
man's buiuen." I just hate that!
KT: Well so what's youi comeback to them when they say that.
Casey: I say, "I think that theie's a lot of things going on that aie wiong anu
unjust with euucation touay but this is my job. I'm not uoing." Anu Niami!
Niami. I emaileu them because Niami, they put my pictuie up, at City
Centei, on Niami's website anu it saiu "seivice" acioss the top. I wasn't uoing
seivice! I was stuuent teaching! It's just, that's not seivice. (KT: Bm,
inteiesting) I feel like if they see me anu a bunch of little black kius in a
school then they put "seivice": "0ne of the countiy, ei, nation's highest level
foi seivice." I emaileu them, anu was like "I was fulfilling a stuuent teaching
iequiiement just like someone woulu be in |the neaiby affluent subuibj. I
wasn't uoing seivice!" (Casey, peisonal inteiview)
Casey's iejection of the uo-goouei naiiative also implicates iacializeu iueology
implicit in the way the univeisity mobilizes the naiiative. The uo-goouei naiiative
is inheiently bounu with iacial meanings, hence hei invoking the "white man's
86

buiuen"
24
tiope. She ieau the uo-goouei naiiative as ieifying a paiticulai cultuial
imagination of Black stuuents being "saveu" by the altiuism of theii White teachei.
Anu she ueciies the univeisity's commouification of hei stuuent-teaching, anu by
extension these cultuial meanings, when it useu hei pictuie with hei stuuents as a
maiketing tool. Foi the univeisity, theie is mateiial benefit to mobilizing the uo-
goouei naiiative if it yielus incieaseu eniollment anuoi attention fiom agencies
anu uonois who offei iemuneiation in tuin. As such, in this instance theie is
naiiative anu iueological soliuaiity of the libeial uo-goouei naiiative with
neolibeialism anu the uiban pioneei naiiative.
While Casey uoes not explicitly ueploy the community oiganizei naiiative,
elsewheie in hei inteiview she uoes uiscuss how, as a teachei, she woiks with the
school community, how she gets to know the kius anu theii families anu
accommouates hei piofessional piactice to align with theii neeus. Community
empathy is a cential pillai of hei piofessional piactice, as it eviuently was foi othei
0TC stuuents who hau finisheu stuuent-teaching, too. Foi example, Baipei, who also
stuuent-taught in 0vei-the-Rhine, uiscusses the impoitance of teacheis getting to
know the stuuents in the context of theii community by
going anu speaking with the kius. The kius have a lot of things to say. Talk to
them! Ask them about theii expeiiences! Speak with them, go, you know,
insteau of leaving as soon as things aie ovei with, why uon't you stay anu talk
to some of the kius, why uon't you walk with them home. Why uon't you
intiouuce youiself to theii family. At City Centei I have whole families
coming up to me anu speaking with me, anu giving me hugs, kius who I
haven't met but they know theii biothei oi sistei knows me anu they'ie just,

24
Teju Cole wiites a compelling aiticle in G.+ M$#&($)! calleu "The White Savioi Inuustiial Complex"
in which he ciitiques the inteinational outciy ovei }oseph Kony, leauei of the Loiu's Resistance Aimy
in 0ganua, that eiupteu aftei the oiganization ?(*),)7#+ R.)#8%+( piouuceu a viial viueo that calleu foi
the 0bama auministiation to uevote moie iesouices to Kony's aiiest. Cole notes,
I disagree with the approach taken by Invisible Children in particular, and by the White
Savior Industrial Complex in general, because there is much more to doing good work
than making a difference. There is the principle of first do no harm. There is the idea
that those who are being helped ought to be consulted over the matters that concern
them. (Cole, Mar. 21, 2012, p. 1)
Cole was concerned that the efforts of Invisible Children were not aligned organically with the
interests of Ugandan citizens.
87

they'ie being all "hi" "0h, hi!, how aie you." -Chuckling But, just, be
willing to bieak fiee fiom youi assumptions, beliefs. Speak with the people.
Builu a ielationship. (peisonal inteiview)
Consistently, the stuuent-teacheis noteu that the sense of tiust they hau built with
theii stuuents by ueveloping anu exeicising community empathy was key in theii
ability to teach theii stuuents. Not only was it the ethical thing to uo, it maue
maintaining high expectations easiei, impioveu stuuents' behavioi, anu incieaseu
stuuents' acauemic peifoimance.
_.2>.2 &100149<.@
A seconu theme that emeigeu in my semestei of obseivations anu inteiviews
is what I teim .+8<+8 (&%%&$)*+,. As I have uemonstiateu, theie aie significant leaks
in the hegemonic naiiatives of uiban life eviuent in stuuents' naiiations, which
constitutes an impoitant movement foi the stuuents themselves, of couise, anu foi
the 0TC piogiam as a whole. To hope that stuuents engage in ciitical piaxis, such
hegemonic leaking is essential. Yet, in many instances stuuents heuge theii
naiiations. That is, they seem to be in a naiiative "miuule space," stuck in between
iueological heuges, between unciitical iepiouuction of hegemonic iueology anu
ciitical piaxis.
2S
This manifests in a numbei of ways, a few of which I'll uesciibe
subsequently.
Even in stuuents' specific utteiances uuiing class uialogue (anu in
inteiviews), they employeu cautious, sometimes ambiguous language. Foi example,
they often woulu iesponu to questions about why the mateiial woilu is aiiangeu
inequitably as it is with theii own questions"Bo you mean }im Ciow." "Boes it all
come uown to money." 0i, stuuents woulu use the ambiguous pionoun "they" to
talk about who aiiangeu anu benefiteu fiom the inequitable social ielations. Foi
example, uuiing the uiscussion of tiaffic light politics in Bamilton, Angel states, "I
haun't iealizeu befoie how politics affects poveity. They |iefeiencing city officials,
one must assumej uon't know anything, they uon't listen to the people." 0i, uuiing a
uiscussion of Lave anu Wengei's iuea of communities of piactice (1991) anu what

2S
0f couise, it is easy to aigue that no one evei is totally ciitical oi totally unciitical anu my point is
not to uefenu this binaiy spectium.
88

impacts someone's community of piactice, }oiuan laments, with uistiess in hei
voice, "They aie giving up on them!" Yet, theie was no cleai iefeient. "They" simply
became a placeholuei to name the hegemonic powei. While on the suiface these
may seem benign ihetoiical conventions stuuents use as uialogic shoitcuts, when
analyzeu against the laigei context, I believe these aie not benign conventions but
iathei constitute eviuence of stuuents' thinking-in-piocess.
These heugeu naiiations shoulu not be taken as a shoitcoming but iathei as
eviuence that euucation is, inueeu, happeningthat stuuents aie engageu in a
uialectical piocess of ciitique. Stuuents aie soiting out iueological positions, staking
out iueological giounu, meuiating, contesting, anu cieating naiiatives that confiim
oi conflict theii existing iueological unueistanuings.
In auuition to the afoiementioneu seemingly simple anu innocent use of
ihetoiical conventions, I see two piimaiy ways 0TC stuuents heuge theii naiiatives.
In the next two sections I uiscuss how they heuge in paiticulai ways: 1) stuuents
often leave out oi obscuie the hegemonic chaiacteiization fiom theii naiiatives;
anu 2) some stuuents ueploy a "poveity uoesn't mattei" naiiative while also noting
ways that teacheis can anu shoulu accommouate foi mateiial uiffeiences in
iesouices, life ciicumstances, anu so foith.
+17.@ 6: <97719=C K94- =6 <97719=E As I have shown pieviously, in geneial
many of the naiiatives 0TC stuuents ueploy exhibit an awaieness of the mateiial
ieality of uiban communities anu an inclination to woik towaiu justice in anu with
those communities. Bowevei, when they naiiate those mateiial conuitions some uo
so with a vague oi non-existent naiiation of inteiest politics. They lack a cleai
aiticulation of hegemony. That is, while they have begun to iecognize mateiial
politics, they often uo not iuentify (oi vaguely iuentify) the "winneis" of inequitable
social ielations. In a sense, they have begun to naiiate stoiies of villainy with no
villain, to use a typical naiiative convention. 0i, they name a villain, but fail to
attiibute the villainy to inteiest politicssuch that the villainy is seen as inciuental
iathei than a uiiect effoit by someone (oi gioups) to mobilize powei. 0thei times,
they will use vague teims like "the system" oi "the iich."
89

As an example, in the pievious section I noteu how some stuuents uiscusseu
the segiegation of Bamilton into the pieuominantly White west siue anu
pieuominantly Black anu Latino east siue. They name the pioblemiacially
uiviueu communitiesbut uo not oveitly link the segiegation to the fact that White
powei-biokeis have mobilizeu city uevelopment to the benefit of the White
community. In a sense, they aie implying iacism without iacists.
The neeu foi a villain is not intenueu to embouy meie petty iesentment. 0n
the contiaiy, the ability to iuentify those who aie benefiting fiom paiticulai social
ielations is necessaiy to ciitical piaxis, foi two inteiielateu ieasons. Fiist, as
outlineu in Chaptei 1's uiscussion of ciitical peuagogy, one of hegemony's key
effects is that the woilu seems natuial iathei than histoiical. By not iuentifying
specifically who benefits fiom inequitable social ielations, anuoi who has
constiucteu those ielations inequitably in theii own inteiests, one may get the
impiession that "that's just how the woilu is," inevitable anu iiieveisible. This leaus
to the seconu ciucial ieason to name those who benefit fiom inequality: "naming the
villain" is ciucial to foiging countei-hegemonic soliuaiity. Real people have acteu in
suppoit of ieal inteiests, in histoiy, to cieate inequitable ielations anu, equally
impoitantly to ciitical peuagogy anu the 0TC, ieal people have acteu to iesist social
inequalities anu woik foi social change.
uiamsci useu the teim 6&% 19 >1,)$)1( to uesciibe the piocess of countei-
hegemonic cultuial stiuggle, to "winning iueological conveits" to one's siue. A 6&%
19 5&(+"*+%, then, involves countei-hegemonic uiiect action, mobilizing people in
soliuaiity towaiu uemociacy. Foi uiamsci, ievolutionaiy piaxis iequiies a wai of
position that allows the possibility of a successful wai of maneuvei (Fontana, 2uu2).
In this context, mobilizing countei-hegemonic uiban naiiatives constitutes a wai of
position; placing community teacheis in uiban schools to woik with the community,
in soliuaiity with the community's inteiests, constitutes an impoitant step in a wai
of position. When stuuents naiiate tales of villainy with absent oi vague villains, oi
fail to make the link between the villain anu the villainy, they aie not yet fully
positioneu foi ievolutionaiy piactice; theii agency is uefeiieu.
9u

The 0TC uoes have villains in its guiuing naiiativesSCBC (Cincinnati
Centei City Bevelopment Coipoiation) anu Teach foi Ameiica (TFA), foi example.
In chaptei 1, I biiefly uetail SCBC's impact in Cincinnati; TFA's impact on uiban
euucation nationally is wiuely known. To the membeis of the 0TC, these
oiganizations embouy neolibeial iueology anu how it justifies the consoliuation anu
mobilization of powei contiaiy to community inteiests. In 0vei-the-Rhine, the
stoiy goes something like this: The city goveinment has conspiieu with coipoiate
uevelopeis in SCBC to uiviue up 0vei-the-Rhine foi its own piofit. SCBC has pusheu
iesiuents out, sometimes quite liteially by eviction, but also by iefusing to pioviue
low-income housing. The city has mobilizeu its police foice on behalf of SCBC to
guaiu the newly gentiifieu aieas, to suiveil, haiass, anu uepoit (thiough
incaiceiation, piimaiily) community iesiuents to make suie the neighboihoou is
"safe" foi those coming in to woik oi to shop. In this stoiy one may see a uiiect link
between the villainy, gentiification, anu the villain, SCBC (oi, co-villains "city
goveinment"). The point of making this link between gentiification anu SCBC, then,
is not to "get back" at SCBC anu the city (though, peihaps that uoes motivate some
people). Rathei, the point is to pioviue a cleai aiticulation of the political inteiests,
whose inteiests aie seiveu anu whose aie not, anu specifically who is acting to
suppoit those inteiests, as a giounus foi political stiuggle.
In the following exceipt fiom my inteiview with hei, Roiy uiscusses a
conveisation about gentiification she hau with hei stuuents when they askeu about
it uuiing hei stuuent-teaching (uuiing a lesson on mitosis, she notes). Pievious to
this in the inteiview, Roiy noteu how she felt that living in the same neighboihoou
as hei stuuents uuiing stuuent-teaching helpeu contextualize hei stuuents' lives anu
how that alloweu hei to builu a tiust anu iappoit with stuuents that helpeu hei
teach moie effectively. She links gentiification to the mateiial politics of theii uaily
lives, yet she uoes so in a way that tiies to stay "objective" oi "neutial" on the issue.
She iuentifies how gentiification is negatively impacting hei stuuents, yet she uoes
not uo so in a way that cleaily blames gentiification itself oi those who aie
benefitting fiom it. Inueeu, she heuges so much it is neaily a tail without villainy as
well as without a villain.
91

Roiy: So, theie weie, I iemembei, some stuuents asking us about
gentiification, about what it is anu why they heai about it. Anu, I uon't know
if the English teachei hau biought it in specifically oi what, but she, I hau
stuuents ask me about that, anu.
KT: What uiu you say to them.
Roiy: I mean, I tolu 'em, what gentiification was. It's, it's not, in a lot of
ways it's a woiu, you know, theie's nothing wiong with knowing a woiu oi
its meaning anu showing how it's kinu of being applieu to it. 'Cause I mean, a
lot of them theie, they weien't able to see the fiist wave that went thiough
Nain St. in Cincinnati, befoie the iiots that was happening, but a lot of them
know of it. Anu so with that, they'ie seeing that happening on vine |Stieetj,
anu some of them aie talking about it, but aie wanting to know moie of a
context.. You know, I'u tiy to uiscuss, why woulu a city want biing in a
uiffeient gioup of people into theii uowntown centei, why woulu they want
that.. Why woulu they change Washington Paik into what it is, was going to
become. Who uoes that benefit. Is theie some way that it can benefit you.
soit of situation. It's simply tiying to get at that, without just being "0h! It's a
gieat thing! They'ie biinging all these people uown heie" anu all this oi just
saying "it's the uevil" you know. Which is veiy easy to pick one of those two,
because, you know. ... Because, I mean, it makes peifect sense why they want
to biing in people uown theie, you know, if you want moie of a tax base, you
know, in youi city, you neeu to biing people in, you know. 0i if you, even if
you look at it that theie's unuseu space, if you will, if you'ie looking at a veiy
minimal builuings that aie uilapiuateu oi abanuoneu, you want to use those,
because once again you only have a finite space. Anu so, it, it usually goes
back to, that, it's not necessaiily that what they'ie uoing is wiong, it's
geneially how they'ie going about it. (Roiy, peisonal inteiview)
In Roiy's explanation to hei stuuents, she seems to ueploy a naiiative about
gentiification that goes something like this, anu seems to be an inteiesting nexus
between libeial uo-goouei anu uiban pioneei: The stoiy of gentiification is that
theie is "unuseu" oi "uilapiuateu" space in the city that makes it attiactive to
92

uevelopeis. Cities neeu taxes to pioviue seivices anu so it just makes sense to tiy to
inciease the tax base of the city by attiacting businesses anu entiepieneuis (uiban
pioneei naiiative). While it's tiue that sometimes the piocess has hau a negative
impact on neighboihoou iesiuents, it's not because the city uoesn't have theii best
inteiest at heait, but iathei because they have appioacheu the situation pooily.
0ltimately, though, the impiovements these outsiue entities can biing will benefit
eveiyone anu since neighboihoou iesiuents cannot ieally help themselves
economically, outsiue help is essential (libeial uo-goouei naiiative).
Beie, one might claim that Roiy naiiates a stoiy even without villainy, much
less without a villain. Ceitainly, on the suiface Roiy seems fully committeu to the
neolibeial pioject of gentiification when she says "it just makes sense why 'they'
|inueteiminate iefeient, placeholuei foi "the city" anu "SCBC"j want to biing people
uown heie." Yet, as the inteiview continues, Roiy moie fiimly uetails the negative
impact gentiification has on hei stuuents anu empathizes with them.
Roiy: Well, the othei thing is that they ieally, they took away a pait of theii
woilu. Washington Paik, with the pool aiea, was a neivous system foi
community activity. That's wheie the kius swam, anu that's no longei
theie.. So, they'ie hypei awaie, it's "no, they actually soit of messeu with
something," you know, that was theiis to use anu they can't use it anymoie.
So, then that becomes, "why uiu they uo that." Anu then the next question is
"well, they'ie tiying to uo xyz," then if you uefine it as gentiification, if you
choose to, then you.the next question is "what's that.".. So, the, the logic
flow is ieally |notj supei abstiact |sicj, this is in my woilu, this is what's
going on..
So it was just, you know, I, pait of it was that I was an outsiuei, pait of
it is that I'm an authoiity figuie anu they hau a question, anu they felt
comfoitable enough because of the classioom enviionment to ask questions
even if they uiun't necessaiily ueal with that. So, it was, in one iespect I felt
comfoitable answeiing it because it was outsiue the cuiiiculum. Like, it
was, you know, it was just like, we'ie having a talk while we'ie woiking, you
know. But, I feel like if I was in a uiffeient subject |than sciencej I'u feel
9S

almost obligateu to talk about it, because you know, it's happening.. It's
happening iight theie, you know, anu like I saiu, it's not ieally this abstiact
thing that's happening to them. They'ie seeing the builuings being taken
uown, they'ie seeing these new builuings coming up, they'ie seeing that theii
fiienus aie moving, they'ie seeing that theii paik is closeu these aie all veiy
tangible things foi them, anu so all we'ie uoing ieally is giving a uefinition foi
it. (Roiy, peisonal inteiview)
Roiy heie alluues vaguely to a naiiative of community empathy: uentiification has
causeu tuimoil in stuuents' lives. Community space has been taken away, theie's
nowheie to swim oi to play. Fiienus have moveu away. "They" have taken
something away fiom stuuents' life anu haven't even consiueieu theii thoughts.
Beie, the cential chaiacteiizations aie the absent villain ("they"), but also a
victimizeu, uisempoweieu uiban chilu.
Why, in this inteiview, is Roiy so hesitant to inuict gentiification. Peihaps
one ieason is that she fits a key taiget uemogiaphic of the neolibeial gentiification
piojecta twenty-something with a measuie of uisposable income. Peihaps Roiy is
seuuceu by the alluie of new businesses, iestauiants, anu enteitainment that aie the
pet piojects of city "ievitalization." I cannot veiify, eithei fiom this inteiview with
hei oi fiom my othei inteiactions with hei thiough the 0TC. I believe the inteiview
pioviues a clue to a uiffeient explanation, howevei.
Note that Roiy's account locates the uiscussion of gentiification as an event
that happeneu uuiing class, while she was stuuent-teaching. Roiy's heugeu
inuictment of gentiification must be unueistoou within this context. As I illustiate
in Chaptei S, Nethouology, volosinov (1986) claims that specific utteiances gain
theii meaning both fiom the immeuiate uialogue, but also fiom laigei cultuial
uialogues in which those specific uialogues aie fiameu. Roiy's specific utteiance
about gentiification heie is locateu within laigei uialogues into which she speaks
(volosinov, 1986), in this case a uialogue about gentiification, to be suie, but also a
laigei one about what it means to teach. Remembei that Roiy says, "|gentiification
isj a woiu, theie's nothing wiong with knowing a woiu oi its meaning.. All we'ie
uoing ieally is giving a uefinition of it." Appaiently, Roiy consiueis hei answei to
94

hei stuuents' questions a technical matteimeiely one of uefining a woiuanu on
that basis Roiy justifies hei choice to uiscuss gentiification. The cultuial uialogue
about teaching upon which she uiaws tiumps the uialogue about gentiification.
What is the cultuial uialogue about teaching upon which Roiy ielies. Bei
naiiation evokes Fieiie's "banking metaphoi" (Fieiie, 2uuu197u). In the banking
metaphoi, Fieiie equates the teachei-stuuent ielationship to that of the bankei-
customei ielationship. }ust like the bankei oveisees ueposits that the customei
withuiaws, so the teachei oveisees ueposits of infoimation that the stuuent will one
uay withuiaw. Fieiie's metaphoi is linkeu to a uominant cultuial naiiative about
teaching. The plot is obvious: Teacheis aie custouians of knowleuge that they must
impait to stuuents (the teachei-as-custouian is the cential chaiacteiization). They
woik on behalf of the state to cieate the next geneiation of citizen-woikeis. They
will use "best piactice" techniques (to use a contempoiaiy tiope) to make the
knowleuge tiansfei piocess as efficient as possible. The naiiative's moial is that
teaching is objective anu apolitical. Teacheis must be caieful not to "take siues" oi
make it seem as though they aie "biaseu." 0f couise, Fieiie vehemently iejects
"banking euucation" anu consiueis it funuamentally uehumanizing because it is a
vehicle wheieby hegemony anu oppiession aie iepiouuceu. Be offeis ciitical
peuagogy as the alteinative.
Roiy seems to be uiawing on this banking naiiative as hei guiuing naiiative
about teaching. Thus, it is okay foi hei to talk about gentiification in class, but only
in a uetacheu anu apolitical wayas a teim to uefineanu only because the
stuuents askeu. She is being ielevant to stuuents' inteiests (a "best piactice"). She
is not to take siues, howevei. She is meiely to piesent the facts to stuuents anu let
them make up theii own minus. It is veiy impoitant that she not be biaseu, that she
not be political, especially if she wants to avoiu getting in tiouble with hei
supeivisois.
I aigue that Roiy has a countei-hegemonic naiiative of gentiification at hei
uisposal via hei expeiience in the 0iban Teaching Cohoit, one iooteu in community
empathy that iecognizes gentiification's negative impact on hei stuuents. Yet, she
heuges hei naiiatives, she subveits this countei-hegemonic naiiative anu insteau
9S

acts within the iueologically uominant naiiative of banking euucation. She cannot
iisk acting contiaiy to the socially accepteu teachei-as-bankei iole because to uo so
woulu violate the commonsense naiiative about teacheis' piopei behavioi in
classiooms. Besiues, hei (futuie) job might be at iisk if she is consiueieu "too
contioveisial," too "political." In essence, she avoius naming the villain so as not to
be maikeu a villain heiself.
D6<.04C 26.@=a4 Q144.0E 0ne of the piominent mantias of the
contempoiaiy euucation iefoim movement is that "poveity uoesn't mattei." The
iecent Bollywoou movie -&)$)(< 91% K">+%5&( (Weyeimann, B., Skoll, }., Chilcott, L.
& Kimball, B., 2u1u) ielies heavily on this mantia, foi example. The movie's plot
shows a histoiy of "failing schools"
26
(an example of a shoitcut ihetoiical uevice
one neeu only iefeience failing schools to conjuie the entiie naiiative) in uiban
aieas anu asseits that those schools aie failing laigely because the teacheis woiking
in them aie incompetent, not woiking haiu enough, anu uo not set high enough
expectations. We shoulu expect stuuents to pull themselves up by theii own
bootstiaps. Anyone who points out the effects of poveity on stuuents is meiely
making excuses anu obviously uoesn't want to woik haiu anu caies only foi him oi
heiself. They uo not put "stuuents fiist," anothei commonsense mantia of the
euucation iefoim movement. In this naiiative, the piimaiy chaiacteiizations aie a
heio anu a villain. The villains aie bau teacheis anu the unions who couule them
with policies like tenuie anu "last in, fiist out." The heioes, the movie's unnameu
"Supeiman," aie chaitei schools. The moial of the naiiative is that competition is
essential to pioviue incentive foi otheiwise lazy oi incompetent teacheis, anu the
schools that haiboi them, to impiove. The poveity uoesn't mattei naiiative is
consistent with neolibeial maiketplace iueology, which piivileges competition,
piivatization, anu efficiency as its gianu viitues.
"I woulu agiee that poveity uoes not mattei.." I was suipiiseu when }ustice
utteieu this phiase uuiing my inteiview with him, because I knew him to be

26
Linua Powell Piuitt (2uu4) aigues that uiban schools "have become the symbolic containei foi all
oui uifficulties. We neeu them to fail, foi if not, all schools woulu be iequiieu to examine theii own
uifficult expeiiences about iace (incluuing Whiteness), change, anu achievement" (p. 241).
96

someone who was in touch with his stuuents' uaily lives, caieu ueeply foi them, anu
wanteu them to succeeu. In the following extenueu quote fiom his inteiview, he
elaboiates. In it, one may see }ustice in an in-between iueological space. 0n one
hanu, teacheis shoulu not allow a stuuent's mateiial ueficit to tianslate into loweieu
expectations oi assumptions that a stuuent is incapable. 0n the othei, foi stuuents
who come to school hungiy oi with soileu clothing theii ability to leain is negatively
impacteu. Be seems toin between the uominant, commonsense neolibeial iueology
of the poveity uoesn't mattei naiiative anu a moie libeial piogiessive iueology, a
"safety net" iueology that acknowleuges that stuuents uo neeu some assistance in
oveicoming the effects of poveity. I quote heie at length fiom my inteiview with
}ustice to illustiate this paiauox:
}ustice: I woulu agiee that poveity uoes not mattei .Now, iesouices mattei.
If I uon't have a book to teach them out of that's gonna affect my ability to
teach 'cause I have to go get those mateiials. It's gonna cut into something
else. 0ppoitunity cost. So, but it's not that poveity matteis. Because just
because this kiu is pooi uoesn't mean they can't leain. Now, acauemically, if
someone says "acauemics, acauemics, acauemics," yes, you'ie iight, we aie
supposeu to leain in school, that's kinu of one of the big issues, um, but again,
if you can't ieach a chilu how aie you teaching them. If I walk into a
classioom of kius I uo not know anu I uon't stait off by saying "hi my name
is." the whole time they aie tiying to figuie out what my name is. But if you
can eliminate some of those issues, acauemics will not be haiu because some
of those things will be answeieu. Which is why I kinu of think that acauemic
poitions that people push--gotta get the achievement gap closeu--I think if
we acknowleugeu the issues thioughout the boaiu, public, piivate, chaitei,
whatevei, um, that eveiyone woulu inciease in scoies. Because, it's just
theie's so many things, I mean, no, some kius' lives aie just not that stiessful.
But, you know, theie is no metei that monitois stiess. Theie is no stiess
metei foi kius, oi foi anybouy anu it's a uisauvantage to any chilu to ignoie
those things. No mattei how much money they make. Because I have some
kius at City Centei who uon't have any money at all, uon't eat outsiue of
97

school, anu, they'ie still passing the test. Now, they'ie not passing the test
because they have money. They'ie passing because they have a uesiie to
leain. Anu because they'ie put in a position wheie they can leain anu they
feel safe anu comfoitable to leain. So I agiee, that poveity I uon't think is
that impoitant, I ieally uon't. Now I uo think it's helpful if I know I have foou
at home. I think that is helpful. I think that it is helpful if I know that my
unueiweai will be clean in the moining. 0m, but if it's not will I uie. No.
0m, if it's not can I still count. Yes. Because I see eveiy single uay in that
school. I see it eveiy single uay. I see it in othei schools. Anu it's not, to me,
that's just an excuse, as a teachei, as an euucatoi to say "well these kius uon't
have anything so they'ie not gonna leain." Well, you give them something.
uive them a ieason to come to school. I've actually been thinking about this a
lot with bieakfast anu stuff. It woulun't cost piobably any moie than $2u to
get all my kius bieakfast. even if it's just a banana, in the moining. A banana
eveiy uay. That way I know eveiy single uay that that peison is eating. Anu
most schools now have bieakfast giants. But those simple things. 0i like
you know, some of my kius walk in with theii shiits aie uiity. Not that haiu
to go pick up a shiit anu be like hey, I mean I 'm not saying become theii
mom, um, but if those aie things that aie going to affect a chilu because they
uon't have money, it won't, it uoesn't take that much. (}ustice, peisonal
inteiview)
}ustice invokes many of the funuamental pieces of the poveity uoesn't mattei
naiiative that opens this section. Be implies that a teachei shoulu holu "high
expectations" of all stuuents, iegaiuless of theii income, which is an iueogiaph that
has come to be useu acioss the iueological spectium; one woulu be haiu piesseu to
finu someone who woulu, in fact, say "yes, we shoulu have lowei stanuaius," even if
some teacheis act accoiuingly. Be notes that sometimes teacheis "make excuses"
foi pooi stuuents. Yet, on the othei hanu, he says that while "poveity" uoesn't
mattei, "iesouices" uo, at least in the sense that they make it easiei foi the stuuent
to leain anu theiefoie the teachei to teach. Be notes that poveity uoesn't mattei
anu then, iionically, names a numbei of ways in which a lack of iesouices, effects of
98

poveity, negatively impact a stuuent's uesiie anu ability to leain. 0n the one hanu,
he seems to call on a neolibeial-inflecteu "iags to iiches" stoiy wheiein if you woik
haiu enough anu want it bauly enough, uespite all obstacles you can "make it," anu
"make it out" of poveity oi the olu, bau neighboihoou, as the iags to iiches stoiy is
often applieu towaiu uiban life. Those who fail to make it uo so because they aie
lazy oi have low moials. Think of Boiatio Algei as the cential chaiacteiization of
the iags to iiches naiiative. 0n the othei hanu, a stuuent who comes to school
hungiy oi uiity may not feel safe anu comfoitable to tiust the teachei enough to
leain anu theiefoie a teachei anuoi a school shoulu uo all they can to meet his
stuuents' basic neeus, as one might envision of the social safety net.
Why this paiauox. I believe it exemplifies }ustice heuging his naiiatives
because he is in an iueological in-between spaceheuging iueologically. It is
inuicative of iueological contestation. The poveity uoesn't mattei naiiative is a
commonsense, hegemonic naiiative about euucation in contempoiaiy Ameiica. As
commonsense, it is taken foi gianteu, unexamineu, meiely assumeu to be tiue. Anu
so one shoulu not be suipiiseu that }ustice uiaws heavily on this naiiative. 0n the
othei hanu, thiough his expeiiences in the 0TC anu stuuent-teaching in an uiban
school, he has begun to call the commonsense naiiative into question. The
uominant naiiative appaiently uoes not align with the empathy he feels foi his
stuuents anu the community anu the neeus they have in theii uaily lives anu so he
neeus to ie-naiiate in a way that aligns with his expeiience. But, }ustice lacks a
countei-hegemonic naiiative to explain exactly how poveity uoes, in fact, mattei
anu how teacheis may make an impact uespite poveity's effects.
As I mention in Chaptei S, theie is iueological, anu often mateiial, "iisk" to
violating the uominant naiiative anu its iueology. Remembei, as I aigue pieviously
(in Chaptei S), ueploying a paiticulai naiiative piouuces a subjectivity as one
situates him oi heiself as the "I" of the naiiative, embouying its cential
chaiacteiization. If, in tuin, that peison iejects the naiiative anu its unueilying
iueology it then unsettles his subjectivity. }ustice lacks a naiiative that woulu allow
him to acknowleuge that poveity uoes mattei yet still get to claim to be a "goou"
teachei because in the goveining neolibeial uiscouise, "goou" teacheis uo not "make
99

excuses" (like poveity) foi theii stuuents' inability to leain. Thiough his expeiience
with stuuents, }ustice knows that poveity uoes have a ieal impact on stuuents'
ability to leain anu on his ability to teach, but to say so puts him in opposition to the
uominant neolibeial naiiative. Bis heuging iesults fiom the lack of
counteihegemonic naiiatives that iesolve this iueological conunuium.
Consequently, foi iueological "safety" he ueploys a blenueu iags-to-iiches naiiative
anu safety net naiiativea stuuent who pulls himself up by his bootstiaps, but not
until aftei the teachei makes suie he puts on his boots.
Neolibeial iueology anu many of its common naiiatives, like the poveity
uoesn't mattei naiiative, aie ieifieu in the state's
27
euucational appaiatuses,
policies, anu piactices, anu in the commonsense of people functioning within them
(see Apple, 2uu4, foi example). To ciitique the hegemonic iueology anu its
naiiatives as }ustice uoes when he alluues to the safety net naiiative, then, puts him
in opposition to the state anu its mainstieam euucational stiuctuies anu its
functionaiies, a position of cultuial iisk, ceitainly, but one with impoitant mateiial
effects as well. }ustice wants to woik in a schoolhe wants to make a living. Be
quite liteially iisks his job piospects if he too oveitly speaks, anu especially if he
acts, contiaiy to the state's inteiest. In this iegaiu, then, his iueological heuging is
inuicative of a tension between speaking in accoiuance with his new commitments
anu community affinity via the 0TC anu the neeu to piotect his piospects foi
ielative mateiial secuiity affoiueu thiough the mainstieam euucational appaiatus.
&100149=> *65917 871@@ 1=2 )15.
In Chaptei 1, I uiscusseu the impeiative to bettei piepaie teacheis, most of
whom aie White anu female, foi an incieasingly uiveise stuuent population. In
paiticulai, in iesponse to the uemogiaphic impeiative, one of the cential goals of the
0iban Teaching Cohoit is to piepaie its futuie teacheis to ethically anu effectively
teach pooi stuuents anu stuuents of coloi, since these stuuents aie moie likely to be
in uiban schools. An impoitant step towaiu that goal is foi 0TC stuuents to

27
Beie, the woiu "state" iefeis bioauly to the oveiall goveining buieauciacy anu its coinciuent
stiuctuies iathei than to a specific political uesignation within a Feueial system, such as a state
goveinment as uistinct fiom a national goveinment.
1uu

ciitically engage theii own iuentities, especially ielateu to iace anu class.
28
The
iemainuei of this chaptei lays out some of the naiiatives about iace anu class
mobilizeu by 0TC stuuents.
?.B3=[9=> 537430. 6: ;6<.04C =100149<.@E 0ne of the most well known
naiiatives about social class that ciiculates in the euucation fielu, especially ielateu
to uiban stuuents, is the "cultuie of poveity" naiiative. The cultuie of poveity
naiiative suggests that people who aie pooi, especially those who aie stuck in an
intei-geneiational "cycle of poveity" (a common tiope), have theii own cultuie that
uefines theii poveity. They have theii own veinaculai, customs, beliefs, anu moial
coues that keep them pooi. The moial of the cultuie of poveity naiiative is that
people aie pooi because they uon't woik haiu oi caie enough about things that
miuule class people caie about, like euucation. If only they woulu woik haiuei, be
bettei paients, uevelop moie iesponsible spenuing habits, then they coulu lift
themselves out of poveity. The most common chaiacteiization of the cultuie of
poveity naiiative is the "welfaie queen" aichetype.
Eaily in the Empowei couise semestei, some stuuents alluueu to some of the
common mantias of the cultuie of poveity naiiative. In the fiist session, stuuents
shaieu theii thoughts about uiban schooling: "It's impoitant to iecognize that
school might be the place wheie |uibanj stuuents get love anu connection because
they may not get it otheiwise." "I believe paients shoulu show they appieciate
|stuuents'j effoits." The "uiban paients uon't love theii kius" anu "uiban paients
uon't value euucation" slogans aie common linguistic shoitcuts that point to the
cultuie of poveity naiiative. At this point, stuuents hau not yet hau theii immeision
expeiience anu hau not hau ieauings anu uiscussions about the mateiial iealities in
uiban communities that make it uifficult foi paients to paiticipate in theii chilu's
euucation in ways legitimateu anu noimalizeu among the miuule anu uppei classes.
Thioughout the iest of the semestei, then, a gieat ueal of talk about social class anu
poveity entaileu uebunking many of the myths of the cultuie of poveity naiiative.

28
Accoiuing to the Empowei II couise syllabus, leaining outcome #4 is "Be able to connect the
socioeconomic anu iacial iealms of iuentity." Recently, the 0TC cuiiiculum committee, of which I am
a membei, has been cieating a statement of 0TC piinciples. Pieliminaiy uiafts piioiitize stuuents'
awaieness of theii own iuentity.
1u1

A few weeks into the semestei, stuuents uiscusseu chapteis 9 anu 1u of
`+$$+%, $1 & a1"(< G+&!.+% in which Kozol uetails the negative effects of naiioweu,
stanuaiuizeu, high-stakes cuiiiculum in uiban schools. Be auvocates stiongly foi
allowing stuuents to play anu to use theii imaginations, which happens less anu less
in uiban schools unuei the suiveillance of high-stakes testing. Cameion noteu, "It
maue me think about the uisconnect between the 'ieal woilu' of school anu what
we'ie leaining heieas we piepaie to giow cuiiiculum fiom the giounu up but
school is often so sciipteu." Bailey asks, in iesponse, "When uiu it become so
uisconnecteu that in low-peifoiming schools they stait teaching to the test. We
nevei uiu that in my schoolwe always got high maiks on the State Repoit Caiu."
Cameion notes uisconnect between the cuiiiculum of Teachei Euucation anu the
"ieal woilu" of schools, especially uiban schools. Be anu Bailey both iecognize that
theie's a uiffeience in expectations anu in cuiiiculum oppoitunities uepenuing on
wheie a stuuent goes to school. Implicitly, they sense that uiban stuuents aie
taught a cuiiiculum baseu in misconceptions about what uiban stuuents ueseive
anu what theii abilities aie.
Teagan notes, foi example, that in subuiban schools, one can typically expect
"lots of cieative, engaging lesson plans. But in uiban schools, it's about maintaining
anu contiolling behavioi, about giauuating oi passing the giaue level, ieguigitation
of infoimation," components of what Babeiman (2uu4) calls a >+8&<1<= 19 >1*+%$=.
Babeiman juxtaposes the peuagogy of poveity, which is most likely to be founu in
uiban schools, against "just goou teaching," most chaiacteiistic of subuiban
euucation, with iich cuiiiculum, abunuant co-cuiiiculais anu electives, uiscussion
iathei than lectuie, fieeuom iathei than contiol, etc. In Babeiman's analysis, one
may see cleai links between the cultuie of poveity naiiative anu the naiiative's
embouiment in specific schooling piactices. Inteiestingly, his use of the "just goou
teaching" iueogiaph conjuies an alteinate naiiative. In this "goou teaching"
naiiative, stuuents have access to abunuant iesouices, uiveise cuiiiculum, highly
qualifieu teacheis who cieate engaging lessons that fostei stuuents' ciitical thinking.
The 0TC stuuents iecognize the uistinction between theii own schooling
1u2

expeiiences, which most align with the goou teaching naiiative, anu the typical
euucation that uiban stuuents ieceive.
The most oveit conveisations about social class anu poveity, which occuiieu
neai the enu of the semestei in the Empowei couise, centeieu aiounu uebunking
the cultuie of poveity naiiative, especially as it is piesenteu in the woik of Ruby
Payne (2uuS) in hei text, M W%&5+61%A 91% ;(8+%,$&(8)(< Z1*+%$=. In the following
conveisation, stuuents shaie theii thoughts about social class, poveity, anu Payne's
text, especially in light of Paul uoiski's
29
(2uu8) text, G.+ Y=$. 19 $.+ R"#$"%+ 19
Z1*+%$=, an assigneu ieauing foi the couise.
(Instiuctoi): "Is theie a cultuie of poveity."
(}oiuan): "I uon't ieally unueistanu what that means."
(Tayloi): "I feel like |uoiski'sj uefinition is moie a ueficit kinu of way, myths
anu things. I ieau those as . the cultuie we associate with poveity. Anu
befoie I've heaiu it expiesseu as 'haiu to get out.' It's two uiffeient
uefinitions almost. I agiee we can't say these myths aie tiue."
(}oiuan): "Right, I was confuseu by that, the uiffeient uefinitions of poveity."
(Angel): "I agiee; so many of the myths aie baseu in steieotypes, not totally
baseu in ieality. They aie blown up anu geneializeu to apply to eveiyone."
(Bailey): "I finu it stiange we nevei talk about cultuie of the miuule class.
It's the noim, in the miuule, I guess."
(}oiuan): "Yeah, why is that the noim."
(Teagan): "well I think one ieason is that the things publisheu aie by people
in the miuule-class, like with uegiees anu stuff."
(Angel): "Also, the naiiatives aie baseu on the class they come fiom."
(Bailey): "Right, what I'm useu to, what I'm asciibeu to. People all seem to
justify themselves to miuule-class iegaiuless of theii income."

29
uoiski tiaces the oiigin of the cultuie of poveity naiiative anu outline's foui of its common myths.
Be aigues that a "cultuie of classism" peisists in schools, insteau. It is the cultuie of classism that
ieifies the cultuie of poveity, especially thiough ueficit theoiies of euucation, which claim that pooi
people have inheient (cultuially ueteimineu) euucational ueficiencies that inhibit theii success in
school.
1uS

(}oiuan): "Right, like my mom useu to say we'ie lowei-miuule class. But
weie we. 0i was she just saying that because we uiun't want to be "pooi."
Stuuents heie aiticulate that they finu the cultuie of poveity highly suspect, not
"tiue," insteau baseu in steieotypes anu myths. Also note Tayloi's iefeience to a
common tiope of the cultuie of poveity naiiative"haiu to get out"an
insinuation that poveity is entiencheu, seuuctive anu, implicitly, something to be
escapeu.
Inteiestingly, Bailey speculates about the hiuuen cuiiiculum of the cultuie of
poveity naiiative, namely that it iepiouuces "cultuie of miuule class" (whatevei
that is, they aie not suie) as the noim. }oiuan's question at the enu of this exchange
inuicates that she iecognizes a uiffeience in cultuial powei between social classes
that has playeu out in hei own familythat hei mom may well have claimeu to be
miuule class because being miuule class has cultuial legitimacy wheieas being pooi
puts a peison oi family outsiue the cultuial noim. }oiuan nevei answeis hei own
question, though one may infei hei mom's iationale. Foi many people whose
mateiial ciicumstances give them a tenuous place on the lowei maigins of the
miuule class, the cultuial stakes of uefining themselves as pooistigmatizationis
too gieat. Theie is cultuial powei in being miuule class.
Bespite }oiuan's ievelation that hei mom may have claimeu to be miuule
class to avoiu the stigma of being pooi, neithei }oiuan noi the othei stuuents cleaily
aiticulate a countei-naiiation. Lisa Belpit (2uu6), foi example, offeis what coulu be
calleu a "cultuie of powei" naiiative that stuuents coulu ueploy to unueistanu why
}oiuan's mom maue the choice she uiu. The cultuie of powei naiiative that Belpit
outlines goes something like this: Classiooms enact powei uynamics. The cultuial
"iules" enfoiceu in the classioom, that uefine a stuuent's cultuie as noimal oi not,
aie the iules of the people in powei. In the case of Ameiican public schools,
accoiuing to Belpit, this means the miuule class. Those who possess cultuial powei
typically ueny oi aie unawaie that theie is a cultuie of powei; it is meiely
commonsense. Being tolu the iules of the cultuie of powei (which is ieally the
cultuie of those in powei) makes it easiei to acquiie powei (see pp. 24-26).
Consequently, one may infei, the cultuie of poveity naiiative uoes not actually
1u4

uesciibe ueficits enuemic to pooi people but insteau encapsulates hegemonic
stiuggle ovei access to powei.
The implications foi 0TC stuuents aie two-folu. Fiist, one's class position has
moie to uo with whethei it affoius oi uenies access to the cultuie of powei than it
uoes one's family income. A family may be miuule-income without having access to
the cultuie of powei, anu one may be low-income but know the iules of the cultuie
of powei that affoiu them access to the cultuie of powei. Nany of the Empowei
stuuents uefineu theii class status in teims of family income iathei than its access to
the cultuie of powei. Seconu, one may teach the iules of the cultuie of powei that
coulu help stuuents outsiue the cultuie of powei to have success at school without
abanuoning theii home cultuie, though this can be a tiicky balance. As Belpit
cautions, "I uo not auvocate a simplistic 'basic skills' appioach foi chiluien outsiue
the cultuie of powei.. Rathei, I suggest that schools must pioviue those chiluien
the content that othei families fiom a uiffeient cultuial oiientation pioviue at
home" (p. Su). In othei woius, it is not the teachei's job to "bank" miuule class
cultuie into stuuents, but insteau to help stuuents gain access to the powei that
comes with being miuule class by knowing its iules.
)15.7.@@=.@@G \+-.Ca0. b3@4 [92@E]
0ne of the most iepeateu utteiances about uiban stuuents I heaiu 0TC
stuuents say was, "they'ie just kius"; oi they similaily uesciibeu uiban people anu
communities as "just like eveiywheie else" oi "just like my home." 0ften,
instiuctois anu leaueis in the 0TC ieinfoice this language. Foi example, in the
accounts that stuuents give of theii community immeision expeiience (fiom the
fiist section of this chaptei, tiaffic light politics), they talk about how the uiban
community is just like theii own, the people just like eveiyone else. In the following
exceipt, a 0TC stuuent who completeu hei stuuent teaching in Niuuletown, 0hio
uiscusses what she peiceives to be the uiffeiences between uiban anu non-uiban
communities:
(Bailey): I think. theie's not much uiffeience fiom othei communities. Like,
I iemembei going to 0vei-the-Rhine anu thinking it was going to be so
uiffeient fiom what I was useu to anu, I mean the only uiffeience was that
1uS

theie weie a lot moie Afiican Ameiican people aiounu. That's it. I uon't
know, I was expecting to see some staik uiffeience, anu theie ieally wasn't. I
think ueveloping that minuset of uiban aieas aie not, the people theie aie
not uiffeient fiom eveiywheie else, kinu of bashes uown the inequality
pictuie that I think a lot of people. have. (peisonal inteiview)
The fact that theie weie moie Afiican-Ameiican people in the community is meie
coinciuence, this stuuent implies. Ceitainly, that shoulu not be helu against a
community, shoulu not cause someone to think it is uiffeient oi bau.
Anothei stuuent, Riley, ieflects aftei the Bamilton immeision anu expiesses
how his expeiience assuageu some of his anxieties about teaching stuuents of a
uiffeient iace:
0ne of my feais in teaching in an uiban school has always been that I will be
unable to connect with my stuuents. I am White anu iuentify with the miuule
class, wheieas many of my stuuents will likely not be White anu come fiom
lowei SES backgiounus. This is not a bau thing, meiely a challenge foi me to
show them that I caie anu that these uetails aie iiielevant to me. In Kozol's
book "Letteis to a Young Teachei" he wiote about many of these feais a
young teachei like myself might have. Be ieaffiimeu that a caiing anu
motivateu teachei will be able to ieach his oi hei stuuents in any setting. If
anything, he commenueu my uecision to teach in a school wheie goou
teacheis aie neeueu so gieatly. 0n oui 0iban Immeision I also founu that I
might fit in bettei in an uiban school bettei than I have thought that I woulu.
}ust fiom walking aiounu Bamilton eveiyone seemeu so much nicei anu
outgoing than I have been accustomeu to fiom my Chicago subuib anu
Niami. I founu the same in Cincinnati. Since people aie so fiienuly in these
places, why has the meuia uepicteu them as nothing but heaitless ciiminals.
0ui toui guiues |who weie community membeisj on the seconu uay also
uiscusseu theii high school teacheis. They uiu not uistinguish between those
who weie one iace oi anothei, but only between those who believeu in them
anu caieu veisus those who saw them (anu much of theii iace) as a lost
cause. Coming fiom a iacially homogeneous backgiounu as I have, this was
1u6

uplifting to heai that iace wasn't as much of a factoi as I hau thought it woulu
be in uiban schools. (stuuent essay)
Foi Riley, not only was he ielieveu to uiscovei that people in the community weie
nicei anu moie outgoing than he expecteu, nicei than in his community, even, but he
was paiticulaily ielieveu that his iace is iiielevant. While initially he thought his
iace might pose a challenge to teaching stuuents of anothei iace, these community
membeis confiimeu that Riley neeun't woiiy because they uo not uistinguish iace,
they only uistinguish who caies.
In both of the pieceuing cases, the stuuents seem to ueploy a "coloiblinu
naiiative." The plot of the coloiblinu naiiative says that people aie all the same,
shoulu be tieateu as inuiviuuals, anu shoulu not be tieateu uiffeiently accoiuing to
theii iace. To uistinguish people by iace is to be iacist. Racism woulu cease to exist
if people woulu stop noticing iace anu stop tieating people uiffeiently accoiuing to
iace. The cential chaiacteiization takes two foimsthe White peison who plays
the ethnic eveiyman, peifoiming cultuial appiopiiations of people of coloi; anu the
post-iacial, tianscenuent peison of coloi who may invoke elements of iacial piiue
but nevei publicly flaunts it anu nevei plays "the iace caiu," a common tiope of the
coloiblinu naiiative.
What explains these stuuents' use of coloiblinu language anu iueology. Peail
Rosenbeig aigues, "The toleiance of many White stuuents foi leaining about those
uiffeient fiom themselves in iace, cultuie, anu ethnicity appeais to be uepenuent on
the extent to which they can ieconstiuct those otheis in the image of themselves"
(Rosenbeig, 2uu4, p. 2S9). Likely, stuuents ueploy "sameness" naiiatives oi
univeisalist naiiatives like coloiblinuness because these aie the hegemonic iacial
naiiatives in contempoiaiy Ameiica (see Wise, 2u1u, foi example) anu because
stuuents have not been pioviueu with a naiiative alteinative that woulu allow them
to ieject iacism while at the same time iecognize the ways that iace is a salient
categoiy of peoples' lives. Stuuents know that iacism is bau anu that they aie not to
uisciiminate. Yet, they uo not have a way to unueistanu "the 0thei not as a categoiy
of a peison but as a piocess of uomination" (Rosenbeig, 2uu4, p. 2S9).
Consequently, "the peuagogical question iemainshow uo we builu on this
1u7

emotional iecognition of sameness towaiu a new intellectual unueistanuing oi
ciitique of uiffeiences in the piesence of coloi blinuness." (Rosenbeig, 2uu4, p.
261). That is the peuagogic challenge foi the 0TC going foiwaiu. Can it pioviue
alteinative naiiatives to its stuuents so they may acknowleuge that iace is a salient
aspect of stuuents' lives anu so they may ciitique iace as a piocess of uomination.
The hegemony of Whiteness unueimines helping stuuents ieject coloiblinu
iueology. White is, as Willinsky (1998) states, "a coloi that neeu not name itself" (p.
8). 0i, as Riley stateu in an assigneu essay foi the Empowei couise, in high school,
"I uiu not even know I hau a iace." Whiteness is the cultuial noim against which all
othei iaces aie constiucteu anu this is tiue even in the 0TC. In the final class of the
semestei, some of the stuuents noteu the uifficulty of wiiting about theii iuentities.
Impoitantly, notice that they iecognize that they have piivilege because of theii iace
but stiuggle to know how to uiscuss theii piivilege.
(Angel): "I founu the iuentity naiiative haiu, because I can talk about my
iuentity but it's ieally haiu to see the piivilege."
(Kenuall): "Ne too. I just staieu at my computei awhile. I was like, 'What
about this one. Anu what about this one.' I uiun't know. I hau tiouble. I
uiun't want to just be 'White Woman,' theie's moie to me than that. Anu it's
haiu to think about just the piivileges."
(Angel): "Yeah it's just so easy to accept the noim anu not talk about it."
These stuuents wanteu to talk about theii iuentity without being confineu by theii
iace; they paiticulaily uo not want to be ieuuceu to theii piivileges. A numbei of
othei stuuents concuiieu. Yet, they fail to iecognize that to not be ieuuceu to the
essence of a iacial categoiy is itself the ultimate piivilege affoiueu by theii
Whiteness.
Stuuents uo hint at a "White piivilege" naiiative: Whiteness is a iacial
categoiy that comes with inheient piivileges. These piivileges aie uneaineu.
Whites typically aie ignoiant of the piivileges they have anu see Whiteness as the
sociocultuial noim. Consequently, they often act to make 0theis moie like them
(see NcIntosh, 1997). Yet, as some stuuents note, "theie's moie to me than that."
They appaiently lack anti-iacist naiiatives that will allow them to own theii
1u8

piivileges without feeling owneu by them. Even the white piivilege naiiative may
fall shoit of the goal of woiking to subveit systems of iacial oppiession. Stuuents
neeu a cleaiei vision of White people uoing anti-iacist woik.
"= 86=573@96=
The naiiative cuiiiculum of the 0iban Teaching Cohoit is full of competing
naiiatives fiom which stuuents uiaw to talk about uiban life anu uiban schooling.
Yet, the scope of this stuuy is limiteu anu so one must be cautious about uiawing too
many geneializations. In paiticulai, this stuuy focuses on a single semestei of
stuuents' expeiience of the 0TC cuiiiculum. Consequently, establishing causal
ielationships is tenuousthat is, it is uifficult to isolate exactly what elements of the
piogiam, oi totality of elements, contiibute to stuuents' naiiations. The stuuy was
not uesigneu to uo so. Naking compaiisons acioss Cohoits is also uifficult. I
inteivieweu thiee stuuents fiom the fiist gioup of stuuents to complete the
piogiam, but they uiu not have entiiely the same cuiiiculai expeiiences. They uiu
not have the Empowei couises, foi example. Finally, it is impoitant not to tieat
stuuents' leaining as "finisheu," even as they giauuate. Ceitainly, some stuuents
may be moie ciitically minueu than otheis when they giauuate, but that uoes not
guaiantee they will continue to giow as theii caieei unfolus. Neithei uoes it mean
that a stuuent who seems less ciitical when she begins hei caieei will not become
moie ciitical with new expeiiences. The 0TC must be caieful not to fall into
iueological policing because it is conceineu that its giauuating stuuent has not
totally "gotten it" yet.


1u9

8-1;4.0 LG 86=573@96=@ 1=2 "Q;7951496=@ :60 4-. S3430.
In chaptei 1, I aigue that theie aie hegemonic commonsense naiiatives
about uiban life in the 0. S. anu that a lack of ciitique of these naiiatives
unueimines the possibility of tiansfoiming uiban euucation to bettei seive the
inteiests of uiban stuuents anu theii families, an example of what Fieiie
(2uuu197u) calls "naiiation sickness" (p. 71). Thioughout this uisseitation, then, I
have attempteu to unfolu some of the commonsense naiiatives about uiban life as
they ciiculate in Ameiican cultuie but especially as they aie iepiouuceu, meuiateu,
anu contesteu by pie-seivice teacheis in the 0iban Teaching Cohoit at Niami
0niveisity.
In the euucational ciitique of the Cohoit's naiiative cuiiiculum I constiuct in
Chaptei S, I uetail some of the complicateu ways 0iban Teaching Cohoit stuuents
make sense of the social anu mateiial iealities of uiban life anu euucation in the 0.S.,
the cential focus of this uisseitation. In each of the chaptei's main sections, I uiscuss
how stuuents naiiate in paiticulai ways. Foi example, in the fiist section, tiaffic
light politics, stuuents' naiiatives have begun to ieject neolibeial naiiatives of
uiban life that cast uiban spaces as empty, chaotic, anu woithy taigets of outsiue
investment. Rathei, theii naiiatives iecognize that uevelopment effoits have, in
many cases, uone haim to neighboihoou iesiuents anu have often faileu to meet the
community's neeus oi wishes. The stuuents iecognize that theie is economic
haiuship in the communities, but have begun to ciitique the commonsense
neolibeial naiiatives that locate that haiuship in the pathology of uiban people.
Insteau, stuuents have begun to ueploy community empathy naiiatives iooteu in
acting in soliuaiity with the community's inteiests.
Yet, stuuents' ciitique of commonsense naiiatives is not totalizing, as the
subsequent two sections of Chaptei S illustiate. 0ften, stuuents' naiiations
exhibiteu an iueological in-between space, what I call heugeu naiiatives. Stuuents
heugeu theii naiiatives by omitting the villain fiom the naiiative oi thiough vague
oi elusive iefeiences to an absent "they." Similaily, they heugeu theii naiiatives by
ciitiquing uominant neolibeial naiiatives that say poveity uoesn't mattei, that a
stuuent's economic ciicumstances have no beaiing on his oi hei euucation, yet
11u

concuiiently ueploying naiiatives of community empathy that show how a lack of
iesouices has ieal mateiial impact on stuuents' lives anu ability to succeeu in
school. Theii naiiations aie unsettleu. Similaily, when stuuents naiiate iace oi
class they have begun to ieject uominant naiiatives, yet in many cases they have
unsettleu countei-naiiatives. They ieject naiiatives that suggest that pooi stuuents
oi stuuents of coloi cannot leain; yet theii ciitique is lauen with coloiblinu anu
class-blinu naiiatives.
In this final chaptei, I ieflect biiefly on some of the implications of what I
leaineu fiom the naiiative cuiiiculum of the 0TC anu consiuei the consequences on
the Cohoit specifically anu (uiban) Teachei Euucation geneially. Laigely, this is a
mattei of oveicoming naiiation sickness, a ie-positioning of euucation away fiom
uehumanizing piactices of sociocultuial iepiouuction anu towaiu uemociatic
piaxis. To that enu, I echo Bennis Cailson's (2uu2) call foi a "piogiessive euucation
that encouiages ieflection on the mythologies that fiame anu oiganize the
piouuction of tiuth. These incluue oui own mythologies as well as those
mythologies embeuueu in both populai cultuie texts anu official school texts" (p.
18u). Funuamentally, piogiessive, uemociatic euucationif it is to holu any hope of
tiansfoiming cuiient inequitable social ielationsiequiies ciitique of the stoiies
we tell ouiselves anu the inteiests those stoiies seive.
S60 +.15-.0 (2351496=
"The uangei to an euucatoi, oi woulu-be euucatoi, is that he will be
socializeu into the existing institutions oi into the language geneiateu by them"
(Buebnei, 19741999, p. 184). If those existing institutions anu theii geneiative
language ieify anti-uemociatic piactices, invigoiateu by the hegemony of
neolibeialism, then the stakes aie tiuly high. The uominance of "high stakes"
accountability, stanuaiuizeu testing anu naiioweu cuiiiculum, anu anti-unionism all
exemplify the ieuuction of teaching to a meiely technical puisuit anu piouuce
concomitant soileu naiiatives. Teachei Euucation neeus new naiiatives.
Teachei Euucation's soileu naiiatives have epistemological anu peuagogical
implications. Incieasingly, teachei piepaiation is ieuuceu to a piofessional
vocational tiaining piogiam. Teachei piepaiation piogiams offei a menu of couise
111

offeiings anu expeiiences that agencies like The National Council foi Accieuitation
of Teachei Euucation (NCATE) anu state anu national goveinments piesciibe as
"best piactices" foi piepaiing new teacheis. The stuuents' euucational iole is to
consume these best piactices that they will latei tianspose into theii own teaching.
Both couisewoik anu fielu expeiiences (anu theii concomitant iequiiements) aie
intenueu piimaiily to give teacheis the "skills" they will neeu as teacheis anu
oppoitunities to piactice applying those skills. Stuuents aie iaiely iequiieu to think
ciitically about theii couisewoik oi fielu expeiiences beyonu the meie woiking-out
of technical issues (which appioach "woiks bettei."). Consiueiations of
sociocultuial issues aie maiginalizeu, tieateu (often by stuuents anu, in my
expeiience, moie often by faculty) as peiipheial to the "ieal" conceins of content
knowleuge, leaining theoiy, classioom management, anu so foith. 0ne may see this
mimickeu in many contempoiaiy teachei-tiaining piogiams like Teach foi Ameiica
anu on-line licensuie piogiams, which aie poiseu to ieplace tiauitional Teachei
Euucation piogiams.
0f couise, the 0iban Teaching Cohoit uoes not exist in a vacuum. It functions
within the existing stiuctuie of Teachei Euucation anu its guiuing uiscouises. Yet,
theie is gieat potential that the 0TC can invigoiate Teachei Euucation with new,
piogiessive naiiatives of uemociatic possibility. As Cailson aigues,
Piogiessivism is about leaining to think anu act in new ways, to leave the
safe haibois of the mythologies we have giown comfoitable anu secuie with,
anu to ie-sciipt anu ie-woik mythologies anu naiiatives in ways that open
up uemociatic possibilities foi the uevelopment of self anu cultuie. (Cailson,
2uu2, p. S)
The 0iban Teaching Cohoit can be just such a piogiessive pioject, one that calls into
question uominant naiiatives anu iueology. Foi example, the naiiatives of
community empathy iooteu in an iueology of community soliuaiity that I illustiateu
in Chaptei S coulu inject a new schema foi thinking about teacheis' inteiactions
with the communities in which they teach. Anu, one can hope that 0TC stuuents
actively anu ciitically engage theii peeis in theii othei Teachei Euucation classes oi
112

in theii jobs in uiban schools anu inject new naiiatives into eveiyuay uiscouise.
The 0TC must be intentional about scaffoluing its stuuents as ciitical leaueis.
Auuitionally, because teaching is a situateu piactice, it is ciucial that teachei
piepaiation begin to pioviue stuuents, whethei in the 0TC oi not, with
oppoitunities to ciitique the sociocultuial context in which teaching happens.
Teacheis in contempoiaiy Ameiica, especially those in uiban schools, aie
incieasingly unuei suiveillance anu subject to ue-piofessionalization. The 0iban
Teaching Cohoit in paiticulai, but all teachei piepaiation piogiams in geneial, must
equip theii teacheis with a language to iesist theii own continueu uehumanization
thiough the uominant schooling appaiatus.
As I note in Chaptei S, one may see eviuence that 0TC stuuents have inueeu
begun to ciitique uominant naiiatives. Yet, the heuging that I iuentify in theii
naiiatives suggests that, iathei than being "finisheu" oi "completeu" teachei-
subjects, they aie "in-piogiess." Theiis is a constant iueological settling, unsettling,
settling, unsettling, settling that exemplifies tiue euucation (iathei than tiaining).
Beboiah Biitzman aigues, foi example, that
the uominant mouel of teachei euucation is oiganizeu on this implicit theoiy
of immeuiate integiation: the univeisity pioviues the theoiies, methous, anu
skills; schools pioviue the classioom, cuiiiculum anu stuuents; anu the
stuuent teachei pioviues the inuiviuual effoit; all of which combine to
piouuce the finisheu piouuct of piofessional teachei. (Biitzman, 1986, p.
442)
Yet, as stuuents' heuging uemonstiates, anu my own expeiience confiims (see
Pieface), immeuiate integiation uoes not happen. Stuuents' leaining changes with
new expeiiences, new infoimation, anu new contexts. 0ne woulu hope that
teacheis continue to leain thioughout theii caieeis; concuiiently, one woulu hope
that what theii teachei euucation piogiam has uone is to initiate an oiientation
towaiu ciitique that will seive them thioughout theii caieeis.
S60 %0B1= (2351496= D06>01Q@
0iban teaching piogiams shoulu consiuei the following foi uesigning theii
cuiiiculum, ueveloping theii peuagogy, anu in selecting staff. Peihaps the most
11S

impoitant futuie step they can take is to pioviue stuuents with countei-hegemonic
naiiatives of uiban life anu uiban euucation. Concuiiently, it is ciucial that
stuuents leain to actively ieau, inteipiet, anu ueconstiuct naiiatives, what one may
call "naiiative metacognition." Especially, uiban euucation piogiams must
intentionally help stuuents "name the villain," to link cultuial iepiesentations of
uiban life anu people to unueilying unjust social ielations. Stuuents' (as futuie
teacheis) possibility to act moie justly, theii possibility of piaxis, iequiies such
ciitique (as I aigue in Chaptei S).
0iban euucation piogiams must attenu to helping theii stuuents navigate
away fiom theii foimeily "safe haibois" (Cailson, 2uu2) as they question theii
foimei naiiatives anu theii foimei iueological commitments. Foi example, as I note
in Chaptei S, 0TC stuuents have begun to ciitique theii pievious conceptions of the
woilu, which is unsettling to them as theii questioning places them in opposition to
uominant iueology but also the social stiuctuies that ieify uominant iueology. Yet,
stuuents also heuge theii naiiatives anu occupy an iueological in-between, not yet
fully able to leave the safe iueological haibois that have buoyeu them because the
new iueological wateis towaiu which the 0TC has uiawn them aie tuibiu anu the
stuuents aie not yet suie whethei they can be secuie in a new iueological
community, especially when they encountei significant blowback fiom family,
fiienus, peeis, piofessois, etc. when the stuuents ciitique publicly. 0iban euucation
piogiams like the 0TC must pioviue new, "safe" iueological communities that
scaffolu them as they abanuon foimei commitments that put them in opposition to
uominant cultuie.
The neeu to give teachei euucation stuuents, anu uiban euucation stuuents
specifically, new naiiatives of iace anu class aie especially impoitant given the
uemogiaphic impeiative (Banks, 2uu6)the fact that most 0TC stuuents aie White
anu miuule class, foi example. As I illustiate in Chaptei S, many stuuents have
begun to iecognize they have iace anu class piivilege, yet they iely on sameness
tiopes when they talk about inteiacting with stuuents anu communities of coloi.
This means the 0TC, anu similaily-oiienteu uiban euucation piogiams, must "help
constiuct a piogiessive, antiiacist white iuentity as an alteinative to the white
114

ethnic piiue shapeu by the iight wing" (Kincheloe & Steinbeig, 1998, p. 12).
Without antiiacist naiiatives to iely on, stuuents will iely on uominant iacial
naiiatives. 0iban euucation piogiams like the 0TC must continue to woik towaiu
the goal of "cieating a positive, piouu, attiactive, antiiacist white iuentity that is
empoweieu to tiavel in anu out of vaiious iacialethnic ciicles with confiuence anu
empathy" (Kincheloe & Steinbeig, 1998, p. 12). Below, I offei some suggestions that
coulu help accomplish this vision.
830095373Q @3>>.@496=@E Beie I offei a few suggestions foi the 0iban
Teaching Cohoit in the futuie in light of my ciitique. While specific to the 0TC, these
suggestions coulu be similaily implementeu in othei uiban euucation piogiams. I
lay them out as geneial cuiiiculai suggestions.
! Extenu the Empowei II couise to a full semestei to pioviue moie time foi
extenueu topical uiscussions anu ieflection.
Inject histoiy of neighboihoou movements (0vei-the-Rhine People's
Novement, foi example) anu community stoiies.
Auu "cultuie of powei" oi othei piogiessive naiiatives of social class
so stuuents have naiiatives to auopt iathei than meiely naiiatives to
ciitique, ieject (Belpit, 2uu6, foi example).
Inject stoiies of White people uoing anti-iacist woik as exemplais.
! Replace giaue-level oi subject aiea "methous" couise with couise(s) in
cultuially ielevant peuagogy so stuuents aie piepaieu to effectively engage
stuuents of coloi in uiban classiooms.
Co-teach the class with community mentois, univeisity faculty, uiban
classioom teachei.
Impoitant step towaiu stuuents syneigizing 0TC piogiam knowleuge,
subjectgiaue level content in applieu setting.
! Woik with Teachei Euucation uepaitment to allow 0TC stuuents to count
community fielu expeiience towaiu theii iequiieu fielu expeiience houis. As
cuiiently constituteu, 0TC stuuents typically uo these as "extia" houis, which
causes stiain on alieauy tight scheuules.
11S

! Suggest (iequiie.) stuuents to take classes that foiegiounu iace anu class
issues, cultuial stuuies.
Su

BWS S7u: Race anu Pop Cultuie in the 0. S.
EBL 282: Cultuial Stuuies, Powei, anu Euucation
EBL S22: Youth Subcultuies, Populai Cultuie, anu Nonfoimal
Euucation
FSW S62: Family Poveity
WuS S7S: Allies anu Activists
S60 :3430. @432CE This uisseitation is one of the fiist foimal stuuies about
the 0TC. Theiefoie, the possibility foi futuie ieseaich is wiue open. In the
immeuiate futuie, one of the most piessing ieseaich questions foi the Cohoit
conceins the efficacy of its giauuates in light of the piogiam's goals. Bow aie theii
expeiiences anu beliefs about uiban stuuents impacting theii piactice. Bo 0TC
giauuates peisist in the fielu. What aie theii impacts in theii piofessional
communities. Aie theii expeiiences anu countei-hegemonic naiiatives washeu out
as they stay in the fielu. Bo 0TC giauuates have positive impact on stuuents'
acauemic peifoimance. Bow uo 0TC stuuents conceive of notions of "the public" in
ielation to uiban teachingleaining. Bo they see themselves as membeis of
communities oi apait fiom them.
Auuitionally, one of the limitations of this stuuy is that it was not uesigneu
foi effective compaiison acioss cohoits (yeai to yeai within the 0TC), given that the
cohoit that just completeu stuuent teaching hau not expeiienceu the full piogiam as
the Empowei cohoit hau. Anu the stuuy was not uesigneu to make foimal
compaiisons between pie-seivice teacheis in the 0TC anu pie-seivice teacheis
outsiue the 0TC. Futuie stuuies might engage a compaiative analysis accoiuingly.
In fact, peihaps the most impoitant line of ieseaich foi the futuie, anu the
one towaiu which I feel most engageu at this moment, woulu investigate how the
teaching piofession is oi is not changing as a whole in light of the numeious
specializeu piogiams cieateu to piepaie teacheis. Bave these piogiams uone

Su
Couise suggestions baseu on scan of univeisity couise offeiings foi Fall 2u12. I have not seen
syllabi foi these couises.
116

anything to change uominant technical naiiatives of euucation oi have they meiely
intensifieu cultuial iepiouuction. Bave they uone anything to empowei teacheis,
especially those who seive vulneiable populations anu aie theiefoie most
vulneiable themselves, to help them iesist theii own uomination.
(;976>3.
As I complete this uisseitation, I am moie than fifteen yeais iemoveu fiom
the multicultuial euucation class in which I fiist encounteieu }onathan Kozol's woik
anu began to question many of my own assumptions (see Pieface). This
uisseitation stuuy continues, iathei than completes, my own intellectual jouiney.
As Naxine uieene says, "I am what I am not yet."
S1
Nuch of what I leaineu in this
stuuy iesonateu peisonally, especially given that most of the 0TC stuuents have
White, miuule-class backgiounus quite similai to my own. I founu stuuents'
stiuggles to ciitique anu theii naiiative heuging familiai; I empathize with what, to
me, is theii visceial uesiie to move beyonu wheie they aie cuiiently. We aie all
woiks in piogiess. I am encouiageu that the 0TC exists anu that stuuents have
embiaceu the piogiam. I believe it has alieauy alloweu them to ciitique theii own
euucational expeiiences anu assumptions in ways my own teachei euucation
piogiam uiu not. Bwayne Buebnei suggests that "Teaching. is to finu one's life anu
woik paiticipating in the foimation of anothei's stoiy, anu vice veisa" (Buebnei,
19871999, p. S82). As I embaik on the next phase of my own jouiney as
peuagogue anu ieseaichei, evei minuful of my stuuents' stoiies, wheie they
inteisect with oi vaiy fiom my own, I stanu committeu to teaching as a ciitical
intellectual activity. I stanu committeu to helping vaccinate teachei euucation fiom
naiiation sickness. I am what I am not yet, but I am on my way.

S1
I oiiginally heaiu this quoteu by a piofessoi in a uoctoial couise. I am unsuie of the piecise
citation, though I believe it can be tiaceu to uieene, N., Ayeis, W., & Nillei, }. L. (1998). M `)<.$ )(
X&%A G)5+,O Y&V)(+ b%++(+ &(8 $.+ ;(9)(),.+8 R1(*+%,&$)1(. New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
117

Refeiences
Abbate-vaughn, }., Fiechon, 0., & Wiight, B. L. (2u1u). Accomplisheu uiban teaching:
G.+1%= )($1 Z%&!$)!+, cd, 18S-192.
Auvameg, Inc. (2u12). City Bata, Bamilton, 0B. Retiieveu fiom http:www.city-
uata.comcityBamilton-0hio.html#ixzz1wNqIS8ib
Auvameg, Inc. (2u12). City Bata, Niuuletown, 0hio. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.city-uata.comcityNiuuletown-0hio.html#ixzz1wNpejvo7
Apple, N. (2uu1). _8"!&$)(< $.+ P%)<.$S 6&=O Y&%A+$,B ,$&(8&%8,B b18B &(8 ?(+L"&#)$=.
New Yoik: RoutleugeFalmei.
Apple, N. (2uu4). ?8+1#1<= &(8 !"%%)!"#"5 (S
iu
eu.). New Yoik: RoutleugeFalmei.
Anueison, L. & Stillman, }. (2u11). Stuuent teaching foi a ,>+!)&#)4+8 view of
piofessional piactice. 0ppoitunities to leain in anu foi uiban, high-neeus
schools. 01"%(&# 19 G+&!.+% _8"!&$)1(B ef(S), 446-464.
Anyon, }. (1997). b.+$$1 ,!.11#)(<O M >1#)$)!&# +!1(15= 19 "%7&( +8"!&$)1(&# %+91%5.
New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
Appauuiai, A. (2uu6). W+&% 19 ,5&## ("57+%,O M( +,,&= 1( $.+ <+1<%&>.= 19 &(<+%:
Buiham, NC: Buke 0niveisity Piess.
Baez, B. & Boyles, B. (2uu9). G.+ >1#)$)!, 19 )(L")%=O +8"!&$)1( %+,+&%!. &(8 $.+
P!"#$"%+ 19 ,!)+(!+S: Albany: State 0niveisity of New Yoik Piess.
Banks, }. A. (2uu6). Bemociacy, uiveisity, anu social justice: Euucating citizens foi
the public inteiest in a global age. In u. Lauson-Billings & W. F. Tate (Eus.),
_8"!&$)1( %+,+&%!. )( $.+ >"7#)! )($+%+,$O K1!)&# C",$)!+B &!$)1(B &(8 >1#)!= (pp.
141-1S7). New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
Baiton, K. C. & Levstik, L. S. (2uu4). G+&!.)(< .),$1%= 91% $.+ !1551( <118. Nahwah,
N}: Lawience Eilbaum Associates, Inc.
Benton, T. & Ciaib, I. (2uu1). Z.)#1,1>.= 19 ,1!)&# ,!)+(!+O G.+ >.)#1,1>.)!&#
91"(8&$)1(, 19 ,1!)&# $.1"<.$. New Yoik: Palgiave macmillan.
Biitzman, B. P. (1986). Cultuial myths in the making of a teachei: Biogiaphy anu
social stiuctuie in teachei euucation. N&%*&%8 _8"!&$)1(&# ^+*)+6B ge(4),
442-4S6.
118

Caiuinal, B. N. (2uu4). Bispelling the myth of moial bankiuptcy in Ameiican uiban
youth. In S. SooBoo & Social }ustice Consoitium (Eus.), _,,&=, 1( "%7&(
+8"!&$)1(O R%)$)!&# !1(,!)1",(+,,B !1##&71%&$)1(B &(8 $.+ ,+#9 (Pp. SS-SS).
Ciesskill, N}: Bampton Piess, Inc.
Cailson, B. (2uu2). `+&*)(< ,&9+ .&%71%,O G16&%8 & (+6 >%1<%+,,)*),5 )( M5+%)!&(
+8"!&$)1( &(8 >"7#)! #)9+: New Yoik: RoutleugeFalmei.
Centei foi Community Engagement in 0vei-the-Rhine. (2u1u). About 0s. Retiieveu
fiom http:aits.muohio.euucceabout.html
City of 0xfoiu, 0hio. (2u11). City of 0xfoiu. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.cityofoxfoiu.oig
Clanuinin, B. }. & Connelly, F. N. (2uuu). [&%%&$)*+ )(L")%=O _V>+%)+(!+ &(8 ,$1%= )(
L"&#)$&$)*+ %+,+&%!.. San Fiancisco: }ossey-Bass Publisheis.
Coben, B. C. (2uu2). Netaphois foi an euucative politics: "Common sense," "goou
sense," anu euucating auults. In C. Boig, }. Buttigieg, & P. Nayo (Eus.), b%&5,!)
&(8 +8"!&$)1( (p. 262- 29u). New Yoik: Rowman & Littlefielu Publisheis, Inc.
Cochian-Smith, N. (2uu4). -&#A)(< $.+ %1&8O ^&!+B 8)*+%,)$=B &(8 ,1!)&# C",$)!+ )(
$+&!.+% +8"!&$)1(. New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
Cole, T. (Naich 21, 2u12). The White Savioi Inuustiial Complex. G.+ M$#&($)!:
http:www.theatlantic.cominteinationalaichive2u12uSthe-white-
savioi-inuustiial-complex2S484S1
College Poitiait. (2u11). Niami 0niveisity College Poitiait. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.collegepoitiaits.oig0BN0
Ciesswell, }. W. (2uu7). h"&#)$&$)*+ )(L")%= T %+,+&%!. 8+,)<(O R.11,)(< &51(< 9)*+
&>>%1&!.+, (2
nu
eu): Thousanu 0aks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Belpit, L. (2uu6). ]$.+% >+1>#+@, !.)#8%+(O R"#$"%&# !1(9#)!$ )( $.+ !#&,,%115. New
Yoik: The New Piess.
Bepaitment of Teachei Euucation, Niami 0niveisity. (2u12). Teachei Euucation.
Retiieveu fiom http:www.units.muohio.euueapuepaitments
eutinuex.html
Biop-Inn Centei. (2u12). Statistics. Retiieveu fiom http:www.uiopinn.oigabout-
usstatisticsuefault.aspx
119

Buncan-Anuiaue, }. N .R. & Noiiell, E. (2uu8). G.+ &%$ 19 !%)$)!&# >+8&<1<=O
Z1,,)7)#)$)+, 91% 51*)(< 9%15 $.+1%= $1 >%&!$)!+ )( "%7&( ,!.11#,. New Yoik:
Petei Lang Publishing, Inc.
Button, T. A. (2u12, }anuaiy 1S). X1 =1" .&*+ & ,)<(E Retiieveu fiom http:tiuth-
out.oig
Button, T. A. (1999, }ulyAugust). Coipoiate libeialism in Cincinnati. i Y&<&4)(+.
Eisnei, E. W. (2uu2). G.+ +8"!&$)1(&# )5&<)(&$)1(O ]( $.+ 8+,)<( &(8 +*&#"&$)1( 19
,!.11# >%1<%&5, (S
iu
eu.): 0ppei Sauule Rivei, N}: Peaison Euucation, Inc.
Ellswoith, E. (1992). Why uoesn't this feel empoweiing. Woiking thiough the
iepiessive myths of ciitical peuagogy. In C. Luke & }. uoie (Eus.). W+5)(),5,
&(8 R%)$)!&# Z+8&<1<= (pp. 9u-119). New Yoik: Routleuge.
Feeuing Ameiica. (2u12). Bungei statistics, hungei facts, anu poveity facts.
Retiieveu fiom http:feeuingameiica.oighungei-in-ameiica.aspx
Fontana, B. (2uu2). Begemony anu ihetoiic: Political euucation in uiamsci. In C.
Boig, }. Buttigieg, & P. Nayo (Eus.), b%&5,!) &(8 +8"!&$)1( (p. 2S-4u). New
Yoik: Rowman & Littlefielu Publisheis, Inc.
Fieiie, P. (2uuu197u). Z+8&<1<= 19 $.+ 1>>%+,,+8. New Yoik: Continuum
Inteinational Publishing uioup Inc.
uay, u. (2uuu). R"#$"%&##= %+,>1(,)*+ $+&!.)(<O G.+1%=B %+,+&%!.B T >%&!$)!+. New
Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
uilbeit, S. (1997). The "foui commonplaces of teaching": Piospective teacheis'
beliefs about teaching in uiban schools: ;%7&( ^+*)+6B fd(2), 81-96.
uiioux, B. A. (198S). G.+1%= &(8 %+,),$&(!+ )( +8"!&$)1(O M >+8&<1<= 91% $.+
1>>1,)$)1(. Boston: Beigin & uaivey Publisheis, Inc.
uoiski, P. (Apiil 2uu8). The myth of the cultuie of poveity. _8"!&$)1(&# `+&8+%,.)>B
eg(7), S2-S6.
uiamsci, A. (2uu81971). (Eu. anu Tians. by Q. Boaie & u.N. Smith). K+#+!$)1(, 9%15
$.+ Z%),1( [1$+711A,. New Yoik: Inteinational Publisheis.
uiay, P. S., Williamson, }. B., Kaip, B. A., & Balphin, }. R. (2uu7). G.+ %+,+&%!.
)5&<)(&$)1(O M( )($%18"!$)1( $1 L"&#)$&$)*+ &(8 L"&($)$&$)*+ 5+$.18,. New
Yoik: Cambiiuge 0niveisity Piess.
12u

uieene, N., Ayeis, W., & Nillei, }. L. (1998). M #)<.$ )( 8&%A $)5+,O Y&V)(+ b%++(+ &(8
$.+ "(9)(),.+8 !1(*+%,&$)1(. New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
Babeiman, N. (1996). The peuagogy of poveity veisus goou teaching. In W. Ayeis &
P. Foiu (Eus.). R)$= A)8,B !)$= $+&!.+%,O %+>1%$, 9%15 $.+ 9%1($ %16 (pp. 118-1Su).
New Yoik: The New Piess.
Babeiman, N. (2uu4). K$&% $+&!.+%,O G.+ )8+1#1<= &(8 7+,$ >%&!$)!+ 19 +99+!$)*+
$+&!.+%, 19 8)*+%,+ !.)#8%+( &(8 =1"$. )( >1*+%$=. Bouston, TX: The Babeiman
Euucational Founuation.
Babeimas, }. (19711968). 3(16#+8<+ &(8 N"5&( ?($+%+,$,. Boston: Beacon Piess.
Baymes, S. N. (199S). ^&!+B !"#$"%+B &(8 $.+ !)$=O M >+8&<1<= 91% 7#&!A "%7&( ,$%"<<#+.
Albany, New Yoik: State 0niveisity of New Yoik Piess.
Bemmings, A. (2u12). ;%7&( .)<. ,!.11#,O W1"(8&$)1(, &(8 >1,,)7)#)$)+,. New Yoik:
Routleuge.
Benke, S. (2uuS). 0iban euucation, bioaucast news, anu multicultuial spectatoiship.
In u. Bimitiiauis, & B. Cailson (Eus.), Z%15),+, $1 A++>O R"#$"%&# ,$"8)+,B
8+51!%&$)! +8"!&$)1(B &(8 >"7#)! #)9+ Dpp. 227-24S). New Yoik:
RoutleugeFalmei.
Bope Bouse Rescue Nission. (2u12). Bomepage. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.missionhope.oiginuex.html
Boivat, E. N. & 0'Connoi, C. (Eus.). (2uu6). U+=1(8 &!$)(< 6.)$+O ^+9%&5)(< $.+
8+7&$+ 1( 7#&!A ,$"8+($ &!.)+*+5+($: Lanham, NA: Rowman & Littlefielu
Publisheis, Inc.
Bowaiu, u. (1999). -+ !&(@$ $+&!. 6.&$ 6+ 81(@$ A(16O -.)$+ $+&!.+%,B 5"#$)%&!)&#
,!.11#,. New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
Buebnei, B. E. (1999). Teaching as a vocation |1987j. In v. Billis (Eu.), G.+ #"%+ 19 $.+
$%&(,!+(8+($O R1##+!$+8 _,,&=, 19 X6&=(+ _: N"+7(+% (pp. S79-S87). Nahwah,
N}: Lawience Eilbaum Associates, Inc.
Buebnei, B. E. (1999). Towaiu a iemaking of cuiiiculai language |1974j. In v. Billis
(Eu.), G.+ #"%+ 19 $.+ $%&(,!+(8+($O R1##+!$+8 +,,&=, 19 X6&=(+ _: N"+7(+% (pp.
184-187). Nahwah, N}: Lawience Eilbaum Associates, Inc.
121

}ohnson, R., Chambeis, B., Raghuiam, P., & Tincknell, E. (2uu4). G.+ >%&!$)!+ 19
!"#$"%&# ,$"8)+,. Thousanu 0aks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
}oseph, }. (2uuS). K1!)&# $.+1%=O M( )($%18"!$)1(. New Yoik: New Yoik 0niveisity
Piess.
Keiby, S. (Naich 17, 2u12). 1 in S Black men go to piison. The most 1u uistuibing
facts about iacial inequality in the 0.S. justice system. M#$+%[+$.
http:www.alteinet.oiguiugs1S4S871_in_S_black_men_go_to_piison_the
_1u_most_uistuibing_facts_about_iacial_inequality_in_the__u.s._ciiminal_justi
ce_system
Kincheloe, }. L. (2uu4). R%)$)!&# >+8&<1<= >%)5+%. New Yoik: Petei Lang Publishing,
Inc.
Kincheloe, }. L. & Steinbeig, S. R. (1998). Auuiessing the ciisis of whiteness:
Reconfiguiing white iuentity in a peuagogy of whiteness. In }. L. Kincheloe, S.
R. Steinbeig, N. N. Rouiiquez, & R. E. Chennault (Eus.). -.)$+ %+)<(O X+>#1=)(<
6.)$+(+,, )( M5+%)!& (pp. S-Su). New Yoik: St. Naitin's Piess.
Kozol, }. (1991). K&*&<+ )(+L"&#)$)+,O R.)#8%+( )( M5+%)!&@, ,!.11#,. New Yoik:
BaipeiPeiennial.
Lauson-Billings, u. (1994). G.+ 8%+&5A++>+%,O K"!!+,,9"# $+&!.+%, 19 M9%)!&(J
M5+%)!&( !.)#8%+(: San Fiancisco, CA: }ossey-Bass.
Lauson-Billings, u. (2uu1). R%1,,)(< 1*+% $1 R&(&&(O G.+ C1"%(+= 19 (+6 $+&!.+%, )(
8)*+%,+ !#&,,%115,. San Fiancisco: }ossey-Bass Inc.
Lauson-Billings, u. (2uu4). Lanuing on the Wiong Note: The Piice We Paiu foi
U%16(. _8"!&$)1(&# ^+,+&%!.+%: DjdF7, S-1S.
Lathei, P. (2uu6). Paiauigm piolifeiation as a goou thing to think with: teaching
ieseaich in euucation as a wilu piofusion. ?($+%(&$)1(&# 01"%(&# 19 h"&#)$&$)*+
K$"8)+, )( _8"!&$)1(B Hd(1), SS-S7.
Lave, }. & Wengei, E. (1991). K)$"&$+8 #+&%()(<O `+<)$)5&$+ >+%)>.+%&# >&%$)!)>&$)1(.
Lonuon: Cambiiuge 0niveisity Piess.
Lazaie, B. (2uu1). Cincinnati anu the X-Factoi. R1#"57)& 01"%(&#),5 ^+*)+6, ck(2),
4S-4S.
Leonaiuo, Z. & Buntei, N. (2uu7). Imagining the uiban: The politics of iace, class,
122

anu schooling. In W. T. Pink anu u. W. Noblit (Eus.), ?($+%(&$)1(&# .&(8711A 19
"%7&( +8"!&$)1( (pp. 779-8u2). Boiuiecht, Netheilanus: Spiingei.
Lipsitz, u. (2uu6). G.+ Z1,,+,,)*+ )(*+,$5+($ )( 6.)$+(+,,O N16 6.)$+ >+1>#+ >%19)$
9%15 )8+($)$= >1#)$)!,. Philauelphia: Temple 0niveisity Piess.
Lyons, W., & Biew, }. (2uu6). Z"(),.)(< ,!.11#,O W+&% &(8 !)$)4+(,.)> )( M5+%)!&(
>"7#)! +8"!&$)1(. Ann Aiboi: 0niveisity of Nichigan Piess.
Naish, C. }. & Willis, u. (2uu7). R"%%)!"#"5O M#$+%(&$)*+ &>>%1&!.+,B 1(<1)(< ),,"+,
(4
th
eu.): 0ppei Sauule Rivei, N}: Peaison Euucation, Inc.
NcCutcheon, u. (1979). Euucational ciiticism: Nethous anu applications. 01"%(&# 19
R"%%)!"#"5 G.+1%)4)(<, H(2), S-2S.
NcCutcheon, u. (1982). Euucational ciiticism: ieflections anu ieconsiueiations.
01"%(&# 19 R"%%)!"#"5 G.+1%)4)(<, c(2), 171-176.
NcIntosh, P. (1997). White piivilege anu male piivilege: A peisonal account of
coming to see coiiesponuence thiough woik in women's stuuies. In R.
Belgauo & }. Stefancic (Eus.). R%)$)!&# -.)$+ K$"8)+,O `11A)(< 7+.)(8 $.+
5)%%1%. Philauelphia: Temple 0niveisity Piess.
Niami 0niveisity. (2u11). About Niami. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.miami.muohio.euuabout-miamiinuex.html
Niami 0niveisity. (2u11). Quick Facts. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.miami.muohio.euuabout-miamiquick-factsinuex.html
NSNBC.com. (2u12). Bateline. Retiieveu fiom http:www.msnbc.msn.com
iuSuS26uu
Nuiiell, P. C., }i. (2uu1). R155"()$= $+&!.+%O M (+6 9%&5+61%A 91% +99+!$)*+ "%7&(
$+&!.)(<. New Yoik: Teacheis College Piess.
National Centei foi Euucation Statistics. (2u12). Peicentage uistiibution of school
teacheis, by iaceethnicity, school type, anu selecteu school chaiacteiistics:
2uu7-u8 |Table 2j. Retiieveu fiom http:nces.eu.govpubs2uu9
2uu9S24tablessassu7u8_2uu9S24_t12n_u2.asp
National Centei foi Euucation Statistics. (2u12). Peicentage uistiibution of school
teacheis by age categoiy, aveiage anu meuian age of teacheis, anu
12S

peicentage uistiibution of teacheis, by sex, school type, anu selecteu school
chaiacteiistics: 2uu7-u8 |Table Sj. Retiieveu fiom http:nces.eu.gov
pubs2uu92uu9S24tablessassu7u8_2uu9S24_t12n_uS.asp
Nieto, S. (2uu4). Racism, uisciimination, anu expectations of stuuents' achievement.
In A. S. Canastiaii & B. A. Nailowe (Eus.), _8"!&$)1(&# 91"(8&$)1(,O M(
&($.1#1<= 19 !%)$)!&# %+&8)(<, (pp. 44-6S). Thousanus 0aks, CA: Sage
Publications.
0ffice of Community Engagement & Seivice, Niami 0niveisity. (2u12). 0iban
Plunge. Retiieveu fiom http:www.units.muohio.euu
seiviceleainingnoueS26
0ffice of Institutional Reseaich, Niami 0niveisity (2u12). Fact Sheet, 2u11.
Retiieveu fiom http:www.units.muohio.euuoiiFact_Sheetsinuex.htm
0hio0klahoma Beaist Television, Inc. (2u12). WLWT homepage. Retiieveu fiom
http:www.wlwt.com
0kun, T. (2u1u). G.+ +5>+%1% .&, (1 !#1$.+,O G+&!.)(< &71"$ %&!+ &(8 %&!),5 $1
>+1>#+ 6.1 81(@$ 6&($ $1 A(16. Chailotte, NC: Infoimation Age Publishing, Inc.
0mi, N. & Winant, B. (1994). ^&!)&# 91%5&$)1( )( $.+ ;()$+8 K$&$+,O W%15 $.+ Hdek, $1
$.+ Hddk, (2
nu
eu.). New Yoik: Routleuge.
Payne, R. K. (2uuS). M 9%&5+61%A 91% "(8+%,$&(8)(< >1*+%$=. Bighlanus, TX: Aha!
Piocess.
Peei, L., Nalthouse, E., Nesbitt, N., & Caluei, B. (2uu7). G.+ #1!&# GQ (+6, +V>+%)+(!+O
N16 $1 6)( *)+6+%, 7= 91!",)(< 1( +(<&<+5+($. http:www.meuia
managementcentei.oig
Popkewitz, T.S. & Fenulei, L. (Eus.). (1999). Pieface. In R%)$)!&# $.+1%)+, )( +8"!&$)1(O
R.&(<)(< $+%%&)(, 19 A(16#+8<+ &(8 >1#)$)!, (pp. xii-xv). New Yoik: Routleuge.
Piuitt, L. P. (2uu4). The achievement (k)not: Whiteness anu "Black
unueiachievement." In N. Fine, L. Weis, L. P. Piuitt, & A. Buins (Eus.), ]99
6.)$+O ^+&8)(<, 1( >16+%B >%)*)#+<+B &(8 %+,),$&(!+ (2
nu
eu., pp. 2SS-244). New
Yoik: Routleuge.
Pugh, T. (2u11, Novembei 21). N)<.+,$ )(!15+J)(+L"&#)$= $%&!$ )( M5+%)!& ),
<+($%)9=)(<. NcClatchy Newspapeis. Retiieveu fiom http:mcclatchyuc.com
124

Quantz, R. A. (n.u.). K)$"&$)1(&# 8)&#1<"+ &, & 7&,), 91% $%&(,&!$)1(&# ,1!)&# $.+1%=O
^+!1(,$%"!$)(< Y+&8)&( &(8 U&A.$)()&( ,+5)1$)!,. 0npublisheu manusciipt.
Quantz, R. A. (2u11). ^)$"&#, &(8 ,$"8+($ )8+($)$= )( +8"!&$)1(O ^)$"&# !%)$)L"+ 91% &
(+6 >+8&<1<=. (With Teiiy 0'Connoi anu Petei Nagolua). New Yoik:
Palgiave Nacmillan.
Roeuigei, B. R. (1999). G.+ 6&<+, 19 6.)$+(+,,O ^&!+ &(8 $.+ 5&A)(< 19 $.+ M5+%)!&(
61%A)(< !#&,,. Lonuon: veiso.
Rosenbeig, P. N. (2uu4). Coloi blinuness in teachei euucation: An optical uelusion.
In N. Fine, L. Weis, L. P. Piuitt, & A. Buins (Eus.), ]99 6.)$+O ^+&8)(<, 1(
>16+%B >%)*)#+<+B &(8 %+,),$&(!+ (2
nu
eu., pp. 2S7-272). New Yoik: Routleuge.
Rothstein, S. W. (1994). K!.11#)(< $.+ >11%O M ,1!)&# )(L")%= )($1 $.+ M5+%)!&(
+8"!&$)1(&# +V>+%)+(!+. Westpoit, CT: Beigin & uaivey.
School of Euucation, Bealth, & Society. (2u12). 0iban Teaching Cohoit. Retiieveu
fiom http:www.units.muohio.euuuibancohoit
St. Pieiie, E. A. (2uu6). Scientifically baseu ieseaich in euucation: Epistemology anu
ethics. M8"#$ _8"!&$)1( h"&%$+%#=. ge(4), pp. 2S9-266.
Saffolu, F. & Longwell-uiice, B. (2uu8). White Women Piepaiing to Teach in 0iban
Schools: Looking foi Similaiity anu Finuing Biffeience. ;%7&( ^+*)+6B ck, 186-
2u9.
Sheiiuan, N. (2u11, Septembei 28). R)(!)((&$)@, jRXRO M 518+# 91% "%7&(
$%&(,91%5&$)1(. 0iban Lanu Institute. Retiieveu fiom
http:uibanlanu.uli.oigAiticles2u11SeptembeiSheiiuanCincinnati
volosinov, v. N. (1986). Y&%V),5 &(8 $.+ >.)#1,1>.= 19 #&(<"&<+ (L. Natejka & I. R.
Titunik, Tians.). Cambiiuge, NA: Baivaiu 0niveisity Piess.
Walkei, E. (2uu7). Pieseivice teacheis' peiceptions of mathematics euucation in
uiban schools. G.+ ;%7&( ^+*)+6B DjdFS, S19-S4u.
Walkei, K. L. (Baynes). (2u1u). Beficit thinking anu the effective teachei. _8"!&$)1(
&(8 ;%7&( K1!)+$=B ll(X), 1-22.
Watson, B. (2u11). "0iban, but not too uiban": 0npacking teacheis' uesiie to teach
uiban stuuents. 01"%(&# 19 G+&!.+% _8"!&$)1(B ef(1), 2S-S4.
12S

Weyeimann, B., Skoll, }., Chilcott, L. & Kimball, B. (Piouuceis), & uuggenheim, B.
(Biiectoi). (2u1u). -&)$)(< 91% PK">+%5&(S |Notion Pictuiej. 0niteu States:
Paiamount vantage.
Willinsky, }. (1998). `+&%()(< $1 8)*)8+ $.+ 61%#8O _8"!&$)1( &$ +5>)%+@, +(8.
Ninneapolis, NN: 0niveisity of Ninnesota Piess.