Colour-Blind: Discursive Repertoires Teachers Used to Story Racism and Aboriginality in Urban Prairie Schools

This qualitative study explores how teachers' constructions of racism consistently minimized its pervasiveness in the school. Teachers constructed racism as individual not systemic, construed it as a phenomenon of places outside the school, and attributed responsibility for addressing racism to other people, particularly Aboriginal populations. Based on written responses from 95 Canadian Prairie teachers from two schools, this research examines the discourses teachers employed to narrate racism, particularly with relation to Aboriginal students. While there were some differences between inner city and suburban teachers, teachers from both environments followed discursive repertoires that absolved themselves of responsibility for addressing racism and maintained the colour-blind image of education. Interrogating these discursive repertoires exposes the systems of denial that block meaningful action upon racialized inequalities and prevent the development of a truly inclusive educational environment. This underlines the need for expanded anti-racist professional development to support critical racial reflexivity among in-service teachers. Keywords: racism in education; critical whiteness studies; in-service teachers; Aboriginal education