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Constructing race in white spaces of Dutch education (1968–2017)

Maria Luce Sijpenhof (Faculty of Education, University of Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá de Henares, Spain)

History of Education Review

ISSN: 0819-8691

Article publication date: 3 November 2020

Issue publication date: 5 October 2021

322

Abstract

Purpose

The key purpose of this paper is to explore how teachers' historical constructions of race and racism may reify whiteness in Dutch classrooms. How has whiteness contributed to how teachers understand and teach race and (historical) racism in white educational spaces in the years 1968–2017?

Design/methodology/approach

Interview data are obtained from a selection of Dutch secondary school (former) teachers, mostly history teachers, who have taught in the period between 1968–2017 (N = 28). Grounded theory and critical discourse analysis are used for analytical purposes.

Findings

The findings reveal that most teachers minimize and distort (historical) racism and its connection to the normalization of whiteness in the Netherlands. These teachers are constantly (re)constructing race based on their own histories, which silences race. This implicates contemporary educational spaces in numerous ways. Among other things, teachers normalize whiteness, while racializing the “other”, they explain racial inequities by reference to factors that exclude racism, and perpetuate whiteness through their teaching.

Originality/value

While in the USA, critical scholars have long provided evidence for racism in educational contexts, racism in Dutch education remains largely unexamined. This paper offers a critical perspective on teachers' racial contributions.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Challenges of Contested Spaces: Injustices and their Legacies in Educational History”, guest edited by Beth Marsden and Matilda Keynes.

Citation

Sijpenhof, M.L. (2021), "Constructing race in white spaces of Dutch education (1968–2017)", History of Education Review, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 115-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/HER-05-2020-0030

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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