A Pedagogy of Anticapitalist Antiracism

Book excerpt: Argues that the economic system itself is culpable in maintaining our oppressive educational status quo. Through an analysis of whiteness, capitalism, and teacher education, A Pedagogy of Anticapitalist Antiracism sheds light on the current conditions of public education in the United States. We have created an environment wherein market-based logics of efficiency, lowering costs, and increasing returns have worked to disadvantage those populations most in need of educational opportunities that work to combat poverty. This book traces the history of whiteness in the United States with an explicit emphasis on the ways in which the economic system of capitalism functions to maintain historical practices that function in racist ways. Practitioners and researchers alike will find important insights into the ways that the history of white racial identity and capitalism in the United States impact our present reality in schools. Casey concludes with a discussion of “revolutionary hope” and possibilities for resistance to the barrage of dehumanizing reforms and privatization engulfing much of the contemporary educational landscape. “This book is groundbreaking. It stands alone in its sophisticated use and explanation of theory, praxis, and their interrelationship in the field of critical whiteness studies.” — Jeremy N. Price, author of Against the Odds: The Meaning of School and Relationships in the Lives of Six Young African-American Men