Surrendering to institutional forces: how white high school teachers' alignment with school structures prevents meaningful engagement with Montana's Indian education for all

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Title Surrendering to institutional forces: how white high school teachers' alignment with school structures prevents meaningful engagement with Montana's Indian education for all
Publication Type dissertation
School or College College of Education
Department Education, Culture & Society
Author De La Mare, Danielle M
Date 2010-08
Description This dissertation seeks to address the lacking educational research around White in-service teachers' multicultural education practice. I use Lawrence-Lightfoot's (1997; 2005) qualitative research methodology "portraiture" in order to illuminate the contextual factors influencing teachers' working worlds as they attempt to engage multiculturalism in their classrooms. Specifically, this research analyzes White social studies teachers' conceptualizations, practice, and engagement of American Indian Studies in accordance with Montana's state-wide mandate, "Indian Education for All" (IEFA) and finds that larger school functions, procedures, and policies actively squelch teachers' ability to meaningfully engage IEFA. The research here demonstrates that the ways teachers position themselves against larger school structures disallow deep engagement with Indigenous perspectives and in fact, encourage a monocultural teaching approach. Through the lenses of Whiteness Theory and Tribal Critical Race Theory, this study finds that despite the efforts of IEFA advocates and staff, school and classroom functions protect White space and privilege while colonizing Indian space.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject American Indian studies; Critical multicultural education; Indian education for all; Tribal critical race theory; White teachers; Whiteness theory; Montana
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name PhD
Language eng
Rights Management ©Danielle M. De La Mare
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 6,632 Bytes
Identifier us-etd2,160030
Source original in Marriott Library Special Collections ; LB7.5 2010 .D44
ARK ark:/87278/s6kd2cm9
Setname ir_etd
ID 194114
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6kd2cm9
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