As I was writing my novel…

…I was also writing my graduate thesis. 😱😭

I had started writing the novel (which was probably the fifth or sixth freakin’ rewrite) back in 2020. That was a lot. But I did it. 🥳🎉

So, I’m sharing the graduate thesis that I have written and finished this past summer. The major theme of my dissertation is critical race theory (CRT), which is very timely with the current news of American parents fighting against CRT being used in the K-12 curriculums. The “fight” will lead to yet another generation of children hidden from the truths of racism in our country.

You can download and read it for free at the Hamline University Digital Commons.

https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/4533/

Title: Critical Race Theory: Measuring Anti-Black Sentiment In South Korean English Education

Summary/Abstract: This research study examines how anti-Black sentiment influences Black teachers’ experiences in South Korea, using the critical race theory (CRT) framework to analyze various forms of anti-Black sentiment (ABS) and explore correlations between major tenets of CRT and types of ABS. Previous research has concluded that Black teachers continue to face overt racism in South Korea. Also, there continues to be a lack of empathy or disinterest in discussing racism in Korea. Unfortunately, the amount of research that focuses on the experiences of Black teachers teaching English in East Asia, primarily South Korea, is scarce. This study will add to the lack of research in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) concerning the issues of anti-Black sentiment in Korea. I used data from a survey of ten (10) participants to measure instances of anti-Black sentiment that teachers experienced. In addition, more data was collected from a follow-up, semi-structured interview of two (2) participants exploring how forms of ABS correlate to eight tenets of critical race theory: interest convergence, critique of liberalism, storytelling, revisionist history, structural determinism, racial intersections, essentialism & anti-essentialism, and cultural nationalism/separatism. The survey and interview findings indicate that 80% of the participants experience ABS in Korea. Furthermore, Korean nationalism intertwined with White supremacy ideologies exported through imperialism is rooted in anti-Black sentiment. Overall, the findings show that critical race theory can be applied in any cultural context to deconstruct racist ideology and challenge English programs that lack proper multicultural education.

Image Source: Link

Advertisement