Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Public Policy

Advisor/Mentor

Zajicek, Anna M.

Committee Member

Hunt, Valerie H.

Second Committee Member

Fields, LaShawnda N.

Third Committee Member

Jordan, Lorien S.

Keywords

Critical Race Theory; Critical Whiteness Studies; Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This research examines whiteness in education policymaking through a three-article dissertation, contributing to the broader understanding of how whiteness manifests across education policy and legislative discourse. The first article presents a comprehensive scoping review of critical whiteness studies (CWS) in education policy research. Using CWS tenets such as whiteness as property and colorblind racial ideologies, the analysis identifies themes of manipulated discourse, the economics of whiteness in education, and the protection of whiteness. This study anchors the second and third studies, which examine whiteness ideologies at play within the education policymaking discourse of the American Southeast. The second article addresses a knowledge gap by exploring state-level policymaking discourse, focusing on Tennessee’s anti-critical race theory (CRT) policy actions between 2021 and 2023. Guided by the research questions, this critical discourse analysis identifies the presence of whiteness ideologies throughout the policymaking process and is particularly embedded, while occasionally overlapping, in discourses of preservation, free expression, and urgency. The study also highlights the centrality of counternarratives through resistance discourse. The third article provides a comparative analysis of Tennessee and Arkansas to understand the role of whiteness ideologies in anti-CRT legislative discourse as a reflection of the broader moral panic in education conservatism. This comparison offers insight into the distinct expressions of whiteness ideologies regionally, the tenacity of resistance, and how these findings contribute to the national discourse within the anti-CRT movement. Several key findings emerge across the three articles. In each study, whiteness ideologies demonstrated a deep entanglement with education policy at all phases of the policymaking process. The particular shade of whiteness ideology shifts according to context and power relations, but the underlying need to protect whiteness by maintaining its invisibility remains a constant. In so doing, white supremacy maintains its hegemonic position in educational systems. Moreover, the unyielding resistance to these policy actions is active in both states and across education policy research. Lawmakers and stakeholders engage both direct and indirect strategies to challenge the whiteness ideologies in anti-CRT bills. This research contributes understanding to the intersection of education policy, legislative discourse, and critical whiteness studies by highlighting the importance of examining whiteness in education policy to illuminate and resist white supremacy in educational systems. While the battles continue to reshape and adopt new forms, the fight over curricular control and white-centric values continues across the Southeast and across the nation. The resistance continues.

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