Keywords

Smartness, Whiteness, Yearbooks

Abstract

This article explores the way that discourses of smartness and whiteness are produced and reproduced in schooling. Using an approach grounded in narra- tive research, I explore the convergences and contradictions between my own educational autobiography and the representations of schooling found in my school pictures and yearbooks. In my analysis, I argue that white supremacy played an important role in the construction of my own story of smartness throughout my primary and secondary schooling experiences. I also argue that yearbooks form powerful “artifacts of smartness” (Hatt, 2011, p. 448) that can be used to interpret and interrogate personal experiences as well as larger societal discourses of smartness and whiteness in schooling.

Original Publication Citation

Bybee, E. R. (2016) Stories of smartness and whiteness in school pictures and yearbooks. Equity & Excellence in Education. 48 (4) 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2015.1086246