Using Anti-Racism to Challenge Whiteness in Educational Leadership

The purpose of this chapter is to review the emerging research discourse on anti-racism in educational leadership preparation and provide recommendations for how the field can continue to expand research and practice in this arena. While robust scholarship on social justice-oriented educational leadership has developed in the past decade, limited attempts have been made to deconstruct whiteness in educational leadership. It is essential to build educational leaders' capacity to resist whiteness and white supremacy in educational institutions and communities. However, developing a nuanced understanding of whiteness as both a racial discourse and performance requires quality leadership preparation. One promising lens for which this can be accomplished is anti-racist educational leadership. Anti-racism is a systemic effort to eliminate racism in ideology and practice in order to achieve racial equity for communities of color. The authors draw on existing and emerging research to pinpoint strategies for cultivating anti-racist leadership epistemologies and practices to challenge the racial status quo. This chapter examines the kinds of structures educational leaders must implement in both higher education and PK-12 schooling contexts to more fully commit to an anti-racist educational leadership praxis that challenges whiteness and fundamentally reconstitutes what educational leadership is as well as explicitly addresses its role in dismantling racially oppressive educational systems.