Post-Racialism in the K-12 and Higher Education Arenas: The Politics of Education in the Obama Administration Era
Guest Editors: Enrique Alemán, Andrea Rorrer (University of Utah) and Laurence Parker (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Peabody Journal of Education-Special Issue on the Politics of Education Call for Manuscripts

We, like many of our colleagues, noticed how the political discourse shifted swiftly after the election of the 44th President of the U.S., Barack Obama, in November 2008. Race and racism are topics typically silenced, muted, and/or re-framed toward a discussion of colorblindness. Yet, the historic election of the nation’s first African American president has prompted increased calls to “move past race.” As the nation’s electorate has been praised by some for “not seeing color” for their support of the first President of color, discussions of systemic and institutionalized racism and subsequent inequities have been displaced by claims of a new “post-racial” society. Although proclamations of an end to race and racism are prevalent today, the educational experience for a majority of students of color continues to be mired in inequality and a lack of educational opportunity.
In the study of educational politics, race, and inequity, we are acutely aware of how political discourse and subsequent research and policies are framed by elected officials, political commentators, and intellectuals in the public sphere. Consequently, here we seek to recast our gaze upon power, privilege, policy, and values in the educational process and seek to center discussions of race and contextualization of educational research with this historic election in mind.

In this special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, we ask:
1) What is the state of educational politics in the Era of Obama?
2) How is race and racism manifested in educational settings in the U.S. and how has a “post-racial” agenda provided avenues or barriers to educational equity and equal educational opportunities?
3) What are the racialized experiences of students of color and how do current policies impact their schooling?
4) What political values and assumptions frame the debate about the educational opportunities that exist for students of color, including the achievement gap between them and white students? And
5) How do the values and assumptions that underlie education today maintain inequities?

Some of the themes we are hoping authors will address are as follows:
• Structural/Institutional inequalities: how have structural and/or institutional racial hierarchies maintained inequities throughout the educational process? How has the politics of education played a part in this?

• Power and racial hierarchies: What have been the roles of the major political special interests and individuals in maintaining inequities in education?
• Concepts of racism: How has racism been defined as unconscious or being part of a cognitive psychological schema that is used in making political decisions? In what ways does this concept connect to or conflict with gender or social class position when we look at education from a political perspective? How have these concepts of racism manifested themselves through the politics of education in terms of some wealthy communities using their political influence and tax base to develop good jobs, schools and services through privatization without the use of legal racial barriers?
• What have been the political effects of the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision on school desegregation in Seattle and Louisville that endorsed the idea that Brown v. Board of Education requires race-neutral policies?
• Neoliberalism’s impact on K-12 and higher education: How has individual self-interest in a global economy that is in a recession have political implications for racism in terms of a greater overall tolerance of race, but increasing hostility to it when it comes to competition for scarce jobs, housing, and admissions to universities, and reactions to racial groups seeking these resources for “their kids too?” What evidence do we see of coalitions of racialized communities organizing and countering the changes caused by the neoliberal political agenda?

For this special issue of the Peabody Journal in Education, we invite papers that interrogate these assumptions and values and center discussion that promote and/or challenge them through the politics of education. Submissions may be either qualitative, quantitative or interpretive/conceptual manuscripts that address the questions and areas outlined above will be considered. Manuscripts should meet the 6th edition of APA Publication Manual and a maximum of 30 pages in length. The deadline for submission is May 15, 2010. Please direct questions or abstracts to the guest editors: parker3@illinois.edu, Andrea.Rorrer@utah.edu; Enrique.Aleman@ed.utah.edu