Reading · Ceci Bell, Ph.D.

My conceptualization of racial literacies is that racial literacies exist on a spectrum of personal and group racial identity development (White or people of color) and level of critical consciousness. Racial literacies are fostered through a combination of racial identity development and critical consciousness (Bell, 2021; Chavez-Moreno, 2022; Freire, 1970; Neville et al., 2016; Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021). Race, a social construction, is “the false concept that superficial adaptations to geography (skin tone, eye shape) are genetic and biological determinants that result in significant differences among groups of humans beings” (DiAngelo, 2016, p. 99). Racial identity development is a vital part of racial literacy for everyone, regardless of your assigned or self-identified racial identity.

Racial identity is “an individual’s sense of being defined, in part, by membership in a particular racial group. The strength of this sense depends on the extent to which an individual has processed and internalized the psychological, sociopolitical, cultural, and other contextual factors related to membership in this group. Given the socially constructed nature of racial categories, racial identifications can change over time and in different contexts” (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.).

Critical consciousness, or conscientização, “refers to learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradiction, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality” (Freire, 1970/2014, loc. 502) and “the ability to critically reflect on power dynamics, recognize systems of inequality, and act to challenge oppressive structures” (Google).

It is important to be attune to one’s racial identity, even for people with social justice orientations—because all racialized people can perpetuate hegemonic (or dominant) racist ideologies by not examining our own racial identity development. Racialized is “the act of giving a racial character to someone or something: the process of categorizing, marginalizing, or regarding according to race” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Racism is “the belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance, manifest and implied” (Lorde, 1984, p. 124) and an institutional, structural, and systemic “marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities” (Kendi, 2019, p. 17). Racial literacies can be hegemonic (i.e., upholding dominant racist ideologies) and counterhegemonic (i.e., disrupting dominant racist ideologies) (Chavez-Moreno, 2022).

Increased racial literacies are a vital part of racial reconciliation, which is “the process that aims to address and remedy the structural and personal damages caused by racism” (Hailu & Simmons, 2022, p. 10). For instance, difficult talk is a necessary strategy towards racial reconciliation; however, talking about race(ism) is uncomfortable and complicated for many people. The opposite of racism is antiracism. Antiracists endorse racial equality, locate “the roots of problems in power and policies,” and confront racial inequities (Kendi, 2019, p. 9). In short, “antiracism is a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas” (Kendi, 2019, p. 19).

Racial literacies are critical awareness plus critical action (Bell, 2021; Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021). Oftentimes people who are critically aware take “little or no action to challenge the root causes of oppression to better the conditions of their community” (Neville et al., 2016, p. 19). Action is an important step in racial literacies as highlighted in the literature (Bell, 2021; Freire, 1970; Cross, 1991, 2021; Neville et al., 2016; Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021). With Freire’s (1970) critical consciousness an individual then “take[s] action to change their circumstances and liberate themselves from social injustice” (Neville et al., 2016, p. 18). To act is to disrupt, which also aligns with the racial literacies tenet about agency and disruption (Bell, 2021; Cross, 1991, 2021). “Individuals with critical reflection without critical action often lack what Watts, Deimer, and Voight (2011) described as agency” (Neville et al., 2016, p. 19).

I believe that positive racial identity development can be empowering and liberating, which leads to agency and taking action through resistance.

Let’s discuss in the comments. Do you have a positive or negative opinion of your racial identity? Why or why not? How did your racial identity develop (for instance, from experiences when you were a child or experiences during high school, etc.)?

What Are Racial Literacies?

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