2013/08/05 by Michael J. Dumas · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Art history #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity #Gender studies #History #Law #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy #Political science #Politics #Public administration #Race (biology) #Racism #Representation (politics) #Sociology #Superman
paper · doi:10.1080/01596306.2013.822621
openalex publication_date 2013/08/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The author argues that the documentary, Waiting for Superman, effectively employs bodies and texts in ways that reproduce hegemonic constructions of race, and more specifically, offers an image and imagination of black engagement in education that reinforces neoliberal-multicultural narratives about black disinterest in, and responsibility for their own lack of educational attainment. Black subjects are understood as sympathetic primarily because, and only to the extent that they accept individual ‘responsibility’ and move toward neoliberal school ‘choices’ as a corrective for their own past cultural and educational shortcomings. The author also uses his analysis to encourage a (re-)commitment to critical cultural analysis of racial signification in educational policy discourse.