Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Journal Title
Thresholds in Education
Volume Number
46
Issue Number
1
Version
Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting
Keywords
anti-CRT ban, teachers, race, whiteness, teacher education
Abstract
From a global pandemic that killed 6.5 million people to worldwide awareness of police brutality leading to the systematic murders of Black people, the world today has set a new precedent in what constitutes fear. Plainly, fear is not always some sentimental whim one conjures up against a fantastical boogeyman; instead, fear in today’s sense is tantamount to life and death themselves. Therefore, one can understand how absurd it is to hear that the nation has become quickly obsessed about the fear of a potential new “threat:” not monkeypox or nuclear war, not white supremacist marches or the Ukrainian war, but the big, “bad,” CRT. That critical race theory (CRT) is the boogeyman, moreover the big bad wolf, lurking behind K-12 classrooms waiting to huff and puff at the doors of K-12 schools, simply to blow down their very existence is ridonkulous. 1 This series points out how we are being swayed by ridiculousness and how we can think more critically and rationally regarding CRT, antiracism, and racially just education.
Original Publication Citation
Matias, C. E. (2023). Hysteria, hypermania, & hullabaloo: How white emotionalities manufacture fear of critical race theory & teaching. Thresholds in Education, 46(1), 1-7. https://academyforeducationalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/matiasintrofinal-1.pdf
Digital USD Citation
Matias, Cheryl E., "Hysteria, Hypermania, & Hullabaloo: How White Emotionalities Manufactures Fear of Critical Race Theory & Teaching" (2023). School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Faculty Scholarship. 72.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/soles-faculty/72