Latino studies faculty candidate in cultural anthropology, Cristina Ortiz of the University of Minnesota Morris will be presenting a public lecture titled School Inclusion Illusion: Benevolent Racism as Gatekeeping in a Rural Community. In a rural meatpacking community with a large Latino population, the public school has sought to be a welcoming and inclusive space for all residents. But despite such warm rhetoric, local spaces have mostly become racially marked. I use the concept of benevolent racism to explore how local civic leaders and educators unconsciously preserve their cultural dominance by combining welcoming rhetoric with deficit views of minority residents.
Originally published at latinostudies.nd.edu.