Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-21-2026
Abstract
This paper examines elementary teachers’ lived experiences in a predominantly Black elementary school as they navigate culturally relevant mathematics (CRM). Drawing on Bhabha’s (Citation1994) concept of hybridity alongside insights from critical race theory (CRT) and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), we examine the diverse forms and levels of hybrid agency that teachers exercise within the complex systemic contexts of mathematics education. Our study reveals patterns in how teachers’ perspectives and experiences with race relate to their mathematics teaching and the ways they negotiate cultural responsiveness alongside curricular expectations and mandates. Instead, teachers must negotiate their practices and relationships while being situated in complex racial and power structures. However, some engagement fell short, as teachers took little consideration of racialized systems and relations within mathematics education. These findings demonstrate the urgency of supporting teachers in fostering race-conscious engagement within their CRM practices. The study suggests that teacher education should position CRM as a sociopolitical practice, which requires disrupting normative practices of anti-Blackness and whiteness in mathematics education.
Recommended Citation
Hong, Y., Kim, D., Li, T., & Fisher, J. A. (2026). “It’s Not Just Math and Culture”: Elementary Teachers’ Navigation of Culturally Relevant Mathematics in Racialized Contexts. Educational Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2026.2655777
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Educational Studies
DOI
10.1080/00131946.2026.2655777
Comments
Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2026.2655777