‘I knew I was worth more’: Black and Latine pre-service PE teachers’ borderland dwellings and crossings

Dominant white discourse embedded within physical education (PE) teacher education creates metaphorical borders of whiteness that pre-service PE Teachers of Color come “up against” at predominantly white institutions. Borderland theory is useful to examine the experiences of pre-service Teachers of Color who dwell at, and cross, borders of “difference.” The study explored 10 Black and Latine pre-service teachers’ negotiations of white borders within predominantly white programs. We employed qualitative visual narrative methods using borderland’s trenza (braid), weaving together interviews, visuals, and researcher reflections. The stories evidence how whiteness established borders for participants to “cross,” constructing them as “other.” The duality of marginalization and empowerment represented a borderland location; the pre-service teachers were neither insiders nor outsiders but rather “co-existed” in multiple worlds. The braided landscapes of participants’ cultural critical consciousness highlight the need for culturally relevant pedagogies, along with introspective reflection by PE faculty on embodied, discursive, and material whiteness.