Disrupting Carcerality in Schools: The Value of Racial Spatial Analysis

Based on two multi-year, qualitative research projects in the U.S., we examine how carcerality is normalized in public schools via underlying racial spatial logics. Racial spatial logics refer to intersecting conceptualizations of race and space that are used to sustain and justify the policing of classroom and school space. We use racial spatial analysis – which combines spatial and racial analyses from a variety of fields, including Critical Race Theory – to show how, despite claims of being equitable, schools draw on underlying racial spatial logics in order to surveil and punish Black and Brown students and to regulate access to desired school spaces. In the end, we argue that by analyzing how racial spatial logics undergird school discourse and practices, school leaders can better understand and disrupt the normalization of carcerality and can better work with school personnel in living up to their stated goals for racial equity.