Date of Award

8-2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

Committee Chair

JoAnn Phillion

Committee Co-Chair

Pamala Morris

Committee Member 1

Jake Burdick

Committee Member 2

Stephanie Zywicki

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation research was to understand how a group of Evangelical Christians made meaning of their experiences in a small group Bible study that employed a multicultural education curriculum focused on race and ethnicity. In this research, I used a case study as the methodology for data collection. Over the course of twelve weeks, I explored the experiences of the participants through interviews, observations, and document analysis. After analyzing the data through the lenses of Critical Whiteness studies and Critical Race Theory, I found that although participants acknowledged racism and the existence of White privilege and recognized barriers and solutions to racial reconciliation, they maintained a hesitancy to discuss race and racial issues and displayed cognitive dissonance in various ways over the course of the study. This research is significant as it expands the body of multicultural education literature to an under-explored site of learning: churches, and has implications for research, teaching practice, and curriculum.

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