ABSTRACT
Many countries are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Specifically, in the United States, people of color make up nearly 35% of the population and are expected to represent nearly 50% of the population by 2050 (Fry, 2006). Subsequently, schools around the world, including in the United States, are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. As such, the increasing global racial and ethnic diversification has caused research in the area of culture, including race and ethnicity to further expand in education (see Burlew & Smith, 1991). In doing so, researchers are beginning to examine the relationships between culture-related constructs, such as racial/ethnic identity, and a variety of educational constructs, such as emotions. It has been demonstrated that racial/ethnic issues are often related to emotionality. Specifically, issues surrounding race and ethnic differences often heighten the expressing and experiencing of emotions in schools (see DeCuir-Gunby & Williams-Johnson, 2007). Toward that end, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the influence of culture on emotions in education with emphasis on race and ethnicity. In order to do so, we begin by discussing the concept of culture, including the differentiation between race and ethnicity as well as the dimensions of culture. Next, we examine the relationship between culture and emotions in education, focusing on the experiencing and the expressing of emotions. Last, we end the chapter by arguing for the inclusion of culturally relevant frameworks to explore emotions as well as provide implications for future research. It is important to note that while cultural and emotional interactions in schools are a global phenomena, the majority of examples presented in this chapter represent research conducted in the US context.
