ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore the relevance and importance of critical race theory to writing center research. We introduce readers to concepts in critical race studies that aid us in recognizing that writing centers are key sites of struggle over the meaning and significance of race to learning, meaning-making, language, and culture. We examine the degree to which racism may inflect the ways we address or misaddress, support, or undermine student writers of color, subverting even our best intentions to act as allies in the struggle against racism. We hold that an understanding of critical race theory is necessary to writing center work if we are to recognize the extent to which writing centers are implicated in institutional and systemic racism and imperative if we are to cultivate productive forms of disruption, intervention, and transformation in service of racial justice.
