NW 07: Colorism as a Continuing Challenge for Educational Research and Practice

Network
NW 07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Title
Colorism as a Continuing Challenge for Educational Research and Practice

Abstract
Colorism remains a pressing educational concern, shaping how skin color is associated with belonging, ability and social worth. This special call invites research into its persistence, everyday manifestations and educational implications. Drawing on critical pedagogy, intersectionality and a pragmatic commitment to addressing real educational problems, we welcome theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions examining how skin color hierarchies are learned, reproduced and challenged. Particular attention is given to participants’ perspectives, context-sensitive inquiry and the relationship between research, ethics and educational practice. The aim is to advance understanding of colorism and inform educational practices grounded in social justice and intercultural dialogue.

The Call
Skin color continues to carry social meanings that shape recognition, relationships and educational experiences. Colorism therefore remains a significant concern for social justice and intercultural education, requiring sustained research into how it operates and how educational responses can address it. Following Walker’s (1983) account of differential treatment within racialized groups and Jablonski’s (2012) broader understanding of discrimination based on skin color, this call examines the hierarchies attached to complexion within and across such groups. It often privileges lighter skin and devalues darker complexions. Colorism is closely connected to racism (Hunter, 2007), while directing attention specifically to how skin color becomes a basis for unequal valuation and treatment.

Research challenges the assumption that children do not notice skin color or attach social meanings to it (Winkler, 2009). For example, exploratory work in Italian primary schools has drawn attention to how children may associate skin color with ideas about origin, language and belonging (Agostinetto, Bugno, & Moretto, 2026). These observations invite further inquiry into how such meanings develop, how they are negotiated in everyday educational relationships, and how educators engage with them. Research across different settings is needed to deepen this understanding and explore context-sensitive educational responses.

Informed by the complexity paradigm (Morin, 1999) and critical pedagogy (Freire, 2024), this call approaches skin color within intersecting relations of power, identity and inequality (Crenshaw, 1989; Vertovec, 2007). It encourages scrutiny of essentializing categories and attention to participants’ perspectives and researchers’ positionality. Following Mortari’s (2013) pragmatic orientation, research should engage with problems arising in educational life and generate knowledge that can inform situated action.

We invite theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions from Europe and beyond, across formal, non-formal and informal education. Contributions may address:

• How do children, young people and adults interpret skin color, and how do these meanings shape identity, belonging and peer relationships?

• How are colorist hierarchies reproduced, overlooked or challenged through curricula, educational materials, professional expectations and institutional practices?

• How does colorism intersect with gender, social class, migration, language and other dimensions of inequality in different historical and social contexts?

• Which research approaches make colorism visible while attending to consent, emotional well-being, power relations and the risk of reproducing racialized categories?

• How can collaboration with educators, learners, families and communities inform the development and evaluation of educational responses and professional learning?

We particularly welcome contributions that connect the recognition of colorism with careful investigation of its mechanisms and educational consequences. Comparative, participatory and longitudinal studies, alongside critical analyses of existing interventions, can help clarify what responses are useful, for whom and under which conditions. The aim is to advance a contextualized research agenda capable of informing educational practice and challenging the inequalities associated with skin color.

Contact Person(s)
Luca Agostinetto - Luca.agostinetto(at)unipd.it
Lisa Bugno - lisa.bugno(at)unipd.it

References
Agostinetto, L., Bugno, L., & Moretto, G. (2026). “Milk and cookies”: Investigation of children’s conceptions of skin color. In B. Gross & M. Montero-Sieburth (Eds.), Beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion in education: Towards belonging and societal transformations (pp. 97–120). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04504-1_6

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.

Freire, P. (2024). L’educazione come pratica della libertà. Mimesis. (Original work published 1967)

Hunter, M. (2007). The persistent problem of colorism: Skin tone, status, and inequality. Sociology Compass, 1(1), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00006.x

Jablonski, N. G. (2012). Living color: The biological and social meaning of skin color. University of California Press.

Morin, E. (1999). Seven complex lessons in education for the future. UNESCO.

Mortari, L. (Ed.). (2013). Azioni efficaci per casi difficili. Il metodo ermeneutico nella ricerca narrativa. Mondadori.

Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1025–1054. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465

Walker, A. (1983). In search of our mothers’ gardens: Womanist prose. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Winkler, E. N. (2009). Children are not colorblind: How young children learn race. PACE: Practical Approaches for Continuing Education, 3(3), 1–8.