The Literacy Research Association welcomes Marcus Croom as one of its speakers for the 72nd Annual Conference as part of LRA’s Integrative Research Review Panel. LRA’s IRR Panel Session, titled ‘Review and Scholarly Syntheses as Anti-Racist Action’ will focus specifically on the silencing of and importance of BIPOC authors and scholars, along with the history of their work and global impact. Croom’s topic: Characterizing and Traversing Racial Literacies Scholarship focuses on discussing and characterizing racial literacies scholarships, as well as, highlighting examples in order to present possibilities for traversing and advancing this literature toward post-White futures.
Croom is an assistant professor in Literacy, Culture and Language Education and an adjunct assistant professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington (IUB). He started his career in research through the Literacy, Language and Culture program, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He aims to document teachers’ understandings of race and determine how these understandings impact teacher efficacy, student identification, and other teaching practices. As a race critical researcher, he focuses on race and literacies within educator preparation and educator development in American schooling. Specifically, teaching and learning that is practiced with the post-White orientation. He generates knowledge through practice of race theory (PRT), qualitative methods, and case study, more so in race critical practice analysis.
Croom’s mission is to cultivate more human fulfillment and mitigate human suffering. Holistically, his work consists of using research and experience to assist others with developing racial literacies, which in turn can advance the justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of schools, universities, businesses, organizations, and communities. Noted works that Croom has authored include: Real talk? How to discuss race, racism, and politics in 21st century American schools, “Black Lives Matter panel: A generous invitation to The Archive”, and “A case study from “Barracoon: The story of the last ‘Black Cargo'” with practice of race theory.”
To register for LRA’s 2022 Annual Conference, please visit the LRA website.