Towards a Transnational Critical Race Theory in Education: Proposing Critical Race Third World Approaches to Education Policy

Scholars have applied Critical Race Theory in both domestic and international contexts; however, a theory on the transnational role of race and racism in education policy has not emerged. In this Article, I borrow from the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) to formulate Critical Race Third World Approaches to Education Policy (TWAEPCrit). In constructing this theory, I argue that Black Americans are in practice and lived experience treated as third world citizens, even as they reside in the United States. I prove the third world status of Black peoples in the United States by employing an analysis of the United States’ response to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Thus, Black Americans and those who advocate on behalf of and in pursuit of educational equity for Black Americans may benefit greatly from the infusion of the third world approaches to international law. Likewise, Black peoples in other parts of the world and those who advocate for human rights and justice for Black peoples, particularly those in the Global South, stand to gain equally as much from the study of strategies of Black peoples in the United States.