“I Really Feel Like I Was Undergoing Psychological Torture”

Soon after universities across the country celebrated 50 years of Ethnic Studies offerings, the state of California institutionalized Ethnic Studies into the public K–12 curriculum. This formalization of Ethnic Studies, while contentious, was celebrated as a win for students across the state. By contrast, the impact on teachers of Ethnic Studies received little attention. Drawing on data from a larger ethnographic study, this article focuses on the experiences of Ms. Kimberly, an Asian American woman and early career Ethnic Studies teacher in Los Angeles. Building on literatures on Ethnic Studies pedagogy and praxis as well as sociological scholarship on workplace inequality, this article shows how her workplace, a community-based and self-described “social justice” high school, repeatedly undermined her as a professional educator; this undermining was significant as she was committed to embodying the mission of Ethnic Studies both inside and outside of her classroom. Before being pushed out, her course assignments were mishandled, her supervisor exerted undue pressure on her, and her concerns about police presence were dismissed. This study advances scholarship on the implementation of Ethnic Studies in the K–12 context and highlights the need for further critical study of schools as unequal workplaces.