Politics of hybridity: Teaching for social justice in an era of standards-based reform.

Abstract This narrative inquiry examines, through a theoretical framework informed by Bhabha, experiences of two graduates of a social justice-oriented preservice program in the U.S. in an era of standards-based reform. This article demonstrates that schools are sites shaped and constrained by various competing discourses, which delineate meanings of education in drastically different ways. The participants encounter conflicting demands and desires. Negotiating among what seems incommensurable is an important part of their teaching. The participants deploy the politics of hybridity as a creative tactic for their daily negotiations. The implications for teacher education are discussed. Highlights • The teacher participants encounter conflicting demands and desires constituted by competing discourses of education. • Negotiating among what seems incommensurable is an important part of their teaching. • The teachers deploy the politics of hybridity as a tactic for the negotiation. • The teachers re-signify what they find limiting and produce supplemental knowledge and practice. • Through the production of hybridity, the teachers make temporal interruption of "the reality". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]