Strategies of Silence: Students of Color in Predominantly White College Classrooms

• In Event: Roundtable Session 96
  In Roundtable Session: Struggles for Social Justice in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper addresses the multiple meanings of silence for students of color in college classrooms when discussing racism. Educators have yet to understand the complexity behind silence and how both voice and silence work together to illuminate the experiences of marginalized students. Silence often serves as speech, or as a means of “saying.” Through classroom stories, interview data, as well as my own autobiographical experiences, I address the multiple meanings of silence for students of color in a predominantly white classroom.

Author

• Dalia Rodriguez, Syracuse University