Paradoxes and Challenges of Teaching Diversity Courses in Predominantly White Institutions

• In Event: 45.092 - MTCC Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: 45.092-3 - (Dis)Covering Whiteness: Dilemmas and Practices Across Contexts

Abstract

This paper utilizes narrative epistemology to elucidate the paradoxes and challenges encountered by underrepresented faculty member teaching diversity courses in a predominantly White Christian institution. The paper outlines the complexities of negotiating the multiple identities in the classroom to promote students’ learning. I organize the paper around the following four themes: narrative as epistemology and pedagogy; identity and “otherness”; a “guest” in the academy; teaching who you are; and negotiating my “rooted African” identity. The paper argues that Black African-born scholars constantly negotiate their intersectional identities of being “Black”, “African” and speaking with a different English accent as they seek entry, and work to become effective teachers and productive scholars in predominantly White educational institutions in North America.

Author

• Obed Mfum-Mensah, Messiah College