Service-Learning as a Racialized Pedagogy: An Examination of Syllabi

• In Event: 43.079 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Six - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 43.079-6 - Examining the Communities of Service-Learning: From Page to Professor and Postgraduates to Principals

Abstract

Drawing on critical whiteness studies, this paper examines the ways in which service learning has racialized need and service in communities. Through a critical content analysis of syllabi from four-year institutions that have received the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation, the results of this paper display how syllabi have become revelatory about the communities considered “in need” as well as the ways that community engagement experiences tend to ignore issues of race and racism even though these issues are undoubtedly present in students’ service placements. In addition to a discussion of findings, recommendations are offered that mediate these concerns to help institutions, instructors, and students reflect on race and racism as part of their community engagement efforts.

Authors

• Tania D. Mitchell, University of Minnesota

• Carmine Perrotti, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities