The Green Book as Change: Ethnographic Reflections on a Black Undergraduate Mentoring Course

• In Event: The Possibilities of "Green Book" Approach to Higher Education

Abstract

Black students at non-HBCUs rarely, if ever, take classes with mostly Black peers. They must therefore navigate experiences of isolation, tokenism, and imposter syndrome in addition to their studies. This chapter depicts a unique context in which Black students at a non-HBCU learn in a mentoring course exclusively for Black undergraduate students. As the chapter’s co-authors, we identify the pedagogical approaches and curricula infrastructure that the teaching team employs to situate the mentoring course as a “travel guide” (i.e., Green Book) for Black student navigation of traditionally White institutions and academic disciplines. The chapter will include relevant yet brief context about the course, ethnographic vignettes depicting the Black student-centered and culturally sustaining happenings of the course, and interview excerpts from the course’s students and teaching team. It will conclude with feasible steps similar courses at other traditionally White institutions could uptake to safely guide Black students along their postsecondary journeys. The chapter will include relevant yet brief context about the course, ethnographic vignettes depicting the Black student-centered and culturally sustaining happenings of the course, and interview excerpts from the course’s students and teaching team. It will conclude with feasible steps similar courses at other traditionally White institutions could uptake to safely guide Black students along their postsecondary journeys.

Authors

• Michael W. Moses, University of California - Riverside

• Briana Savage, University of California - Riverside