"If Not Me, Who?" Working Toward Antiracism Through Race-Based Affinity Groups for Future Education Professionals

• In Event: Beyond the Theory and Toward Systemic Change: Antiracism in Practice

Abstract

This critical autoethnographic study interrogates our experiences as co-creators and facilitators of race-alike affinity groups during the 2020-2021 school year in a graduate program that seeks to prepare equity-minded graduates striving toward anti-racism. Drawing on four facilitators’ reflection and meeting notes, we examine the social and cultural contexts of higher education and analyze how our intersectional racialized identities challenge and reify notions of power, positionality, and preparation. As facilitators we struggled with our positionality and our lack of preparation for the role. This study generates both insights into the tensions and opportunities that arise for facilitators of race-alike affinity groups and recommendations for how other faculty and staff in higher education settings might approach similar anti-racism work.

Authors

• Kristin Sinclair, Georgetown University

• Sabrina L. Wesley-Nero, Georgetown University