Weaving Intersectionality into American Public Policy Courses

• In Event: TLC at APSA Diversity & Inclusion Track Panel 1: Identities in the Political Science Classroom

Abstract

As Oluo (2018) explained, it can be difficult for people with privilege to understand what their privilege is and how others may lack it. This is especially hard when multiple identities intersect, causing relative increases and/or decreases in privilege. However, we also know that real public policy outcomes are related to privilege and self-perceptions of social status (Kwate and Goodman 2014). With this in mind, we set out to adjust our introductory American Public Policy class to teach both what intersectionality is and how it shapes and is shaped by various public policy concerns. We use an experiment between two identical sections of the class to test whether our adjustments help students achieve the desired learning outcomes. We find that using purposeful intersectionality pedagogy increases student understanding of privilege and how it shapes diverse public policy outcomes in the United States. However, we also find that racial resentment can increase as well, raising new questions about the most effective techniques.

Author

• Whitney Ross Manzo, Meredith College