Towards a Community-Engaged Pedagogy: Centering Local Indigenous Voices Through a Watch Party

• In Event: 20461 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 4: Teaching with Films, Games, & Community Engagement

Abstract

a. Specific teaching practice and/or learning objective to be addressed:

Hosting a watch party for an introductory sociology course using digital media that centers Indigenous voices and perspectives is an innovative teaching practice to instruct students about the impact of environmental racism on communities. In October 2023, I organized an event for my Sociology 101 class, where we viewed a documentary that addressed the impact of corporate toxic waste dumping on the Ramapough Lenape Nation of Passaic County, New Jersey. The event included brief presentations from various representatives across Passaic County Community College (PCCC) who discussed how students can apply this knowledge of environmental racism in their careers and daily lives. A noteworthy contribution came from the grant-funded solar energy training program at PCCC, which highlighted how students can incorporate their environmental awareness and their desire to improve society into a career in solar energy.

b. Approach used:

The approach used is a community-engaged pedagogy, including media which centers local Indigenous voices, followed by question and answer with students and experts in the field. Midterm exam questions are geared to fostering students’ ability to make connections between curriculum and their careers and daily lives. I continue to implement this approach in my Sociology 101 classes through a two-week unit on the Indigenous heritage of the New York-New Jersey estuarial region and the impacts of environmental pollution. The two-week unit culminates in a watch party, in which we view environmental justice documentaries and study digital media exhibits.

c. How will this presentation be useful to audience members?

This presentation is useful to audience members seeking to center an Indigenous perspective into their pedagogy when teaching about Native Nations. It will show how we can make sociological issues relevant to students’ lives through an orientation towards public sociology.


3. Names, affiliations and contact information for each presenter:

Name: Dr. Lena Delgado de Torres
Affiliation: Passaic County Community College
Social Sciences Department
Sociology Program
1 College Blvd
Paterson, NJ 07505
Contact information: lbdelgadodetorres@pccc.edu (email)
607-760-7114 (phone)

Author

• Lena Delgado de Torres, Passaic County Community College