Decentering Whiteness in Racial Pedagogy: Implementing Racial Justice and Consciousness as Faculty of Color at PWIs

• In Event: 3423 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable
  In Informal Discussion Roundtable: Table 11: Teaching Social Justice

Abstract

Racial and ethnic inequalities are present throughout society, and these inequities are even more palpable given the heightened white supremacist political context we are currently in. It is more important than ever for Sociologists to teach about race and think about what this means from a Social Justice perspective. Specifically, what does it mean to teach race in a way that acknowledges the racial identities of the instructors and students and pedagogically prioritizes racial justice especially at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs)? For white students, our classes may be their first exposure to racial issues, while most students of color already have some awareness of race even if they don’t have the language or frameworks to understand it yet. Unfortunately, a lot of racial pedagogy assumes a white racial identity for the instructor and the students - primarily serving to make white students aware of their privilege while overlooking the needs of students of color learning about race and ignoring how the instructor’s social identity informs the pedagogical approach. For example, as research has shown, faculty of color face a constant threat of heightened racial assaults and vulnerability, such as hostile classroom interactions, racially charged student evaluations and even alt-right targeting and death threats as have happened to many of our colleagues over the past couple years. To fully engage with social justice in our racial teaching, it is essential that we develop pedagogy that explicitly incorporates this racial reality. This session will draw on first hand experiences to identify concrete tools and approaches to implement pedagogical racial justice by meeting the differing needs of students of color and white students, especially for faculty of color at PWIs.

Author

• Callie Watkins Liu, Stonehill College