It's the evening that our last blog post is due and I have the privilege of writing about Whiteness as it applies to pedagogy. I must say it's about as delicious the Thanksgiving feast I took part in just the other day and I cannot think of a better way of ending the semester's blog than by reinforci...I mean critiquing Whiteness and its presence in the classroom.
Cooks and Simpson (2007) edited a collection of essays that discuss Whiteness in the classroom, emphasizing personal narratives about individual classroom experiences. Like my fellow TAs, I relate with many of the situations written about in the book due my roles as both a communication scholar and instructor.
One of the hardest lessons (I stress the plural due to the complexities of the subject matter) we, as instructors, have to navigate is the notion of Whiteness. In a predominately white setting, developing a sense of awareness in my students poses a very challenging task.
Cooks and Simpson (2007) address specific points that make discussing Whiteness and privilege a nightmare in our classrooms. One of them involves creating a safe space in which students do not feel attacked or cornered when the discussion happens. This is probably the most important thing we, as instructors, must do in order to start a dialogue. Otherwise, we might as well discuss white privilege and hegemony to the wall. At least then we might reach a student listening in from another class.
The second point I wanted to address is the issue of authority and authenticity regarding racism, Whiteness, and privilege. This particular conundrum deals with the challenges white instructors face in bringing up issues of race and authenticity, as well as the challenges instructors of color faces regarding authority when dealing with race in their efforts to not just be the "angry *insert non-white color here* person".
As for myself, I have yet to find a foolproof way to incorporate these lessons into my own classroom. I try and create an environment of self-discovery in which the students understand that the can "have a conflict with someone - with [me], really - and still be ok. We could disagree and [they] could still learn" (p. 264).
The other tactic I use is to use examples of class inequalities as a segue into gender and race so as to provide a framework that most (if not all) students relate to. I invite my fellow instructors to share their experiences in teaching Whiteness to their students and any techniques they might use to create a safe environment in which the majority of their students become aware of their own internalized sense of privilege.
This was my blog by the way!
ReplyDelete? So confused.
DeletePersonally, this is one of the hardest topics for me to face in the classroom. In someways it feels like a double bind. It can feel like I cannot talk about race/racism because I have no experience other than my own whiteness and thus I feel a lack of authority on the subject (maybe that is the way it should be?). On the other hand talking from a white perspective can get sticky and turn into the exact opposite of what I want to do by marginalizing others and not talking about it or in the way I (or my students) talk about it. I am still trying to navigate this obstacle course, but the first thing I have done that has helped is one, acknowledge my whiteness (and what it is) to my students. Second is using this situation as a way of teaching them. If I say something that I realize could be construed in a way that could be harmful, I point out what I just did as an example.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, I'm out of new ideas. :)