Understanding and Teaching Racisms: Bridging Academic and Public Discourses in the Classroom
Length of Presentation
50 minutes
Start Date
15-10-2021 11:00 AM
Document Type
Presentation
Abstract
While many U.S. Americans understand racism to be merely a social psychological concern, race scholars increasingly understand racism to be a structural and systemic phenomenon. While the academic discourse of racism has developed alongside and informed a growing public discourse on the topic that spotlights racism in its structural and systemic forms, it has been observed that even many academics cling to older notions of the concept that are out-of-step with contemporary theories. When instructors limit their classroom discussions of racism to a consideration of ideologies of racial superiority alone, they not only fail to adequately incorporate contemporary theories into their teaching, they also fail to consider the structural understanding of racism increasingly adopted by our generally young and increasingly less white student body. In this session, we will compare and contrast academic and public discourses on racism, and explore the social significance of discussing various forms of racism in the classroom.
Description
This session is intended to help instructors and others who discuss racism with students to better understand the changing academic and public discourses of racism, and encourage them to think critically about how they address the concept in conversations and in interactions with students. Attendees will be provided with an overview of contemporary theories of racism, an explanation of how they differ from previous theories, and a description of how contemporary theories increasingly align with the understanding of racism our students bring to our campuses and classrooms. By expanding their understanding of racisms, attendees will be provided with the intellectual tools necessary to better incorporate student ideas, observations, and experiences into classroom and on-campus discussions of racism. Moreover, attendees will be presented with information about the social and political consequences of expanding their understanding of racisms and incorporating this expanded understanding into their conversations with students. The session will also discuss the connection between the teaching of racisms in the college classroom and the expectations outlined in the new Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards adopted by the Illinois State Board of Education that asks K-12 educators to understand how racism “operate[s] at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels.”
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Understanding and Teaching Racisms: Bridging Academic and Public Discourses in the Classroom
While many U.S. Americans understand racism to be merely a social psychological concern, race scholars increasingly understand racism to be a structural and systemic phenomenon. While the academic discourse of racism has developed alongside and informed a growing public discourse on the topic that spotlights racism in its structural and systemic forms, it has been observed that even many academics cling to older notions of the concept that are out-of-step with contemporary theories. When instructors limit their classroom discussions of racism to a consideration of ideologies of racial superiority alone, they not only fail to adequately incorporate contemporary theories into their teaching, they also fail to consider the structural understanding of racism increasingly adopted by our generally young and increasingly less white student body. In this session, we will compare and contrast academic and public discourses on racism, and explore the social significance of discussing various forms of racism in the classroom.
Speaker Information
Wade Smith is an instructor of sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology at Eastern Illinois University. He joined the faculty in 2015 and regularly teaches courses on social stratification to include the department’s Race and Ethnic Relations course. His recent research explores discursive constraints faced by anti-racist social movements, and explores the social and political significance of teaching racisms in college courses.