Supplementary Files
How to Cite
Abstract
The rise of black consciousness through “Black Lives Matter” protests and recent events regarding police shootings of unarmed people of color have triggered a national dialogue on race, privilege, and discrimination. I structured my 400-level Race and Ethnicity course to build on the momentum of these conversations by incorporating a student-led race-centric research project whereby students learn and apply in-depth interview skills. Through this qualitative group project, students interviewed 31 members of the university community to investigate colorblindness, racial identity, privilege, racialized experiences, and institutional racism on their campus. In this article, I describe the project, and consider its strengths and limitations as a means of student learning about race, privilege, and discrimination in the U.S. today. I include student quotations gathered through final reflection papers to give voice to their experiences as well as a self-reflection of my experiences as part of this project, particularly as a white woman.
References
Alexander, Michelle. 2012. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Rev. ed. New York: The New Press.
Barnhardt Ray and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley. 2005. “Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Ways of Knowing.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly 36(1):8-23.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2014. Racism Without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. 4th ed.: Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
Brayboy, Bryan McKinley Jones. 2005. “Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education.” The Urban Review 37(5):425-446.
Chaisson, Reba L. 2004. “A Crack in the Door: Critical Race Theory in Practice at a Predominantly White Institution.” Teaching Sociology 32(4):345-357.
Cherry, Stephen M., Amy Lucas, Kim A. Case, and William T. Hoston. 2014. “Who is White? Assessing Students’ Perceptions of Whiteness through Active-Learning Effectiveness and the Construction of Racial Doubt,” The Journal of Effective Teaching 14(3):68-83.
Collins, Cindy. 2015. University of Alaska Institutional Research & Planning. UA in Review 2015. University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
DiAngelo, Robin. 2011. “White Fragility.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3(3):54-70.
Gallagher, Charles A. 2004. Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity. 2d ed. McGraw Hill: Boston.
Harlow, Roxanna. 2003. “‘Race Doesn't Matter, but...’: The Effect of Race on Professors' Experiences and Emotion Management in the Undergraduate College Classroom.” Social Psychology Quarterly 66(4):348-363.
Healey-Etten Victoria and Shane Sharp. 2010. “Teaching Beginning Undergraduates How to Do an In-depth Interview: A Teaching Note with 12 Handy Tips.” Teaching Sociology 38(2):157-165.
Hytten, Kathy and Amee Adkins. 2001. “Thinking Through a Pedagogy of Whiteness.” Educational Theory 51(4):433-450.
Khanna, Nikki and Cherise Harris. 2009. “Teaching Race as Social Construction: Two Interactive Class Exercises.” Teaching Sociology 37(4):369-378.
McIntosh, Peggy. 1995. “White Privilege, Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,” Pp. 76-87 in Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology, edited by Margaret Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
McLaughlin, Elliot C. 2015. “We're not seeing more police shootings, just more news coverage.” CNN, April 21. Retrieved July 24, 2015 (http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/us/police-brutality-video-social-media-attitudes/).
Messner, Michael. 2011. “The Privilege of Teaching About Privilege.” Sociological Perspectives 54(1):3-14.
Obach, Brian K. 1999. “Demonstrating the Social Construction of Race.” Teaching Sociology 27(3):252-257.
Pedersen, Daphne. 2010. “Active and Collaborative Learning in an Undergraduate Sociological Theory Course.” Teaching Sociology 38(3):197-206.
Pence, Dan J. and J. Arthur Fields. 1999. “Teaching About Race and Ethnicity: Trying to Uncover White Privilege for a White Audience.” Teaching Sociology 27(2):150-158.
Roberston, Dwanna L. 2015. “Invisibility in the Color-Blind Era.” American Indian Quarterly 39(2):113-153.
Strangfeld, Jey. 2013. “Promoting Active Learning: Student-Led Data Gathering in Undergraduate Statistics.” Teaching Sociology 41(2):199–206.
Thomas, Vaso. 2007. “Being ‘Cool’ Is Not Enough: Interrogations on White-Ethnic Privilege and Student-Teacher Relations.” Humanity & Society 31:146-163.
U.S. Census Bureau. “State and County Quick Facts.” Retrieved May 25, 2015. (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/02/02110.html).
Wright, Mary C. 2000. “Getting More Out of Less: The Benefits of Short-Term Experiential Learning in Undergraduate Sociology Courses.” Teaching Sociology 28(2):116-126.