Institute on Antiracism

Center for Engaged Pedagogy | Institute on Antiracism | Academic Year 2020-2021

Antiracism in and beyond the classroom
Over the course of AY 2020-2021, the Center for Engaged Pedagogy will host an institute on antiracism that is directed toward faculty. In this institute, which meets three times per semester (or six times in total), we will work together to identify how racism permeates higher education and how to actively dismantle it. The institute will apply practical, conceptual, and historical lenses to the subject of antiracism while constructing a space for collaborative learning and strategizing. For example, participants will critically consider the ways they are positioned and perceived within the classroom in light of the role of white supremacy and racism in higher education, their discipline, and course design and content. They also will develop strategies and recommendations to address the complex ways racial hierarchies materialize in the different forms of labor that make the campus run and in the historical development of different disciplines. Throughout the institute, participants will read excerpts of foundational theories of race and racism, connect this scholarship to their own teaching through reflection and discussion with colleagues, and create and adapt antiracist strategies to design their courses, facilitate difficult discussions, and deliver content and assessment. 

At the Center, we envision this institute less as a series of self-contained sessions and more as the formation of a learning community that is dedicated to exploring the topic and practices of antiracism over a sustained period of time. It is open to any faculty member who would like to participate, from those who see the critical analysis and deconstruction of racism as a foundation of their teaching to those who are in the early stages of reflecting on their readings, assignments, and teaching and assessment strategies. Given that this institute is not only conceived as the formation of a community but also designed to facilitate sessions that build upon each other, participants will need to commit to attending all of the institute meetings over the course of the year. We may need to cap the number of participants based on interest and capacity.

Schedule:
Sessions will include: (1) Aims of the Institute (2) Antiracism, Positionality, and Pedagogical Practices (3) Antiracism and/as Course & Curriculum Design (4) Antiracism and/as Institutional (?) Labor (5) Antiracism, Disciplinarity, and Institutions (6) Antiracism Now

Commitment:
Fall 2020: 3 virtual 2-hour meetings 
Spring 2020: 3 virtual (or in-person) 2-hour meetings
With assigned texts between meetings 

If you are interested please fill out this form by Friday September 18th and we will follow-up with dates and additional information.