The first thing I do is poll students (anonymously) about what racial stereotypes they are familiar with (stressing that I am not asking what they believe, just what they have heard). How can we work to expose international students, who are primarily from Asia, to non-Asian BIPOC voices? Over the years, initiatives like #citeblackwomen have highlighted the ways in which white scholars marginalize their Black peers, particularly Black women scholars, by not citing their work.” The choices scholars make about who and how to cite reflect their attitudes about whose work is worth serious intellectual engagement. Marius Kothor, in a guest post called “5 Anti-Racist Practices White Scholars Can Adopt Today” for the popular academic blog The Professor Is In, argues that “Citation practices are political statements. The BEAM/BEAT framework reminds us that there are many ways of using sources ideally, we would model for our students the use of Black and other scholars of color in all roles, not just as exhibit sources. To decolonize the classroom, one must examine oneself and one’s beliefs.” He continues, arguing that instructors need to “et go of the disingenuous notion of objectivity in the classroom, of maintaining political neutrality, of seeing all sides and positions as having equal impact on marginalized groups” “cknowledge that your role as teacher has been historically problematic: that by teaching English you are inherently complicit with forces that damage marginalized students,” and ultimately also “ ee yourself, your curriculum, your content and your classroom as existing within a historical context of racism, subjugation, and control.” Make efforts to include Black scholars as argument or theory sources, not just as exhibits Michael Seward, writing for the NCTE Standing Committee on Global Citizenship, offers useful goals: “o begin to ameliorate the deep damage caused by colonization and racism (systems of power) means to be actively and overtly political. –Jessica Bozek, Senior Lecturer Reflect on your own role as an instructor This collaborative learning sends the message that racism is not a burden to be borne only by citizens of color–rather, it should concern all of us.” By creating more diverse syllabi, we create more inclusive classrooms, where together we can grapple through and beyond our mutual discomfort. But even if it did, I would continue to make space for a wide variety of perspectives in my courses. On the first day of class, I acknowledge that BU’s faculty composition does not adequately reflect that of its students. “As the White instructor of seminars such as ‘Black Female Lives Matter’ and ‘Interrogating Race in Contemporary America,’ which tend to draw many non-White students, I am never entirely comfortable in these classes, in part because I recognize that students might prefer an instructor of color to frame these topics. Why, as a White instructor, should you teach Black texts, and how can you do so effectively? Instead of a list of texts to include, we suggest a reflective process in which we as instructors interrogate our own biases and consider what true inclusion might look like on our syllabi. Partly because of these complex undercurrents, and partly also because of the breadth of topics we teach in the Writing Program, we cannot simply say that instructors should add a single book by a person of color and consider the syllabus successfully diversified. It also helps broaden the education of your White students.” Still, instructors might still be wondering how to do so. We know that we need to diversify our syllabi: as Jasmine Roberts, in “White Academia: Do Better,” writes, “Your Black students and other students of color need to actually see themselves reflected in class content. Inviting voices into spaces not built for them or that undermine their messages, lived experiences, and expertise can often work against the well-intentioned goals of inclusion.” Max Liboiron, in this 2019 piece from CLEAR (a feminist, anti-colonialist research lab), wrestles with the difficult decisions we need to make here: “Inclusion is a form of diversification but it can also be violent. While as faculty we strive to make our classrooms welcoming to all, and to create an inclusive climate for class participation, we sometimes overlook the important role of our readings or other texts–the very core of our classes.Īn enormous amount has been written about diversifying, or decolonizing, the syllabus. Our students’ complex and intersectional identities represent many different kinds of lived experiences with race, socioeconomics, gender, sexual identity, ability, and privilege. Our classrooms are diverse on multiple levels, with students in the room from many states, countries, and language backgrounds.
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