Anti-Racism in Teaching and Learning
It is intended as a preliminary starting point and is by no means exhaustive. The Educational Development team acknowledges that systems and structures in higher education can actively perpetuate racism and that teaching and learning spaces are not immune to discrimination against BIPOC students, staff, faculty, and community members. We believe in the transformative power of higher education and in our collective ability to challenge social conventions that perpetuate racism and white supremacy.
We would like to acknowledge that this guide was developed by white allies who are not racialized individuals. We believe that anti-racism efforts and the dismantling of structural and systemic racism and discrimination is a shared responsibility and that the burden of this responsibility is too often shouldered by the most marginalized members of our society. As white settlers, we are not “immune from the limits and hidden biases of our own privileges and perspectives as allies” (Simmons University libguide) and we openly welcome feedback, suggestions, and critiques for all aspects of this guide. We pledge to listen and are committed to on-going learning as allies.
Where Do I Start? How Do I Get Started?
As educators, it is critical that we reflect on how our teaching and our higher education practices and norms conform and contribute to racist systems and structures. As a first step, you may choose to engage with the work of BIPOC authors, scholars, activists, and educators who speak to the ways in which institutional structures and systems operate to perpetuate racism and how individuals are complicit within those structures and systems. Through this learning, we can gain new perspectives on how these systems unfairly privilege specific segments of society and how they operate within our personal and professional lives. Equipped with this foundational knowledge, we are better able to interrupt these systems and begin the work of anti-racism.
Racism, Pedagogy and Education
A Talk to Teachers
by James Baldin
Baldwin’s classic speech delivered to educators in 1963 argues that to intentionally and meaningfully address racism, students must be equipped with consciousness and independent thought that will allow them to strive to make changes.
Canadian Education is Steeped in Anti-Black Racism
This article focuses on how Canadian education in the K-12 sector is entrenched with anti-Black racism and is useful for us to consider what Black students have experienced by the time they arrive in the post-secondary sector.
The “Equity Waltz” in Canada: Whiteness and the informal realities of racism in education
by Paul R. Carr
In this journal article, Carr critically deconstructs the myth of Canadian multiculturalism and explores the impact of racism and predominance of whiteness in education systems in Canada. For Carr, a critical requirement for educators is understanding how racialized and other marginalized students face systemic barriers.
How does racism in Canadian post-secondary education impact student success?
by Dan Cantiller
The author aggregates and annotates 15 articles that explore the challenges racialized students experience when accessing post-secondary education, within these educational institutions and when accessing quality employment opportunities. Topics range from stereotype threat, denial of racism, to the importance of equity and accommodations for student success and more.
Racism in a Multicultural Canada: Paradoxes, Politics, and Resistance (Book)
by Augie Fleras
This book challenges the conception that Canadian society is post-racial and multicultural. Fleras traces the persistence of racism in Canada and how systemic and structural racism continues to deny, disallow, exclude, and exploit BIPOC individuals and communities. In deconstructing the myths of post-racial and multiculturalism, we are challenged to grapple with the reality of racism interwoven into the fabric of Canadian institutions and structures. Available as an e-book via NC Library + Learning Commons.
White Supremacy, Privilege and Fragility
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor (Book)
by Layla Saad
What began as an instagram challenge, #meandwhitesupremacy, has transformed into an updated published workbook that is a foundational work for beginning to think about racism, whiteness, privilege, and more. Saad challenges readers to critically reflect and work through an understanding of their white privilege, the benefits they receive from it, and how they can turn next to action. Available as an e-book via NC Library + Learning Commons.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
by Peggy McIntosh
There are many ways that people benefit from white privilege that we may not be aware of or think about regularly. This article highlights many of the ways that people benefit from white privilege and things that Black people and people of colour have to think about regularly in their everyday lives.
Anti-Racism
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC) – Anti-racism
This site provides a broad overview of anti-racism and covers key concepts like whiteness, forms of racism, strategies of liberal racism, and the myth of reverse-racism with further resources and information available.
How to be Anti-Racist
by Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi argues that the opposite of “racist” is not “not racist,” but instead it is anti-racist. Being anti-racist is not a fixed state or identity and requires constant practice and reaffirmation. Kendi writes, “the only way to undo racism is to constantly identify it and describe it—and then dismantle it.”
Welcome to the Anti-Racism Movement – Here’s What You’ve Missed
by Ijeoma Olua
This forthright resource addresses the challenges associated with engaging in anti-racist work and clearly explains many of the ways that people with white privilege are behind in the anti-racism fight. It also looks at why bringing privilege to this work is so important and why doing this work is so difficult but so important.
Acknowledging and Addressing Racism in the Classroom
An Open Letter to My Students
by Sharon Lauricella
Sharon Lauricella’s open letter to her students serves as one example of how to address racism and privilege during times of civil unrest. Individuals from marginalized groups endure enormous amounts of trauma and hardship. Taking the time to acknowledge issues around racism, talk with students, and voice your support can be critical to helping students feel safe in the classroom in challenging times.
Anti-Racism in Higher Education: A Model for Change
In this article from Race & Pedagogy Journal, the authors outline the persistence of racism in higher education and how many so-called diversity initiatives fail to disrupt racism and provide a framework for anti-racism.
Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Education – OISE Black Faculty in Conversation
This recorded webinar features panelists Professors George Dei, Lance T. McCready, Andrew Campbell, Ann E. Lopez, & Njoki N. Wane and their discussion around anti-Black racism in education and potential ways to address it.
MSW@USC Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power, and Privilege
The MSW@USC Diversity Toolkit provides an overview of activities to address issues of identity, race, diversity, and social justice. Each activity has detailed instructions and tips for facilitators.
Teaching to Transgress
by bell hooks
In bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, she weaves her personal anecdotes into essays and interviews about how students can become marginalized in classrooms and how teachers can and must act to transform those spaces into inclusive ones for all students. Building on critical and engaged pedagogy, hooks’ work is as relevant now as it was when first published in 1994 as she reminds us that “the classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.”
Further Learning
Anti-Oppression + Anti-Racism LibGuide
Staff of the NC Libraries and Learning Commons have put together this list of resources to help students, staff, and faculty of Niagara College participate in anti-racism and anti-oppression conversations.
Podcasts
1619
Hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, this New York Times podcast examines the history and trauma of American slavery and its lasting legacy in America and beyond. The podcast is part of the larger 1619 Project for which creator Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
About Race
Hosted by Reni Eddo-Lodge, the author of Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race, this podcast examines systemic racism and offers opportunities for doing anti-racism work that addresses intersectionality and magnifies marginalized voices.
Intersectionality Matters!
The Intersectionality Matters! Podcast is hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leader scholar in critical race theory, a globally recognized activist, and civil rights advocate.
Politically Re-active
This humorous podcast looks at the political landscape in the United States and how it contributes to a variety of forms of oppression.
Spotlight on Black Trauma and Policing
This virtual event from Call to Mind & MPR News features a moderated conversation about the murder of George Floyd, Black trauma and policing, and racial injustice.
Teaching While White
The Teaching While White (TWW) podcast aims to move conversations forward about how to be consciously anti-racist in the classroom while first grappling with whiteness. TWW lays out the conscious and unconscious assumptions and privileges wrapped up in whiteness, how they impact teaching, how they impact students, and how these assumptions and privileges can be confronted in educational systems.
The Diversity Gap
In anti-racism work, there is often a gap between our intentions and what we do to further the cause. This podcast looks at that gap and at opportunities to bring together our goals and the actual outcomes of our anti-racism work.