Next semester I will be teaching a fourth-year undergraduate Sociology course on Racism, Whiteness, and Identity Development. I am still in deep thought on the structure I will give the class, and am inviting suggestions from readers of this status. I am considering to give students a taste of what a graduate-level comprehensive exam looks like; one that embraces depth as opposed to the piecemeal, disconnected, breadth-centered approach common in undergraduate learning. I recall coming out of my undergraduate years feeling rather scattered; having learnt everything but also nothing and not knowing where I stand academically. For this reason, I would like to offer depth in my course, which also may prove helpful for the development of a critical and nuance engagement with materials. My teaching approach is informed by a pedagogy of discomfort. This is a pedagogy that breaks from the common conceptualization of classrooms as apolitical sites existing outside the community and safe havens from the visceral rawness of our ontological existence. I embrace, on the contrary, an understanding of emotions as contested sites for political resistance and social change, or the maintenance of habituated numbness and passive empathy (a recognition of suffering without an impulse to act). In other words, I intent to structure a class that engages students both emotionally and cognitively. This also means a course that invites self-reflection and checking-in. Finally, though I at times clandestinely fantasize on knowing all about my specific field, I actually suffer from the common impostor syndrome of academics. I do not know each and every crannies of my field of inquiry, and I also have my bias. In the spirit of humility and more democracy, I thus see myself as both professor and learner, and will make space for the specific interests of students. As for assessment tools: to fulfill the intention for depth, I plan to structure my course as reading intensive more so than writing intensive. Students will have to write a one single-spaced page synopsis and critical reflection of the weekly readings. There will be three weekly readings; two from the syllabus and the third, in the spirit of making space and being a professor-learner, a peer-reviewed reading of their choosing that fits into the topic of the week. Unconventional readings, such as reports from community civic organizations will also be included so as to encourage application of knowledge and being community-centered. As for attending to a pedagogy of discomfort approach, students will have to write weekly reflexive journal entries speaking about their feelings, memories, half-thoughts, changes, and the likes in regards to reading materials, lectures, outings (if any), activities, peer comments and presentations, etc. On the latter note, students will be required to do presentations; maybe one, maybe two. Students will mark each others presentations and provide written feedback. My mark, of course, will be final. The biggest assessment tool will go to a creative project. If students prefer the traditional paper approach, that is fine. They will be required to write a mock peer-reviewed article. All others are welcome to do a creative project; i.e.: create a website, organize an event, a series of drawings and art, a life story, a zine, a collage, a documentary, etc. A short essay about the creative projects will also be necessary; one that explains how the project relates to the materials covered throughout the semester. A peep at potential themes covered in this course: critical race theory, critical race feminism, tribal critical race theory, critical whiteness theory, identity development models, feminist theorizing of emotions, and theories on neo-racism. *drops mic, a la Obama*
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:48:05 +0000
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