Being an anti-racist educator requires a commitment to dismantling the systems and structures that institutionalize racism in your learning environments. This can be achieved in several different ways.
Strive to avoid assumptions and stereotypes. Acknowledge your biases. Work towards mitigating biases in your practice and subverting them in your consciousness.
Invite guest speakers from marginalized communities to offer their voices and lived experiences to your class. Provide students with the opportunity to be exposed to diverse perspectives.
Empower your students to get involved in and take ownership of their learning processes. Create a safe, egalitarian learning environment. Encourage student engagement with the learning material.
Ask for preferred names, pronunciations, and pronouns. Use them!
Avoid using racist or culturally insensitive language. Microaggressions are often displayed by people that have “good intentions”, but they do more damage than good.
Avoid singling out specific students for comments on sensitive topics. In some instances, it can be comparable to causing them to re-live their trauma. Create open and safe discussion spaces where students have the space to offer a position without feeling pressured to.
You don’t have to do this alone! Get together with fellow practitioners or partner with people of similar passions to create a collaborative community of practice. Share materials and provide each other with constructive feedback. Learn and grow together!
Conduct a regular, critical examination of your teaching practices. Invite perspectives from all your students. Take the time to honestly reflect on their feedback and experiences. Acknowledge your biases and work towards mitigating them in your practice.
Seek to understand the nature of barriers created by systemic racism. Open yourself up to new perspectives. Read up on systemic racism and EDIA, listen to educational podcasts, or watch a Ted Talk. There are so many available resources we can learn from!
Take some time to pause and reflect on what you have just learned. Try to consider how we can promote anti-racism in teaching and learning by asking yourself the following questions.
Put what you have learned into action. Do your part as an anti-racist educator by committing to inclusion. The strategies devised and discussed in this learning module serve as a pivotal platform for promoting anti-racism throughout the teaching and learning communities on campus.
Interested in broadening your understanding of anti-racism? Take a look through these curated resources to further your knowledge.
Ibram X. Kendi, Cloe Shasha & Whitney Pennington Rodgers: “The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist"
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor: "Why its so hard to talk about the N-Word"
Desmond, Cole. The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power. Doubleday Canada, 2020.
DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism. Boston: Beacon Press, 2018.
Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be Antiracist. New York: One World, 2019.
Olua, Ijeoma. So You Want to Talk about Race. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2018.
Antiracist pedagogy across the curriculum (ARPAC). (2022). St. Cloud State University. https://www.stcloudstate.edu/arpac/
African and Caribbean Student Association. (2021). Student feedback on improving anti-racism on campus. University of Calgary, Faculty of Arts. https://arts.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/teams/63/2021_bhm_gallery/belayneh-ebenezer-student-feedback-on-improving-anti-racism-on-campus.pdf
Calgary Anti-Racism Education (CARED). (2020, December 1). Race. Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. https://aclrc.squarespace.com/race
Critical Equity Consulting. (2021). Diversity recruitment in higher education. https://criticalequity.com
Ko, G. (Host). (2021, August 1). Moving forward by reflecting inwards (No.17) [Audio podcast episode]. In Against the Tides of Racism. https://against-the-tides-of-racism.simplecast.com/episodes/dr-fouzia-usman-cHafgTgt
University of Nevada. (2020, August 27). Tips for tackling implicit bias in teaching and learning. Newswise. https://www.newswise.com/articles/tips-for-tackling-implicit-bias-in-teaching-and-learning
