ERIC Number: EJ1456275
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jan
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0092-055X
EISSN: EISSN-1939-862X
"Out of the Comfort Zone": Creating a Safely Brave Space for Dialogues about Race
Teaching Sociology, v53 n1 p73-84 2025
This article is a constructively self-critical autoethnography of my evolving identity as an instructor in a race and ethnicity course. I supplement and contextualize my self-reflections with data in the form of comments from student evaluations. I begin by considering how my social location mediates class dynamics. I then present comments from earlier in my career when students routinely expressed discomfort and admonished me for what they felt was bias. Next, I discuss pedagogical strategies I adopted to address such criticism. Finally, I explore recent comments that affirm my pedagogical choices while encouraging continuing assessment of and modifications to the course. Because most respondents in my analysis are white, this article focuses primarily on their discomforts with and reactions to racial conversations in my classes and how I, as a white instructor, have responded. A discussion of the need for similar research on experiences of students of color is included.
Descriptors: White Teachers, Racism, Race, Discussion (Teaching Technique), Individual Development, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Behavior, Controversial Issues (Course Content)
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A