Teaching and Confronting Racial Neoliberalism in Higher Education: Autoethnographic Explorations of the Race Studies Classroom

This book examines the way in which professors must confront the social implications of racial neoliberalism. Drawing on autoethnographic research from the authors’ combined 100 years of teaching experience, it recognizes the need for faculty to negotiate their own experiences with race, as well as those of their students. It focuses on the experiential nature of teaching, supplementing the fields’ focus on pedagogy, and recognizes that professors must, in fact, highlight, rather than downplay, the realities of racial inequalities of the past and present. It explores the ability of instructors to make students who are not of color feel that they are not racists, as well as their ability to make students of color feel that they can present their experiences of racism as legitimate. A unique sociological analysis of the racial studies classroom, this book will be of value to researchers, scholars and faculty with interests in race and ethnicity in education; diversity studies; equity; pedagogy; and the sociology of education, teaching, and learning.