Lisa R. Merriweather

Knowledge and Emotions in Cross-Racial Dialogues: Challenges and Opportunities for Adult Educators Committed to Racial Justice in Educational Settings

Our society reflects a kaleidoscope of differences in terms of race, ethnicity, class, religion, and gender identity. These differences are evident from the boardroom to the classroom in higher education and can result in impaired communication when race is the topic of discussion. To effectively facilitate race-based dialogues, adult educators must deliberately and intentionally build their cognitive and emotive capacity. Capacity building involves adult educators acknowledging their privilege and systems of advantage, attaining cultural knowledge, taking emotional risks, and developing the ability to better organize formal learning and capitalize on informal learning opportunities, to engage in more genuine and appropriate racial dialogues. As we are ushered through the 21st century, issues of race and racism will remain as salient as ever as long as the disturbing silence, surrounding them in our work and school spaces, is allowed to persist. Considerations for the development of cognitive and emotive capacities are described to assist adult educators in contributing to a more just society.

Toward a Race Pedagogy for Black Faculty

Educators are consciously or unconsciously guided by pedagogy and make critical decisions about praxis—content, strategy, structure—based on their pedagogical beliefs. The intentional use of pedagogy is often advanced as a key to being an effective educator. A wealth of literature is directed toward helping White educators develop a race pedagogy, but the authors argue Black educators who teach courses about race face unique challenges and should develop a pedagogical stance consistent with that reality. In this article, the authors analyze different strategies as evidence that Black faculty struggle to develop a pedagogy for teaching race. The authors argue for a purposeful, engaged pedagogy, and contextually informed pedagogy that sets conditions wherein both the educator and student take risks in exposing their authentic self and positionality.