Unteaching Racism: Understanding and handling misuse of racial categories
Science has been repeatedly deployed to bolster false ideas of human difference and racist ideologies which in turn inform legislation and policies that shape systemic racism. Modern genetics has verified that notions of biological difference between groups of people are false. Nevertheless, mythologies of inherent difference based on presumptions of racial distinction persist within both the life sciences and society at large. Faculty teaching at AALAC institutions are interested in curricular and pedagogical materials that address the realities and legacy of racism. Most of us were not trained in understanding the history, deployment and utilization of racial categories. The history of racial taxonomy and its impact in both the life sciences and society at large is a pedagogical omission that reinforces racism. Therefore, the targeted audience for this workshop is faculty teaching in the life sciences and faculty teaching in other areas using materials that include race categories. This workshop will provide participants clarity of understanding regarding the creation and deployment of race categories that they can practically apply to generate or enhance their teaching and scholarship related to racism.
By educating faculty, with anticipation of their impact on students, we will encourage attention to, and correction of, examples used in syllabi, classroom and research projects reflecting racist ideologies in the life sciences or their applications. The workshop will take place over three days, tentatively in June, 2024. The format will be a mix of presentation of some materials by leadership, large and small group discussion, and activities that will build comprehension and development of materials that participants can incorporate into their own teaching or scholarship.
This project will help uproot a legacy of racist thinking that still informs ideas equating race as an inherent immutable characteristic of difference. Faculty adapting the gains from the workshop will be able to revise their classroom practices to teach about racism and interfere with perpetuation of implicit and explicit remnants of scientific racism. The workshop will help participants enhance their home learning environments. Therefore work stemming from this interdisciplinary workshop will provide good models on AALAC campuses for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Each participant will create a plan, including resources and next steps, for how they will incorporate what they have learned in the workshop into their teaching or scholarship. Other outcomes from the workshop might include shared teaching materials, formation of small working groups to facilitate future collaboration and support for people implementing these ideas and an interdisciplinary approach into their teaching or scholarship, and a follow-up workshop or presentation at a conference, such as the AAC&U Transforming STEM conference.
Workshop organizers and facilitators:
• Leslie Gregg-Jolly, Biology, Grinnell College
• Katya Gibel Mevorach, Anthropology and American Studies, Grinnell College
• Phoebe Lostroh, Molecular Biology, Colorado College
Designated Liaison:
Leslie Gregg-Jolly, Douglas Johnson ’77 Professor of Biology, greggjol@grinnell.edu, Grinnell College