This book addresses the combination of pedagogical, curricular, and institutional commitments necessary to create and sustain diversity on campus. Its premise is that the socially just classroom flourishes in the context of a socially just institution, and it invites faculty and administrators to create such classrooms and institutions.This book grew out of a project - involving deans and directors of teaching centers and diversity offices from six institutions - to instigate discussions among teachers and administrators about implementing socially just practices in their classrooms, departments, and offices. The purpose was to explore how best to foster such conversations across departments and functions within an institution, as well as between institutions. This book presents the theoretical framework used, and many of the successful projects to which it gave rise.Recognizing that many faculty have little preparation for teaching students whose backgrounds, culture, and educational socialization differ from theirs, the opening foundational section asks teachers to attend closely to their and their students' relative power and positionality in the classroom, and to the impact of the materials, resources and pedagogical approaches employed. Further chapters offer analytical tools to promote inquiry and change.The concluding sections of the book demonstrate how intra- and inter-institutional collaborations inspired teachers to rise to the challenge of their campuses' commitments to diversity. Among the examples presented is an initiative involving the faculty development coordinator, and faculty from a wide range of domains at DePauw University, who built upon an existing ethics initiative to embed social justice across the curriculum. In another, professors of mathematics from three institutions describe how they collaborated to create socially just classrooms that both serve mathematical learning, and support service learning or community-based learning activities. The final essay by a student from the Maldives, describing how she navigated the chasm between life in an American college and her family circumstances, will reinforce the reader's commitment to establishing social justice in the academy.This book provides individual faculty, faculty developers and diversity officers with the concepts, reflective tools, and collaborative models, as well as a wealth of examples, to confidently embark on the path to transforming educational practice.
"This book represents a useful resource for anyone planning a workship or faculty development seminar on social justice education. The volume is highly coherent, without being monological."
Teaching Theology and Religion
"This collection of essays on social justice in higher education is at once practical and inspiring. Editors Skubikowski, Wright, and Graf have selected essays that explore how faculty can work to infuse social justice goals at multiple levels in higher education, including the theoretical, intra- and interinstitutional, and pedagogical. The result is an excellent tool for faculty development around questions of social justice teaching-what are its purposes, and how can faculty accomplish it? Readers looking for ways to approach these questions across disciplines and sectors will appreciate this collection and its ambitious yet concrete approach."
Diversity and Democracy
Kathleen Skubikowski is Director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Research and Associate Professor of English at Middlebury College. Catharine Wright is a lecturer and tutor in writing at Middlebury College. Roman Graf is Associate Professor, German Department, and Dean for Insitutional Diversity at Middlebury College. Julia Alvarez
Foreword by the Editors Introduction. Rapunzel's Ladder-Julia Alvarez PART I. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION 1. A Social Justice Education Faculty Development Framework for a Post-Grutter Era-Maurianne Adams and Barbara J. Love; 2. Learning through Story Types about Race and Racism. Preparing Teachers for Social Justice-Lee Anne Bell; 3. Academic Activism and the Socially Just Academy-Glen David Kuecker; 4. From Scientific Imagination to Ethical Insight. The Necessity of Personal Experience in Moral Agency-Arthur Zajonc; 5. Change to Social Justice Education. A Higher Education Strategy-Karen L. St. Clair and James E. Groccia; PART II. COLLABORATIONS 6. Beyond Diversity. Social Justice Education Across the Curriculum-Kathleen Skubikowski; 7. Civics Without Cynics. A Campus-wide, Ethics-based Approach to Social Justice Pedagogy-Meryl Altman, Neil Abraham, Terri Bonebright, and Jeannette Johnson-Licon; 8. On Commitment. If You Don't Stand for Something, You'll Fall for Anything-Vijay Prashad; PART III. SOCIAL JUSTICE PEDAGOGY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM 9. Mathematics of, for, and as Social Justice-Priscilla Bremser, Chawne Kimber, Rob Root, and Sheila Weaver; 10. Valued Contingencies. Social Justice in Foreign Language Education-Roman Graf; 11. Shakespeare Meets Social Justice. Incorporating Literature in the Social Sciences-Carolyn Palmer; 12. Writing for Social Change. Building a Citizen-Scholar Discourse that Combines Narrative, Theory and Research-Catharine Wright; 13. Deliberative Dialogue as a Pedagogical Tool for Social Justice-Kamakshi Murti; Afterword. Oblique I Am-Zaheena Rasheed; Index.
