Exploring Pedagogical Practices and the Integration of Just, Anti-racism Methodologies in Anthropology

2022

Co-organized by Dana Burton and Leyla Safta-Zecharia

Within the landscape of pedagogical practices, what tools are available to us as anthropologists to interrogate and unsettle systematic, unjust structures in our schools and in educational content? This mentoring event is a conversation in which we work together on sharing methodologies that align pedagogical practice with a just, anti-racism framework. Our aim is to create a space to share experiences from across multiple academic and career levels about these issues and how we might best advance them in our classroom, service, and advocacy roles. At the AAAs last year, we hosted the mentoring session, Transforming Pedagogies in Anthropology, in which we explored lessons learned and challenges in the classroom. We discussed how we might together come up with resources that may transform our pedagogical practices using multi-modal, experiential-based course designs, texts, and activities. This year, in our commitment to the transformative potential of collaborative thinking, we intend this mentoring event to build on that foundation. In concert with efforts by the Association of the Anthropology of Policy (ASAP) anti-racism working group, our event will foster discussion about four main themes that encourage the recognition and inclusion of difference and diversity in anthropology. We welcome all levels and experiences in anthropology of policy and beyond to contribute to this event. Additionally, we invite practitioners in equity, diversity, and inclusion work to participate with us in building this toolkit. By the end of the session, we plan to have gathered notes and recommendations for a resource guide that the community at ASAP and beyond may draw on to further the work of just, anti-racism in the various levels of our teaching, in the anthropology of policy and in other fields.

Questions/topics that precipitate and motivate this event:

What do you think is important when building towards a just, anti-racist pedagogical framework?

• (1) Inclusive curriculum and citational justice via resources and concepts; 

• (2) Inclusive andragogical/pedagogical practice in the classroom; 

• (3) Equitable and accountable evaluation; 

• (4) Classroom language and intersectionality. 

Potential goals for the conversation:

• We endeavor this conversation to be an opportunity for cross mentoring.

• We are interested in delving into the ways pedagogies create space for reflective, collaborative work that is open to multiplicity (of learning styles, of accessibility, of positioning ourselves, of critically engaging with/in our situated communities, of expressing ourselves).

• We encourage thinking deeply about the methods and challenges of transforming pedagogy in anthropology and the implications of our pedagogical practice as anthropologists working in and outside of the university.