There is so much amazing work out there on antiracist pedagogy! We have chosen to highlight mostly readings and talks that focus specifically on antiracist teaching in relation to the composition classroom, although we have included a few readings that seem to us to be fundamental to any antiracist pedagogy, and some texts which help historically contextualize race and racism in the United States and the US educational system.
We have divided the selections into the following categories: antiracism and composition studies; thinking more broadly about antiracist pedagogy; historical context. For books: where available, we have linked you through the UD to a digital copy. Where not available, we attempted to provide a short excerpt or alternative as PDF. If there is no link, we have not been able to provide either of these options.
We have only presented the tip of the iceberg here. For a much more comprehensive list of readings and resources related to antiracist teaching we encourage you to check out the UD Department of English Teaching Race CANVAS site, curated by Jessica Edwards and Brett Seekford. To gain access to that site if you do not already have it, you will need to email Dr. Edwards.
Antiracism and Composition Studies
Here we have included some more recent work on antiracist pedagogies in Composition Studies, as well as two of the foundational texts in this field. This materials covers topics such as linguistic justice, assessment measures, raising racial literacy in first-year composition classrooms, etc.
Performing Antiracist Pedagogy in Rhetoric, Writing, and Communication, Eds. Frankie Condon and Vershawn Ashanti Young, 2016
Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future, Asao B. Inoue, 2015
Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity and Pedagogy, April Baker-Bell, 2020
Vernacular Insurrections: Race, Black Protest, and the New Century in Composition Literacy Studies, Carmen Kynard, 2013 (no electronic version available)
Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory, Aja Martinez, 2020
“Building Racial Literacy in First- Year Composition Classrooms”, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, 2013
Other People’s English: Code Meshing, Code-Switching, and African-American Literacy, Vershawn Ashanti Young, Rusty Barrett, Y’Shanda Young-Rivera, Kim Brian Lovejoy, 2014
“How Do We Language So People Stop Killing Each Other, or What Do We Do About White Language Supremacy?” Asao B. Inoue, 2019 Conference on College, Composition and Communication Chair’s Address
Toward A New Rhetoric of Difference, Stephanie Kerschbaum, 2014 (no electronic version available)
Decolonizing Rhetoric and Composition Studies: New Latinx Keywords for Theory and Pedagogy, Eds. Iris D. Ruiz and Raúl Sánchez, 2016
Race, Rhetoric and Composition, Ed. Keith Gilyard, 1999
Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color, 1993, Victor Villanueva
For thinking more broadly about antiracist pedagogy
Here we have included both foundational texts and a few more contemporary works that might help you think about an antiracist pedagogy more broadly, not just in relation to composition studies.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Paulo Freire, 1968
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, bell hooks, 1994
“But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” Gloria Ladson-Billings, 1995
How to be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi, 2019
“We want to do more than surive,” A conversation between Bettina love, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz and Genevieve DeBose Akinnagbe, 2019
Learning to Unlearn: Decolonial Reflections from Eurasia and the Americas, Walter Mignolo and Madina Tlostanova, 2012
Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, Eds. Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, 2020 (no electronic version available)
Beyond Education: Radical Studying for Another World, Eli Meyerhoff, 2019
The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study, Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, 2013
Historical Context
Here we have provided some general US histories/context of histories that are often occluded in dominant tellings, but have mostly focused on the education system and its role in perpetuating colonial and racist hierarchies in the United States.
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Ibram X. Kendi, 2016
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn, 1997
Ebony and Ivory: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities, Craig Steven Wilder, 2013
The Classroom and the Cell: Conversations on Black Life in America, Mumia Abu Jamal and Marc Lamont Hill, 2012 (no electronic version available)
Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought, Sandy Grande, 2004
They Called it Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, 1995
Is there a resource not up here that you think would be useful for other instructors to know about? Let us know here!
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