Abstract
This chapter focuses on the experiences of two Latina, first generation immigrant doctoras who developed and taught an inaugural Introduction to Critical Race Theory (CRT) course at a predominantly white institution in the Northeast. The authors discuss their salient identities that served as a catalyst to reimagine a teaching collaboration. Drawing from their cultural values, the authors comment on how they worked together during a contentious year to teach a course that affirmed the stories of people of color and immigrants. The authors share how the implementation, pedagogical perspectives, and goals for the course were informed by CRT in different ways, specifically relying on counterstorytelling as an approach to challenge dominant narratives and using the classroom as a counterspace for students of color. The chapter proposes two emerging dynamics the authors believe can assist in continuing to innovate teaching: first, reimagining diversity in the curriculum and second, forging faculty and staff teaching collaborations.
TopTestimonios Of Our Salient Identities
Latinx/a/o testimonios are rooted in our diverse social constructs and histories (Delgado et al., 2012). Delgado Bernal et al. (2012) state, “Testimonio transcends descriptive discourse to one that is more performative in that the narrative simultaneously engages the personal and collective aspects of identity formation while translating choices, silences, and ultimately identities” (p. 364). Testimonios can be significant CRT methodological tools to center Latinx/a/o experiences, create shared narratives, and stimulate social change (Delgado Bernal et al., 2012; Pérez Huber, 2009). Here we offer testimonios that shape us as educators and Critical Race Theorists.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Counterspace: Spaces (physical and beyond) that are culturally relevant, challenge dominant ethos, and honor minoritized identities.
Counterstorytelling: Telling of stories by people whose experiences are silenced as a method of resistance.
Immigrant: A person who relocates to a country to live permanently.
Memoing: A reflective tool which allows the researcher to engage in their positionality and experience.
Teaching Collaboration: Members of a learning community working together and sharing ideas in order to diversify and improve student learning outcomes.
Predominantly White Institutions (PWI): Institutions of post-secondary learning where white students account for more than 50% of the student body.
Dominant Narratives: Accounts, stories, and explanations that support and advance the dominant group’s ideologies and interests.
Resistance: Effort to disrupt, oppose, and challenge dominant cultural narratives and views.
Hate Crime: Crime committed against a person based on a bias against the victim’s race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.