What is Predominantly White Institutions (PWI)

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.