Full Description
In recent decades, American universities have begun to tout the "diversity" of their faculty and student bodies. But what kinds of diversity are being championed in their admissions and hiring practices, and what kinds are being neglected? Is diversity enough to solve the structural inequalities that plague our universities? And how might we articulate the value of diversity in the first place? Transforming the Academy begins to answer these questions by bringing together a mix of faculty-male and female, cisgender and queer, immigrant and native-born, tenured and contingent, white, black, multiracial, and other-from public and private universities across the United States. Whether describing contentious power dynamics within their classrooms or recounting protests that occurred on their campuses, the book's contributors offer bracingly honest inside accounts of both the conflicts and the learning experiences that can emerge from being a representative of diversity. The collection's authors are united by their commitment to an ideal of the American university as an inclusive and transformative space, one where students from all backgrounds can simultaneously feel intellectually challenged and personally supported. Yet Transforming the Academy also offers a wide range of perspectives on how to best achieve these goals, a diversity of opinion that is sure to inspire lively debate.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction Full Steps Forward, Half Steps Back-The Diversity Challenge of Pedagogy
Sarah Willie-LeBreton
Part I: Challenging Classrooms
Chapter 1 Decentering Whiteness: Teaching Anti-racism on a Predominantly White Campus
Michael D. Smith and Eve Tuck
Chapter 2 Is there a Silver Lining? The Experiences of a Black female Teaching Assistant
Dela Kusi-Appouh
Chapter 3 Radical Leftist or Objective Practitioner? Perceptions of a Black Male Professor
H. Mark Ellis
Chapter 4 Teaching Difference in Multiple Ways: Through Content and Presence
Cheryl Jones-Walker
Chapter 5 What You May Not See: The Oscillating Critique
Pato Hebert
Chapter 6 The Professor, Her Colleague, and Her Student: Two Race-Related Stories
Sarah Willie-LeBreton
Chapter 7 Challenging Oppression in Moderation? Student Feedback in Diversity Courses
Anita Chikkatur
Part II: Witnessing Protest
Chapter 8 The (S)paces of Academic Work: Disability, Access, and Higher Education
Kristin Lindgren
Chapter 9 Queer Affects/Queer Access
Anna Ward
Chapter 10 Geographies of Difference: From Unity to Solidarity
Betty Sasaki
Chapter 11 La Promesa: Working with Latina/o Students in an Elite Liberal Arts College
Aurora Camacho de Schmidt
Chapter 12 Passing Strange: Embodying and Negotiating Difference in Academia
Daphne Lamothe
Chapter 13 A Dean's Week: "Trap Doors and Glass Ceilings"
Theresa Tensuan
Conclusion Theorizing the Transformation of the 21st Century Campus
Sarah Willie-LeBreton
Bibliography
About the Contributors
End Notes
Index
