‘I can’t unsee what I’ve seen:’ Doing Social Justice Pedagogy in the research methods classroom

Race and Social Justice: Building an Inclusive College through Awareness, Advocacy, and Action

“…Across disciplines, race and social justice education can supply students with the ability to both understand and challenge systems of oppression and to advance race and social equity in society (Harbin et al, 2019). Research supports approaches to teaching that centralize race and social justice and utilize transformative pedagogies to develop critical thinking and awareness among students, as well as teachers, concerning historic and current social issues (Hooks, 1994(Hooks, , 2003Adams & Love, 2010;Agartan & Hartwiger, 2020;Aktaş, 2021;Pérez, 2022;Veri et al, 2022). The inclusion of race and social justice issues in pedagogy informs and strengthens the commitment of higher education institutions to graduate students with an understanding of the social and cultural context in which they live.…”

“…In summation, the research on best practices stress the central themes of developing faculty's knowledge and awareness around issues of social and racial justice, creating safe spaces for student engagement and the inclusion of their voices and perspectives, and helping students navigate complex discussions while developing their capacity to grapple with issues of race and social injustice. Another recurrent theme is the importance of building shared community and developing collaborative education planning between teachers and students to enable active engagement in social justice at the grassroots level of classroom, which allows both faculty and students to acknowledge and challenge the injustices perpetuated in higher education (DiAngelo & Sensoy, 2018;Harbin et al, 2019;Chin & Morales, 2020;Williams et al, 2020;Valderama-Wallace & Apesoa-Varano, 2020;Pérez, 2022;Veri et al, 2022). Finally, faculty must be deliberate and intentional with course planning and development, and mindful of employing assignments and assessments that align with learning outcomes around social and racial injustice (Harbin et al, 2019;Rodriguez & Huemmer, 2019;Aktaş, 2021;McGowan et al, 2021).…”