Passionate pedagogy and emotional labor: students’ responses to learning diversity from diverse instructors

Preaching to the Choir: University Diversity Committees as Affective Communities

“…While a great deal of scholarly energy has been devoted to understanding and promoting the benefits of diverse colleges and universities, far less is known about what it means to engage in diversity as a field of practice. There has been extensive study of how racially minoritized students, staff, and faculty experience daily life in colleges and universities (e.g., Davis et al ; Holmes ; Schueths et al ). But while anthropologists have played an important role in critiquing the problematic ways in which universities mobilize diversity discourse (Brayboy ; Urciuoli , , ), far less is known about the conditions in which diversity work occurs.…”

“…Chief diversity officers are often structurally marginalized and under resourced; they are expected to promote transformation within change‐resistant organizations (Harvey ; Leon ). Faculty of color experience high expectations to engage in undervalued diversity‐related teaching, research, and service (Brayboy ; Schueths et al ; Urciuoli ). Students of color are expected to perform diversity for others’ benefit without compensation (Urciuoli ), which is exactly what legal justifications for increased diversity promote.…”

(En)gauging Self: Toward a Practical Framework for Race Talk

“…Alongside my use of a sanctuary, the idea of (mental) separation has been one of the most life-changing elements for me. Burnout, fear, fatigue, and related stress associated with difficult dialogues on race are well documented, especially for faculty of color (e.g., Fasching-Varner, 2015; Perry et al, 2009; Schueths et al, 2013; Sue et al, 2011). However, recent qualitative work indicates social justice–oriented faculty intentionally maintain some kind of mental/psychological distance as they work through difficult discourses on race (Murray-Johnson & Ross-Gordon, 2018).…”

“…I ask myself, am I clear on my goals for the class, or training session and how difficult dialogues (if they arise) might work as learning moments to support those goals? Second, I try to embrace what is widely cited—that difficult moments are part and parcel of teaching for social justice (see, for example, Manglitz et al, 2014; Schueths et al, 2013; L. Smith et al, 2017; Sue, 2015). Third, I make every attempt to tell students that I do not know it all—very early on, and that my own racial/ethnic identity plays a significant part in how I facilitate these discussions—my lenses are limited in this sense.…”

“…For instance, Perry et al (2009) found African American faculty experienced much resistance, and subsequently engaged in significant amounts of emotional labor in their efforts to assert credibility with students-emotional labor here referring to the constant, conscious work of managing their feelings and emotions. Studies continue to confirm that emotional labor seems a norm for diversity instructors, and particularly for faculty of color (e.g., Schueths, Gladney, Crawford, Bass, & Moore, 2013). Researchers note faculty have experienced bouts of anxiety, worry, and trepidation even in preparation mode-before faculty got to the dialogue in class (Quaye, 2012a)-as well as multiple instances of emotional and identity tension (e.g., Baumgartner & Johnson-Bailey, 2008;Gnanadass, 2014;Manglitz et al, 2014;Murray-Johnson & Ross-Gordon, 2018;Sheared et al, 2010).…”