Talking about Silence: reflections on 'race' in a university course on genocide

Abstract

This example of a re ective dialogue was written by a university instructor and ve students who had completed her Sociological Understandings of Genocide class. In this dialogue, they identify numerous ways that silences about race affect relations among course participants, curricular choices and the eld of genocide studies. The authors also suggest means of dispelling such silences, including naming racism when it occurs, mandating curricular change at an elementary school level, and using critical genealogy and other means of encouraging students to see how racism is an immediate problem for all. In taking up their common concerns, the authors' voices often diverge in ways that may be indicative of their various identities and social locations (e.g. as teachers or students, as White or Black women). Moreover, their voices sometimes depart from dialogic exchange into tangents, repetitions, and monologues that, through their complex form, illustrate the complexities and disjunctures of the topics being addressed. Kathy Bischoping: Opening the dialogueWhen a colleague invited me to write 'something on anti-racism and institutions' for a possible book, I thought it would be interesting to turn to a group of students who