Diversity and Your Department

Resources for addressing diversity and inclusion

Tag: Multiculturalism

Art

Kraehe, A. (2010). Multicultural Art Education in an Era of Standardized Testing: Changes in Knowledge and Skill for Art Teacher Certification in Texas. Studies in Art Education, 51(2), 162-175. (PDF)

Kraehe argues that it is vital for an arts educator to emphasize a multicultural approach in their classroom, as the arts educator most directly builds the students' conception of a cultural narrative; Kraehe's findings show that certification for art educators reflect a movement towards multiculturalism and contextualization of art within social and historical conditions. This article verifies the notion that systemic processes have begun to recognize multicultural and postcolonial pedagogies and encourages the art educator to continually question the narratives they teach in the classroom.

Shin, R. (2011). Social Justice and Informal Learning: Breaking the Social Comfort Zone and Facilitating Positive Ethnic Interaction. Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research in Art Education, 53, 71-87. (PDF)

This article proposes "informal learning" as a way to break students of culturally insensitive practices, such as stereotyping. Shin's methods also employ community involvement as a primary tool. This article would be mainly helpful to professors who are looking for new class projects and assignments.

Chemistry

Hernandez, R., & Watt, S. (2014). A Top-Down Approach for Diversity and Inclusion in Chemistry Departments. In H. N. Cheng, S. Shah, & M. L. Wu (Eds.), Careers, Entrepreneurship, and Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities (Vol. 1169, pp. 207–224). Washington: Amer Chemical Soc. (PDF)

This article is a very general overview of the definitions of diversity and how diversity plays out in the field of chemistry. Hernandez and Watt note that singular conferences and events are organized to address diversity in chemistry, but sweeping systemic changes are necessary for lasting change. This is a good introductory piece that offers several practical tips.

Dance

Gerdes, E. V. P., & VanDenend Sorge, T. (2015). Building Humans and Dances: Exploring Cultural Relevancy as Teaching Artists. Journal of Dance Education, 15(2), 72-76. (PDF)

While this article focuses on the logistical intricacies of teaching dance to elementary school-aged children, there is relevant information about the "student authority" within dance classes. The authors advocate for dance instruction that reflects the cultural realities of the student. Employed in a college-level dance class, this practice could provide dynamic collaborations between professor and student.

Risner, D., & Stinson, S. W. (2010). Moving Social Justice: Challenges, Fears and Possibilities in Dance Education. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 11(6), 1-26. (PDF)

This collaboration is a holistic view of the problems facing multiculturalistic inclusivity in dance education programs across the United States. This would be helpful to professors who want to self-examine their own teaching methods to see if they are as inclusive they intend to be.

Robinson, D., & Domenici, E. (2010). From Inclusion to Integration: Intercultural Dialogue and Contemporary University Dance Education. Research in Dance Education, 11(3), 213-221. (PDF)

In this essay, Robinson and Domenici seek to dispel numerous myths and false notions that continue to make modern dance more exclusive and less multicultural. This article is helpful because it articulates those myths, which often go unsaid, and argues against them.

General (Mathematics and Natural Sciences)

Bricker, L. A., Reeve, S., & Bell, P. (2014). "She Has to Drink Blood of the Snake": Culture and prior knowledge in science|health education. International Journal of Science Education, 36(9), 1457–1475. (PDF)

In this study, Bricker et al. advocate for science education that engages with students' cultural background and prior knowledge. This would aid in retaining students that may otherwise find science excludes them. While this study focuses on elementary-aged students, it continues to be important at every level of education.

Gaughan, M., & Bozeman, B. (2015). Daring to Lead. Issues in Science & Technology, 31(2), 27–31. (PDF)

This article argues that we should refocus the problem of minority under enrollment in post-secondary science classes. It is not that university classes are poorly integrated, but that the entire educational and societal system leading up to college pushes minority and poor students away from STEM fields before they can even consider joining them. This article is helpful in reminding us of larger systems outside of the college that need vocal reformers.

General (The Arts)

Engdahl, E. (2012). The East Bay Center for the Performing Arts: A Model for Community-Based Multicultural Arts Education. Multicultural Education(2), 43-48. (PDF)

This article provides a portrait and history of the East Bay Center, which provides arts-based education to students of low-income families. It describes the Center's guiding goals, which allow them to engage with and enrich a richly multicultural community. Although this article focuses on education for pre-college students, the goals in the second half of the article also apply to arts education at a collegiate level.

Political Science

Auerbach, Arthur H. "Teaching Diversity: Using a Multifaceted Approach to Engage Students." PS: Political Science & Politics 45, Issue 3 (July 2012): 516-520. (PDF)

The author of this article details the content and methods he used to teach a political science course on diversity in society. He used inclusive methods in his pedagogy and brought in non-traditional sources to show a variety of perspectives. While this article is based on a political science course, the methods used are applicable to most disciplines.

Psychology

Gharib, A., & Phillips, W. (2012). Assigning culture: An example of a cross-cultural assignment for teaching introductory psychology. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 11(3), 428-432. (PDF)

In this study, Gharib and Phillips advocate assigning books that discuss cross-cultural applications of psychology to foster a greater appreciation of multiculturalism in students. This is recommended for psychology professors building their syllabi.

Johnson, K. A., Okun, M. A., Benallie, M., & Pennak, S. (2010). American Indian students' difficulties in Introduction to Psychology. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3(1), 27-42. (PDF)

While this study focuses on the struggles of American Indians in psychology classrooms, one could find helpful suggestions for all minorities in any classroom. Of particular interest is Johnson et al.'s strong reminder that one problem that minorities often face is that they find it hard to express their struggles to the instructor; this should push the instructor to be proactive and not wait for students to come to them with their issues.

Lott, B., & Rogers, M. R. (2011). Ethnicity matters for undergraduate majors in challenges, experiences, and perceptions of psychology. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(2), 204-210. (PDF)

This study mainly works to confirm the notion that minorities often find themselves excluded from the study of psychology. Where this article may be more useful is in its articulation of the many problems that minority students have with the existing system, and instructors may find some reasons here new and surprising.

Religion

Andraos, M. E. (2012). Engaging Diversity in Teaching Religion and Theology: An Intercultural, De-Colonial Epistemic Perspective. Teaching Theology & Religion, 15(1), 3-15. (PDF)

Andraos provides a primer on colonialism, decolonization, and how those two concepts affect learning and the classroom environment. They offer practical applications of decolonization in a Religion classroom. This article is best for professors unfamiliar with postcolonial studies and how to incorporate them into coursework and class discussion.

DeTemple, J. (2012). Home Is My Area Code: Thinking about, Teaching, and Learning Globalization in Introductory World Religions Classes. Teaching Theology & Religion, 15(1), 61-71. (PDF)

This article examines the benefits and challenges of discussing globalization within the context of an intro religion course. Although the students in DeTemple's class may have had more problems grasping the ideas of globalization than the average Reed class would, the article still provides potentially helpful insight into managing the varying worldviews that come together in an intro religion course.

Locklin, R. B., Tiemeier, T., & Vento, J. M. (2012). Teaching World Religions without Teaching "World Religions". Teaching Theology & Religion, 15(2), 159-181. (PDF)

This work offers three separate essays that attempt to show how a professor can go about teaching a pluralistic religion class without falling into the problematic pratfalls of "world religions" courses that critics have recently lambasted. This work is helpful for any religion professor who is looking for tips on how to remain sensitive to how their classroom is run.

Sociology

Moore, H. A., Acosta, K., Perry, G. and Edwards, C. (2010), SPLITTING THE ACADEMY: The Emotions of Intersectionality at Work. The Sociological Quarterly, 51 (PDF)

Investigates who teaches diversity courses at a research university. This article may be of interest to new faculty who are transitioning from working and studying at RI institutions to working at Reed. In addition, this article presents the different dimensions involved in teaching diversity-focused courses, which are often very demanding in terms of time and emotional investment.

Writing

Lovejoy, K. B., Fox, S., & Wills, K. V. (2009). From Language Experience to Classroom Practice: Affirming Linguistic Diversity in Writing Pedagogy. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 9(2), 261-287. (PDF)

In this article, Lovejoy et al. advocate for college writing courses that work towards acceptance of each student's native language and dialect, instead of forcing a single, monolingual writing style. To illustrate their point, each author describes certain experiences that helped them maintain an inclusive classroom environment. This is recommended for any professor that teaches writing-heavy courses.