Teaching sociological perspectives on race and ethnicity is challenging due to the predominance of color-blind ideology in our supposed postracial society. Students enter the classroom hesitant to discuss race or acknowledge ongoing racism. To better educate students and bridge the racial distance between them, we developed small-group, team-facilitated dialogues as a core course component. We explore results of pre- and postsurveys from students in two sections of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity taught by the first author, which featured dialogues, and one similarly structured offering from a different instructor without dialogues. In comparison to the class offering without dialogues, students who completed the dialogues showed greater mastery of core sociological concepts related to race and an increased commitment to supporting and promoting racial and ethnic equality.
AlimoCraig J. 2012. “From Dialogue to Action: The Impact of Cross-race Intergroup Dialogue on the Development of White College Students as Racial Allies.” Equity & Excellence in Education45(1):36–59.
2.
BeckerSarahPaulCrystal. 2015. “‘It Didn’t Seem Like Race Mattered’: Exploring the Implications of Service-learning Pedagogy for Reproducing or Challenging Color-blind Racism.” Teaching Sociology43(3):184–200.
3.
Boatright-HorowitzSu L.FrazierSavannahHarps-LoganYvetteCrockettNathaniel. 2013. “Difficult Times for College Students of Color: Teaching White Students about White Privilege Provides Hope for Change.” Teaching in Higher Education18(7):698–708.
4.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2014. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. 4th ed.Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
5.
BrunsmaDavid L.BrownEric S.PlacierPeggy. 2013. “Teaching Race at Historically White Colleges and Universities: Identifying and Dismantling the Walls of Whiteness.” Critical Sociology39(5):717–38.
6.
BurkeMeghan A. and Kira Hudson Banks. 2012. “Sociology by Any Other Name: Teaching the Sociological Perspective in Campus Diversity Programs.” Teaching Sociology40(1):21–33.
7.
CaseKim A. 2007. “Raising White Privilege Awareness and Reducing Racial Prejudice: Assessing Diversity Course Effectiveness.” Teaching of Psychology34(4):231–35.
8.
ChengJeanSullivanBelindaGriffin-DestraJerlenaStarkDave. 2006. What’s Race Got to Do with It?San Francisco: California Newsreel.
9.
ClarkChristine. 2005. “Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education: Intergroup Dialogue as Pedagogy across the Curriculum.” Multicultural Education12(3):51–61.
GoldsmithPat António. 2006. “Learning to Understand Inequality and Diversity: Getting Students Past Ideologies.” Teaching Sociology34(3):263–77.
17.
GurinPatriciaNagdaBiren (Ratnesh) A.ZúñigaXimena, eds. 2013. Dialogue across Difference: Practice, Theory, and Research on Intergroup Dialogue. New York: Russell Sage.
18.
HelmsJanet E., ed. 1990. Black and White Racial Identity: Theory, Research, and Practice. Westport, CT: Praeger.
19.
JohnsonMelencia M.MasonPhillip B.2017. “‘Just Talking about Life’: Using Oral Histories of the Civil Rights Movement to Encourage Classroom Dialogue on Race.” Teaching Sociology45(3):279–89.
20.
KeehnMolly G. 2015. “‘When You Tell a Personal Story, I Kind of Perk Up a Little Bit More’: An Examination of Student Learning from Listening to Personal Stories in Two Social Diversity Courses.” Equity & Excellence in Education48(3):373–91.
21.
KhannaNikkiHarrisCherise A.2015. “Discovering Race in a ‘Post-racial’ World: Teaching Race through Primetime Television.” Teaching Sociology43(1):39–45.
22.
LipsitzGeorge. 1995. “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the ‘White’ Problem in American Studies.” American Quarterly47(3):369–87.
23.
McIntoshPeggy. 1989. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Peace and Freedom Magazine July/August:10–12.
24.
NagdaBiren (Ratnesh) A. 2006. “Breaking Barriers, Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: Communication Processes in Intergroup Dialogues.” Journal of Social Issues62(3):553–76.
25.
NagdaBiren (Ratnesh) A.GurinPatriciaSorensenNicholasGurin-SandsChloéOsunaShardae. 2009. “From Separate Corners to Dialogue and Action.” Race & Social Problems1(1):45–55.
26.
NevilleHelen A.LillyRoderick L.DuranGeorgiaLeeRichard M.BrowneLaVonne. 2000. “Construction and Initial Validation of the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS).” Journal of Counseling Psychology47(1):59–70.
27.
RossSabrina N. 2014. “Diversity and Intergroup Contact in Higher Education: Exploring Possibilities for Democratization through Social Justice Education.” Teaching in Higher Education19(8):870–81.
28.
SeguinCharlesNierobiszAnnetteKozlowskiKaren Phelan. 2017. “Seeing Race: Teaching Residential Segregation with the Racial Dot Map.” Teaching Sociology45(2):142–51.
29.
SorensenNicholasNagdaBiren (Ratnesh) A.GurinPatriciaMaxwellKelly E.2009. “Taking a ‘Hands On’ Approach to Diversity in Higher Education: A Critical-Dialogic Model for Effective Intergroup Interaction.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy9(1):3–35.
30.
SueDerald Wing. 2013. “Race Talk: The Psychology of Racial Dialogues.” American Psychologist68(8):663–72.
31.
TwineFrance WinddanceGallagherCharles A.2008. “The Future of Whiteness: A Map of the ‘Third Wave.’” Ethnic & Racial Studies31(1):4–24.
