Integrating Critical Autobiography to Foster Anti-Racism Learning in the Urban Studies Classroom: Interpreting the “Race and Place” Stories of Undergraduate Students
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online September, 2022
Integrating Critical Autobiography to Foster Anti-Racism Learning in the Urban Studies Classroom: Interpreting the “Race and Place” Stories of Undergraduate Students
Planners are bound up in the reproduction of racialized exclusion. This fact inspires demands for equity, cultural competency, and anti-racism within the profession. This study examines the impacts of a “Race and Place” autobiography writing assignment on undergraduate students’ racial identities and understanding of racism. It combines: (1) a content and narrative analysis of student essays; (2) a post-course survey; and (3) qualitative interviews with a sample of students. Critical autobiographical writing may help students understand their own identities, build empathy for peers, and identify personally with structures of inclusion/exclusion in ways that inspire longer-term commitments to racial justice.
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