The Historical Reconstruction of Knowledge About Race: Implications for Transformative Teaching

Abstract

I contend that knowledge reflects both the reality observed as well as the subjectivity of the knower. The attempt to clearly distinguish the objective and subjective elements of knowledge, a key feature of mainstream Anglo-American epistemology, is inconsistent with the ways that human beings know. I use a historical case study of the construction and reconstruction of race between the late 19th century and the 1940s to document the ways in which the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which knowers are embedded influence the knowledge they construct and reconstruct. The final part of this article discusses the implications of the historical construction of race for transformative classroom teaching.