Critical community building in action: a triad of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students working for racial justice

Abstract

This article considers what critical community building might look like among colleagues at a university representing one faculty member, one doctoral candidate, and one undergraduate student. Using critical autoethnography-self-study, we analyze our journal reflections, presentations, teaching, and dialogues to better understand our approaches with teaching Critical Race Theory. This research asks: How do colleagues across power dynamics and positionalities learn from each other, and work collaboratively to teach about race and racism at a predominantly white institution? Our findings indicate that this sort of work requires relationships, shared vulnerability, and an understanding of our journeys to becoming critical pedagogues. We find value in this work due to its focus on collaboration across power dynamics (i.e. rank of professor, graduate, and undergraduate students) as well as our positionalities across womanhood. We offer implications for other faculty/instructors who wish to bring this sort of collaboration to their college classroom and teacher education.