Shared Authority and Epistemological Struggles: Tales of Three Racial Groups of Professors

Abstract

Sharing teacher authority with students is a common pillar of these progressive pedagogies. This paper takes up the issue of authority in establishing credibility in knowledge claims by examining the dynamics of class discussions over race relations. Using pedagogy of positionality (Maher & Tetreault, 2001), the study pays attention to how authority is exercised and challenged in negotiating differences among participants. The primary data for this study draws from in-depth interviews with seven college professors who teach Racial and Ethnic Relations in a predominantly white institution. The findings of this study suggest that knowledge claims and meaning-making is mediated by relationships among members. That is, authority comes not from professors’ personal (racial) experience, nor from professors’ disciplinary (professional) expertise, but from a mutual construction based on trust, compassion, and empathy between the teacher and students. In order to establish a truly inclusive classroom in race discussions, it is crucially important for professors to care about multiple positionings that students occupy, beyond the student-self and racial self.