Teaching for Globalized Consciousness: Black Professor, White Student and Shame

Abstract

This essay speaks of the urgency for theological education to nurture and teach for the complexities of a pluralistic world. Opportunities to teach for a burgeoning globalized consciousness is evident and experimental in classrooms comprised of many races, and courses which use cultural immersion as a teaching strategy. Using a case study approach, the author speaks candidly about the difficulties of being a Black professor charged with educating White students for a more globalized consciousness. This essay argues that much of White domination is not superiority, but shame. The central questions engaged in this essay are: In what ways might cross-cultural courses challenge White students to reexamine their own racial identity? At what cost to the Black professor does education as a practice of freedom require Black professors to assist White students in confronting their own racist assumptions and identity?