Considering (auto)biography in teaching and learning about race and racism in a diverse university

Abstract

The ‘sociological imagination’ – the recognition of the relationship between ‘private troubles’ and ‘public issues’ (Mills [1959] 2000. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 8) – is central to the discipline of sociology. This article reports findings of a 2014 study which investigated students’ views on whether the development of the sociological imagination could be more explicitly embedded in a module on Race and Racisms through an (auto)biographical approach from teachers and the module’s racially diverse students. After reviewing benefits and challenges to an (auto)biographical approach, the article presents findings from a student focus group, concluding that students would welcome (auto)biographical approaches to the topic of race and racism, with the caveat that this is handled sensitively with steps taken to minimise the risk of emotional harm.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1319807
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Sociology and Policy
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Centre for Critical Inquiry into Society and Culture (CCISC)
Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Teaching in Higher Education on 28/4/17, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13562517.2017.1319807
Uncontrolled Keywords: autobiography,biography,race,sensitive issues,Education
Publication ISSN: 1470-1294
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2024 08:17
Date Deposited: 24 May 2017 08:10
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2017-10-03
Published Online Date: 2017-04-28
Accepted Date: 2017-03-07
Submitted Date: 2015-03-03
Authors: Jones, Demelza (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5985-1972)

Download

[img]

Version: Accepted Version

| Preview

[img]

Access Restriction: Restricted to Repository staff only


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record