ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss a neglected aspect of pedagogy concerning ‘race’, ethnicity and strategies of teaching in higher education (Neal 1995). We raise questions concerning the teaching of ‘race’/ethnicity issues in social science higher education and suggest improvements in praxis. In our experience, the practice of teaching ‘race’ topics raises issues of greater complexity than teaching other sociology/social science courses. This is partly because the very object of study is contested and slippery. Moreover, questions of racial/ethnic/religious/ cultural/national identity and affiliation are raised for both students and lecturers. Such categories often invoke deep emotion for many participants in the pedagogical process. The ‘practices’ we consider here concern those on social ‘science’/ studies courses dealing centrally with ‘race’/racism. We are particularly concerned with the issues raised by non-dichotomous views of ‘race’ and of racism, and argue that neither pluralist multiculturalism nor essentialist forms of anti-racist education (at least, as they have been construed) can address the complex situations which arise within seminar rooms, let alone the even more fraught and complex relations in the world ‘outside’. Rather, we need to explore the syntheses of features of both types of practice, and probably new ones.
