Thinking Critically About Public Antiracism Education
4 Thursdays: 1:00-2:00pm EDT July 8, 15, 22, 29
Hosted by the Graduate Program in Critical and Creative Thinking at the University of Massachusetts Boston. RSVP here to register and receive the Zoom login information. Contact cct@umb.edu with additional questions.
Also see: General CE Overview | Structure of CE Sessions | Additional Theoretical Foundations | Upcoming Events
Schedule: Online meetings in Zoom on 4 Thursdays from 1:00-2:00pm EDT on July 8, 15, 22, and 29. There is no cost to participate, but space is limited and participants are asked to register only if they can commit to attending at least 3 of the 4 online meetings.
Facilitator: Jeremy Szteiter, Assistant Director of the Graduate Program in Critical and Creative Thinking, University of Massachusetts Boston
Time commitment: 1 hour per week virtual meeting, plus about 30 minutes to 1 hour per week to explore the theme on your own and read/write discussion posts.
Overview of Collaborative Exploration format: These free, non-credit informal seminars offered by the Graduate Program in Critical and Creative Thinking at UMass Boston are open to all. The Collaborative Exploration (CE), inspired by a problem-based learning approach, consists of hour-long structured dialogues in Zoom for 4 weeks in a row with an emphasis on making space for inquiry and curiosity around various themes connected to critical and creative thinking and reflective practice. In between online meetings, participants explore the topic according to their own interests and curiosities, and then the meetings serve to promote learning through sharing of diverse perspectives on the topic. This workshop does not offer a pre-defined antiracism curriculum but instead starts with inquiry, where each participant focuses on particular questions and angles on the topic that interest them most, and then we learn with each other through our live discussions and shared written posts.
Description of theme, Thinking Critically About Public Antiracism Education: Racism continues to be at the center of current efforts to pursue social justice and equity and is the basis of movements such as Black Lives Matter and others. Current discussions in the field of education are addressing what it means to teach about racism in our schools. At the same time, there has been a rise in antiracism education for adult learners in the spaces of public, community, and nonformal education. These offerings take many forms, from multi-week courses or workshops to organizational professional development trainings, to discussion groups and book clubs, to one-time webinars and neighborhood affinity groups, and they are hosted by a range of types of individuals and organizations, from nonprofit agencies to community education centers. Examining this type of education reveals multiple perspectives, formats, and curricula about what to teach and how to teach adult learners about racism. A key question then continues to be, in this wide space of public antiracism education, what is its purpose? What is being taught and learned, and what are its intended and actual consequences? What connects the learning to action? How does it contribute to social movements and progress toward social change? How are we experiencing this type of education as lifelong learners? Participants are invited to reflect on their experiences and perspectives and continue to explore the range of offerings that exist currently, and together, we’ll share our learning and observations as we think together about the implications for this kind of education.
Intended Audience: All individuals who have attended or facilitated any antiracism learning experience of any type or intend to do so in the future and who want to take stock of the longer-term impacts of these experiences. This includes any training, workshop, discussion, webinar, learning group, book club, or any similar forum intended for adult learners across the general public (specifically, programs that are not part of degree programs or formal school curriculum).
