ERIC Number: EJ1418536
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0092-055X
EISSN: EISSN-1939-862X
Available Date: N/A
"Pieces of My Soul": A Humanistic Approach to Teaching Race and Anti-Blackness to Black-Identified Students
Stephanie D. Sears
Teaching Sociology, v52 n2 p139-147 2024
This teaching note reviews a four-part discussion post assignment that asks Black-identified students enrolled in a class connected to a Black living-learning community to make sociological and personal connections to concepts related to race, anti-Blackness, and institutional racism in Yaa Gyasi's novel "Homegoing." Reflecting on their posts, I share how using literary fiction in the classroom can support students' development of a sociological imagination grounded in history's missing voices and an intersectional and structural understanding of race and racism. Moreover, by making connections between the characters, their peers, and their own lives and sharing these connections via their discussion posts, students create a space of collective vulnerability where they can reflect simultaneously upon the dehumanizing aspects of anti-Blackness and assert their individual and collective humanity in the face of this oppressive force.
Descriptors: African American Students, Novels, Racism, Intersectionality, African American Literature, Humanization, Sociology, Racial Identification
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A