Praxis Conference 2019
Anti-Racist Pedagogy: Visions and Practices for Institutional Change
Friday, February 22, 2019, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Cascade Rooms, Haggett Hall
University of Washington, Seattle Campus
The English Writing Programs’ fifth annual Praxis Conference invites proposals that engage the visions and practices of anti-racist pedagogy at classroom, community, disciplinary, programmatic, and institutional levels. Keeping with the tradition of Praxis conference as a place for conversations that engage the space between theory and practice and connections between different disciplines, we encourage proposals from individuals and groups in any field that engages with anti-oppression work as it pertains to education. This includes UW-affiliated teachers including graduate student instructors and K-12 teachers, faculty members, independent scholars, staff, and administrators, and community activists We are excited to have enriched and empowered conversations about how we should cultivate our teaching, learning, and living spaces to be socially just and resourceful places.
We define anti-racist pedagogy as a means of teaching and communicating that can apply to any learning space regardless of the subject matter rather than a mere inclusion of race as a classroom topic. Anti-racist pedagogical framework is intersectional, meaning that it examines the multiple simultaneous forms of oppression that relate to race, class, gender, ability, citizenship, and other identity indexes. It helps us make progressive changes in our behaviors, social interactions, ways of teaching and learning, community norms, program policies, and institutional initiatives.
Some possible topics and questions to think about, but are not limited to:
- How do critical race theory and anti-racist pedagogy inform reading, writing and literacy practices?
- How can we develop curriculum design and content that embody anti-racist pedagogy?
- How can we help students compose counter-story narratives that challenge the mainstream beliefs and narratives about marginalized social groups?
- How can we develop assessment practices that fairly evaluate students’ different literacy practices?
- How does anti-racist pedagogy inform equity and inclusion practices in a classroom, community, or other learning spaces?
- How does anti-racist pedagogy challenge the hierarchies of knowledge production in disciplines?
- How does the practice of metacognitive awareness and reflection on teacher’s positionality help transform our pedagogical approaches?
- How should we practice anti-racist pedagogical approaches that disrupt political echo chambers?
- How does anti-racist pedagogy inform program administration practices and policy statements?
- How can anti-racist pedagogy go beyond campus organizing to collaborate with local communities?
- How do we practice anti-racist pedagogy on institutional level at a time when universities are increasingly corporatized?
Proposals should be 300-500 words and for one of the following types of presentations:
- 15 minute presentation from one to two presenters,
- 45 minute panel from multiple presenters proposing three related presentations,
- a topic related to the conference theme about which the presenter(s) will facilitate a small 30 minute roundtable discussion with audience members,
- 45 minute workshop where presenter(s) lead participants to engage in a topic related to the conference theme and help work on participants’ own materials,
- 45 minute identity caucus group in which facilitator(s) lead a group of conference attendees with a shared identity (e.g., Black queer caucus, high school educators caucus, first-generation graduate student caucus) in a guided discussion of topics related to anti-racist pedagogy in regards to the specific needs, responsibilities, and/or experiences of the caucus group.
Please submit proposals as an email attachment in Word or PDF to uwpraxisconference@gmail.com. Please include the following:
- Type of presentation
- Title of the presentation
- Presenter’s name(s), professional title(s) affiliation(s), and email(s)
Deadline for submissions: December 1st, 2018 by 5 pm
Acceptance notifications: December 13th, 2018 by 5 pm
For any questions, please contact the conference chair, Sumyat Thu at smthu@uw.edu, or co-chair, Lubna Alzaroo at lubnaa@uw.edu.
You can also find more information and future registration for the conference at the following link:
https://english.washington.edu/teaching/praxis-conference