The Narrow and Deep: A Graduate student of colour's Journey as an Anti-racist Educator
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Authors
de Leon, Clarissa
Date
2025-07-02
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Higher education , Anti-racism , Racialized graduate students , Teaching development
Alternative Title
Abstract
Graduate students that are Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPoC) often sit in liminal spaces between teaching, learning, research, and activism. As such there is a need to critically examine how to support them as university educators in the development of their anti-racist pedagogies. For this research, I drew upon my first-person perspective as a graduate student and anti-racist educator of colour to develop insights into the complexities that must be considered when forming supports for BIPoC graduate students through university policies and practices. The research questions of this study were: 1) What are the researcher’s experiences as a graduate student and anti-racist educator of colour? 2) How do these experiences shape her anti-racist pedagogies? 3) What supports do BIPoC graduate students need as they develop as anti-racist educators?
This study was conducted using self-study and hermeneutic methodologies. Data sources were: 1) anecdotes from my own teaching experiences as an anti-racist educator and graduate student of colour and 2) reflections from conversations with BIPoC educators I have worked with or learned from. Data was analyzed using an iterative hermeneutic process of multi-modal storytelling. Four lines of discussion emerged from this study’s findings: risk-taking as an anti-racist teaching practice, being exposed to vulnerability both inside and outside of teaching, finding protection and power in anti-racist communities, and intertwining personal and pedagogical anti-racist development. These lines of discussion were used to build a Guide to Inquiry that serves as an informal curriculum that can be used by various university personnel to develop their own understanding and practice of how to meaningfully support BIPoC graduate students in their development as anti-racist educators.