'We Better Learn Something'---Antiracist Pedagogy in Graduate School

While many understand the need for improved pedagogy in advanced graduate school education regarding issues of race and racism, we also need to better understand what happens in classrooms when issues of racism are centered in the pedagogy. I employed qualitative methods to examine what happened when racism and antiracism were taken up as explicit topics(s)/area(s) of study in a graduate school classroom.;In this dissertation, I studied a multiracial and multicultural graduate school classroom situated in a Euro-centric university. I first explain how I and the students from racially under-represented populations in higher education are positioned and constructed in the classroom. I then explore how European Americans learned via those of various racially under-represented backgrounds in the classroom -- learning from the "Other." Finally, I explain our emotional responses to antiracist pedagogy and how these emotions were racialized.;Findings reveal several things. One is that the racially under-represented students tended to openly talk the most about their experiences as racial targets in a society based on white privilege. In addition, the ways these students experienced each other varied greatly depending on their own racial awareness. A second finding is that students who were of European ancestry depended on the lived experiences of their classmates to teach them about racism. As a result this positioned these students inequitably as teachers more often than as students. Finally, due to the strong emotions that antiracist education can create, it is paramount that a caring and supportive classroom is fostered. Furthermore, antiracist pedagogy was less emotional for those who were more racially aware, were from targeted racial groups, and/or had more experience academically engaging with the issue.;My research in this classroom explored the possibilities and pitfalls of antiracist research and pedagogy, while at the same time emphasizing the need for a better understanding of how to improve this type of research and teaching.