Lessons Learned: Teaching the Race Concept in the College Classroom

For a faculty member of East Asian ancestry, raised in Latin America, race became a salient part of my identity during adulthood while living and working in the southern United States. Thus, understanding the full complexity of the concept and its impact and ramifications in the U.S. society is still out of grasp. While the race-related experiences I continue to have on and off campus are deeply personal, race became an academic undertaking, and centering race has changed my approach to understanding and teaching my area of specialization. As a biological anthropologist, I find the race concept interesting in its many applications and abuses in the social and life sciences, and I am particularly interested in the works of those individuals who study humanity as a research subject. But the four-letter word, imbued with deep historical and emotional roots, can be a precarious topic to teach to undergraduates in this age of political correctness. The concept eludes many students, creating anxiety, fear, and confusion. This essay recounts my experiences in teaching about race as a faculty member of color at a predominately white liberal arts college, and valuable lessons I have learned. © 2011 by the National Association for Multicultural Education.