Voices and Silences in Our Classrooms: Strategies for Mapping Trails Among Sex/Gender, Race, and Class

Abstract

If student voices and silences represent strategic performances navigating sex/gender, race, and class, then such performances pose teaching dilemmas for the authors: how to (1) intervene in “Good Girl” silences without privileging masculine voice, (2) celebrate African-American women without reinforcing racist essentialisms, (3) keep class and women's labor from going “missing in action,” and (4) pre-empt poisonous voices without silencing. This essay explores classroom experiences that road-test theory to map practical teaching solutions.