Examining racial microaggressions as a tool for transforming social work education: the case for critical race pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This conceptual article utilizes the testimonios of two professors of color to describe racial microaggressions as one manifestation of how the university privileges those most in line with the dominant cultural narrative. Providing an epistemological disconnect for those that are “othered,” the structure of the academy needs examination and in some cases, dismantling, in order to provide a truly emancipatory environment for faculty and students. Using microaggressions as the tool to expose these macro failings, critical race pedagogy is proposed as a step toward liberatory social work education.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work education and training
• practice areas/fields
• Asian American and Pacific Islanders population
• hispanic/latino population
• microaggressions
• critical race theory