We Can’t Just Go Back to “Normal”

Research-based Resources to Help You Teach, Talk, and Learn About Structural Racism

By Olivia Butze, SAGE Publishing

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, protests across the globe are amplifying deep-seated issues on structural racism and calling for society to finally engage in critical conversations about racial inequality. While many might find these conversations uncomfortable or not know how to start, research from the social and behavioral sciences can help. We’ve compiled a list of freely accessible, research-based resources on the importance of these discussions, best practices for carrying them out, as well as tools you can use to initiate discussing racism and police brutality with your students. 

In higher education specifically, there are significant inequalities that prevent scholars of color from obtaining the same education as their white classmates. According to a National Science Foundation report on U.S. doctorate recipients, only 2,963 PhD recipients in 2017 were Black or African American, compared to 28,394 that were white (National Science Foundation, 2018). A 2019 report from Leading Routes found wide discrimination in funding strongly limited the number of Black PhD students and academics in the UK (Leading Routes, 2019). We must take the time to learn and actively engage ourselves and our students in the conversation, no matter how difficult, to make a change.  

At SAGE, we are committed to growing and learning along with you. Please email us at info@sagepub.com if you have any feedback or suggestions on how to support you through these critical conversations.   

Why are these conversations necessary in the classroom?  

• “Bring the Noise: Black Men Teaching (Race and) White Privilege” by Derrick R. Brooms and Darryl A. Brice  

  This article aims to “encourage educators to (a) incorporate critical pedagogy that challenges and confronts student resistance and (b) better understand how their roles and identities contribute to classroom learning and instruction.”  

What are best practices when teaching or engaging?  

• “The Value of Dialogue Groups for Teaching Race and Ethnicity” by Julianne Weinzimmer and Jacqueline Bergdahl 

  The authors suggest developing small-group, team-facilitated dialogues into your course to better explore race and racism within the classroom. They include a comparison between courses that did and did not take this approach.  

• “Teaching the Veil: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Classical Theory Courses” by Victoria Reyes and Karin A. C. Johnson 

  While this article specifically touches on classical theory courses, the authors suggest ways for incorporating social theory on race into the classroom. Suggestions include active learning assignments.  

• “’Everything Is About Balance:’ Graduate Education Faculty and the Navigation of Difficult Discourses on Race” by Kayon Murray-Johnson and Jovita M. Ross-Gordon  

  The authors look at the experiences of graduate education faculty from various backgrounds to better understand how they navigate discussions on race and how this might lead to a more holistic approach. 

• “(En)gauging Self: Toward a Practical Framework for Race Talk” by Kayon Murray-Johnson  

  Through proposing a reflective framework, this article encourages “instructors to build emotive capacity—an important complement to instructional strategies when talking about race and racism.”  

What are the resources I can use?  

• “Podcast Talk and Public Sociology: Teaching Critical Race Discourse Participation through Podcast Production” by Jasmine Harris  

  To engage students in discussions on race, the author suggests not only having students listen to podcasts on race and theory but to create their own podcasts on the topic.  

• “Seeing Race: Teaching Residential Segregation with the Racial Dot Map” by Charles Seguin, Annette Nierobisz, and Karen Phelan Kozlowski  

  The authors “present an exercise that uses an interactive map of racial residence patterns to help students see evidence of racial segregation for themselves.”  

• SAGE Lecture Spark: America to Me 

  Using this toolkit of slides, videos, articles, and discussion questions, engage your students in a discussion on racial identity and injustices within education.  

• “Institutionalized Racism” from The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology by Janice Habarth and Denise Coquia  

  This entry breaks down what exactly is meant by “Institutionalized Racism” and provides examples of societal context.  

• SAGE Lecture Spark: Arrests at a Starbucks  

  This toolkit includes a PowerPoint, videos, questions, and a quiz to engage your students on the 2018 arrests of two Black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia.  

• SAGE Video: “Historical Social Construction of Race and Racism” 

  Dr. Muzammil Quraishi explains the history of race and racism and why it is a social construction. He details modern stereotypes that trace back to this origination.  

• Watch William Juilius Wilson Address Race in the Age of Trump  

  William Julius Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard, gives his SAGE-CASBS award lecture on “Reflections on American Race Relations in the Age of Donald Trump,” aired in 2017.  

Resources specific to policing 

• “Policing after Civil Rights: The Legacy of Police Opposition to the Civil Rights Movement for Contemporary American Policing” from The SAGE Handbook of Global Policing edited by Ben Bradford, Beatrice Jauregui, and Ian Loader  

  Use this chapter to look at how policing has evolved in the past decades and why the authors call for a reconstruction of the American police force.  

• SAGE Lecture Spark: Black Woman Killed in Home by Texas Police  

  This kit of videos, slides, and discussion questions pertain to the 2019 shooting of Atatiana Jefferson.  

How can educators dismantle biased teaching? Visit this collection of resources for K-12 and higher ed educators .