Speak Truth and Shame the Devil: An Ethnodrama in Response to Racism in the Academy

Abstract

This ethnodrama examines how two African American women experience racism in the academe. Both scholars examine the social/political context of racism in higher education and its manifestation in institutional practices. Both authors seek to "speak truth and shame the devil" by examining institutional responses to the racism they encounter in their courses. The authors conclude by sharing how educational leaders, particularly chairs, deans, and other academics can address racism institutionally.

White Apathy and Pedagogical Renegotiations: An Autothistoria-teoría of Teaching While Sick, Tired, and Brown

“…It has also facilitated my engagement in Anzaldúan-inspired practices of autohistoria-teoría -that fusion of "cultural and personal biographies with memoir, history, storytelling, myth, and other forms of theorizing" (Keating, 2009, p. 9)which would have otherwise been made invalid under more traditional forms of academic knowledge expression and dissemination. As it will be evident throughout this text, and as others have demonstrated via their own explorations of their academic lives as Othered (Ashlee et al, 2017;Boylorn, 2013;Diversi & Moreira, 2016;Elbelazi & Alharbi, 2019;Johnson, 2013;Toyosaki, 2018;Ward Randolph & Weems, 2010), autoethnographic methods allow marginalized individuals in academic spaces to operationalize and make sense of its constitutive, violent practices and give our readers the chance to act and transform their own worlds (Denzin, 2013). For some of us, autoethnographic texts are one of the few methods of epistemological connection and intellectual transformation that allows us to "embrace vulnerability with purpose, make contributions to existing scholarship, and comment on/critique culture and cultural practices."…”

The Day After: An Ethnodrama About Teachers’ Decision-Making Amid Silencing School Policies

“…To craft this ethnodrama, I began by reading published ethnodramas and performance ethnographies, both within and outside of education, and watched recorded examples of ethnotheatre. Beyond the work of Saldaña and Salvatore, I also took inspiration from Petersen’s (2009) dramatic critique of the enterprise university; Ward Randolph and Weems’ (2010) script about how two African American women experience racism in higher education institutions; Foote and Bartell’s (2012) examination of mathematics teacher educators’ life stories; Davis’ (2014) work on students’ experiences transitioning into adult education; Sweet and Carlson’s (2018) work on a high school boy’s gender transition; O’Connell and Lynch’s (2020) script about Deaf interpreters’ and translators’ experiences in Ireland; and Creps’ (2020) performance ethnography about her work as a faculty director for arts-based education abroad programs for undergraduate students. I also found great resonance and inspiration in the recorded ethnotheatre pieces from the Verbatim Performance Lab at New York University’s Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theater (2022).…”

Translating Deaf Culture: An Ethnodrama

“…Many researchers have used ethnodrama to investigate a number of topics including stigma (McMahon, McGannon, & Zehntner, 2017), racism (Goldstein, 2001, 2008; Ward Randolph & Weems, 2010), patriarchy (Morrissey, 2016; Nedashkovskaya, 2008), disability (Baur, Abma, & Baart, 2014), education (Mienczacowski, 1995), health and social care (Ackroyd & O’Toole, 2010), cancer (Sinding & Gray, 2002), homelessness (Finley & Finley, 1999), and gender relations (Morrissey, 2016; Nedashkovskaya, 2008). These ethnodramatic projects present “lived experiences” of marginalization and social injustice.…”