The Usual Suspect: Negotiating White Student Resistance and Teacher Authority in a Predominantly White Classroom

Abstract

Both feminist and critical pedagogues have addressed how students can critically analyze social structures and have complicated teacher students interaction, as well as issues of subjectivity and multiculturalism. Despite the many contributions by such scholars, most studies have failed to address the professor's racial/ethnic identity. More specifically, liberatory pedagogues do not consider the racialized and gendered teacher, failing to problematize issues of power and authority when dealing with teachers of color. In this article, the author uses autoethnography and critical race theory as frameworks to understand her experiences as a Latina professor when “being held suspect” and dealing with White student resistance. Being held suspect for being the Other, she addresses how to negotiate power and authority as a female faculty of color, offering strategies in dealing with color-blind ideology, White privilege, and White racism in the academy.