Strategies and Further Resources
Resisting Curriculum Violence
Some strategies for resisting curriculum violence include:
- Using stories of racial violence that are told from the perspectives of those who experienced violence can help anchor learning in approaches that are meaningful to those who have been subjugated.
- When examining a text that uses violent language, consider ways of contextualizing the text to help prepare students for encountering the material (e.g. when reading about eugenics, you might prepare students by letting them know you’ll be reading this text to analyze or understand how biological determinism shaped racial inequality in the early 20th century).
- Discussing racism and racial violence should not be avoided, but when discussed, consider:
- Balancing scenes of victimization with those of resistance, self-determination, liberation, survival, resilience, and/or celebration;
- Using “content” or “trigger warnings” for this kind of material (see Trigger Warnings in Navigating Difficult Pedagogical Dynamics);
- Invite students who have been directly impacted by this violence to skip certain readings, class screenings, etc. or provide alternative readings that students can choose from.
- Using the “E.H.R.R: Empathize, Historicize, Remove, then Replace” method developed by Jamilah Dei-Sharpe, PhD student in Sociology & Decolonial Hub founder, Concordia University:
Empathize
Empathize with the affected population, group or individual(s) by thinking about the potential impact that the content could have on people who have experienced harm before even entering the classroom;
Historicize
Historicize the content and learn more about how/why some content can be harmful and/or violent; make a distinction between violent content and unpleasant content.
Remove
Remove content that is harmful and that does not serve learning from the classroom and course materials—if the semester has already started, discuss with students why the content is being removed;
Replace
Replace the content with something generative and informative, don’t simply avoid learning about violence.
Empathize
Empathize with the affected population, group or individual(s) by thinking about the potential impact that the content could have on people who have experienced harm before even entering the classroom;
Historicize
Historicize the content and learn more about how/why some content can be harmful and/or violent; make a distinction between violent content and unpleasant content;
Remove
Remove content that is harmful and that does not serve learning from the classroom and course materials—if the semester has already started, discuss with students why the content is being removed;
Replace
Replace the content with something generative and informative, don’t simply avoid learning about violence.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is there another way to learn about this form of violence other than showing images, videos, etc.?
- Who is at risk of being (re-)traumatized by th