Many university classes introduce issues of race and racism – topics that are difficult for some people to discuss openly. The ICU ELP Program, for example, includes challenging readings on race and racism as a focus for class discussion and writing assignments. In this article, we discuss an approach to the analysis of race and racism that can help students apply their critical thinking skills to this important topic. We argue that focusing on the discourse of race offers rich opportunities for class discussion and student writing. Specifically, we summarize critical discourse analysis, particularly its understanding of the concept of “racism,” and we provide suggestions and examples for its use in class.
Tollefson et al. (Thu,) studied this question.