Teaching Controversial Topics in Contentious Times
Content
In the current political moment, several topics we teach (such as climate change, gender ideology, critical race theory, and so on) might be deemed "controversial." How do we engage with topics that might generate strong emotions in students? In this workshop, UMass grad student Debadatta Chakraborty draws on contemplative pedagogies and pedagogies of hope to offer strategies for navigating emotionally-charged subjects with care and confidence.
Part of the Teaching Academy, a series of pedagogical workshops for ALL UMass grad students and postdocs!
Debadatta Chakraborty (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and a graduate certificate holder in Advanced Feminist Studies at UMass Amherst. She has been studying ‘controversial topics’ since her undergraduate days in India and currently teaches and researches on transnational authoritarianism politics, migration, race, caste and gender. She has taught a wide variety of courses as an instructor of record in Sociology and in Gender Studies in India and in the US, including at UMass Amherst, Smith College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She also offers workshops on qualitative research methodology through the Institute of Social Science Research at UMass Amherst.
Online with OPD!
