White Professor/(Mostly) White Students: Teaching Contemporary BIPOC Plays

Abstract

Teaching about race in a majority-white city at a majority-white university as a white cis-gendered woman is challenging. In this case study, I share an introduction to how and why I developed a course—Contemporary BIPOC Plays and Playwrights—at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, an overview of what the course covered, the experience (successes and failures) of teaching it, what I have learned from that experience, and some next steps. The goal is for other white teachers who teach mostly white students to learn from my mistakes and to pick up the mantle of teaching BIPOC plays/playwrights and anti-racism practices in their courses. As a dramaturg by trade, I approach the development and teaching of classes with a dramaturgical sensibility. As a white teacher, entering a majority white space tasked with teaching a new (and only) course in the department focused on race, here is what I would do differently and better in the future and hope others can learn from it. As a starting point: do more research (and more training), be even more intentional with the course design and play selection, invite more non-white voices into the room, and create a community agreement with the students in the course at the start of the semester.