Woke skin,white masks: race and communication studies

ABSTRACT

This essay questions whether resistance and resignation are the only options available to Communication scholars whose work is focused on race. Resistance can only be understood in counter to Whiteness while resignation takes Whiteness at its word, both reactions center and re-center Whiteness. Ultimately, this piece starts down a path of self-definitions and determinations created outside the confines of Whiteness, building solidarities and kinships along the way.     

Finding cultural harmony in interviewing: the wisdom of the middle way

Insider-researchers are said to enjoy many advantages during the interview process that help them to access the innermost thoughts of participants. As a Chinese doctoral student interviewing other Chinese doctoral students, I assumed I was an insider. However, my experiences proved otherwise, as I oscillated between insider and outsider positions. At the core of the matter was the question of a common Chinese identity, which has been complicated by centuries of diaspora. In trying to reconcile the confusion, a Middle Way approach to integrating opposites proved useful, by acknowledging that while indigenous differences exist, there are also common humanistic elements within all cultures. Based on narrative reflections from the doctoral study's interviews and research diary, the paper critically reflects on moments of cultural proximity and cultural distance during the interview process. The paper problematizes the insider/outsider dichotomy and proposes relationalism in its place. The paper concludes that a respect for face and harmony were crucial in closing cultural distance with Chinese international students, as these resulted in trust and rapport building during interviews. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a cultural bridge to engender an understanding of interviewing across a pan-Chinese sample.     

Transition from a teaching institution to a research institution: An African American female perspective

According to Mooney (1993), the proportion of tenured faculty has shrunk as the overall size of the professoriate has expanded. However, this expansion has not included African American and other faculty of color. Professional and personal isolation, lack of supportive collegiality, and unique challenges in establishing research records are among factors contributing to the shortage of African Americans initiated and accepted into the professoriate (Bowen & Schuster, 1986; Lopez, 1991; Sorcinelli & Billings, 1992). Consequently, the revolving door syndrome experienced by many faculty of color (Blackwell, 1988) is sustained by such factors. Additionally, according to Lagowski (1992) the requirements of a research culture are basically incompatible with the demands of undergraduate teaching (p. 42). This paper provides a review of the status of African American females in academe, describes career success at teaching and research institutions, presents dynamics of transition from teaching to research institutions, and offers coping strategies useful during transition.Myra Womble is an assistant professor of business education in the Department of Occupational Studies at the University of Georgia. She received her B.S. in Business Education; her M.A. in Vocational Education; and her Ed.D. in Training and Development. Dr. Womble's most recent research activities include examining career development and school-to-work transition issues relative to students economically, socially, and academically at-risk.     

Current Challenges in Social Work Distance Education: Responses from the Elluminati

One of the first tasks of the Social Work Distance Education Network at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary was to review the literature and address three research questions to inform policy making and planning relating to distance social work education programming. This paper is intended to disseminate responses to these questions from a small group of dedicated and experienced distance educators who have adopted the moniker Elluminati. (The Elluminati adapted their name from a popular online audio-conferencing program.) These questions include: (1) What is the optimal class size for a distance delivery offering? (2) What supports does an online course require for development and effective delivery? (3) What types of courses are suitable/unsuitable for online learning?     

How Nonfiction Reveals the Nature of Science

In this article, the authors consider whether children’s trade books promote an authentic understanding of the nature of science. They begin by discussing the characteristics of the nature of science and then examine existing research in children’s science books for evidence of the visibility of these features. They describe the problems science educators have with literature that constructs what has been called an “architecture of scientific myths.” Instead, the authors suggest using the literature of inquiry, books that promote scientific understanding by developing an authentic context for science. The authors provide an indepth discussion of three exemplary books, each an example of the literature of inquiry. They end with suggestions for explicitly discussing the nature of science in children’s nonfiction.     

Enhancing the Quality of Education: A Case Study and Some Emerging Principles

The aim of this paper is to provide insightsinto the process that has been adopted toenable faculty and support staff (courseadministrators and technicians) to identify andenhance the quality of educational provision ina large UK Business School. The concern toaddress this issue was motivated initially bythe demands of external subject review. Therewas a realisation by senior managers within theSchool that what was required was the embeddingand sharing of good practice and continuousimprovement of the provision: in short, anapplication of the concept of a learningorganisation. The paper may assist othersengaged in the task of enhancing the quality ofstudent learning in their faculties orschools.     

Vygotsky’s ‘Thought and Word’

The last chapter of Vygotsky’s last book, Thinking and Speech, is a compressed argument about the construction of consciousness through the internalisation of language. This article comments on Vygotsky’s analysis of the ‘voyage into the interior’ undertaken by oral speech as it is internalised and abbreviated into ‘inner speech’, and then further concentrated as non-verbal thought. The article focuses on the part that literature and especially poetry play in Vygotsky’s argument in this chapter, and suggests that in exploring the condensed semantics of inner speech Vygotsky is implicitly describing how poets turn private thoughts into ‘symbols for others’. It concludes with a commentary on Vygotsky’s use of Mandelshtam’s poem ‘The Swallow’, from which he draws his epigraph.     

Integrating pharmacology topics in high school biology and chemistry classes improves performance

Although numerous programs have been developed for Grade Kindergarten through 12 science education, evaluation has been difficult owing to the inherent problems conducting controlled experiments in the typical classroom. Using a rigorous experimental design, we developed and tested a novel program containing a series of pharmacology modules (e.g., drug abuse) to help high school students learn basic principles in biology and chemistry. High school biology and chemistry teachers were recruited for the study and they attended a 1‐week workshop to learn how to integrate pharmacology into their teaching. Working with university pharmacology faculty, they also developed classroom activities. The following year, teachers field‐tested the pharmacology modules in their classrooms. Students in classrooms using the pharmacology topics scored significantly higher on a multiple choice test of basic biology and chemistry concepts compared with controls. Very large effect sizes (up to 1.27 standard deviations) were obtained when teachers used as many as four modules. In addition, biology students increased performance on chemistry questions and chemistry students increased performance on biology questions. Substantial gains in achievement may be made when high school students are taught science using topics that are interesting and relevant to their own lives. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 922–938, 2003