UWindsor is Offering a New Class on the Fundamentals of Race

The University of Windsor’s Continuing Education is offering a new class on race: The Fundamentals of Race and Anti-Black Racism 

Students will a Certificate of Completion after finishing the 18-hour course. The course will focus on the origins of race, anti-Black Racism, and the construct of whiteness 

Case studies will help participants explore their personal relationships to ‘privilege’, power and oppression to enhance their awareness within personal and professional interactions.  

Other learning formats include lectures, group discussions/work, journaling, and guest presentations. Students will have assigned readings and are expected to keep informed of media coverage of contemporary social issues.  

The stated goals of the course are: 

• To provide enhanced vocabulary around issues of race, ethnicity, and equity.
• Increased knowledge of systemic and interpersonal racism 
• Critical self-reflection, increasing awareness of unconscious bias and microaggressions 
• Develop an understanding of political, economic, and social-cultural practices and how they shape identity and privilege. 
• Identification of strategies to address anti-Black racism within society and the workplace. 

Katelyn Ellsworth, the Black Student Support Coordinator in the Vice President’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Windsor is teaching the class.  

Ellsworth says ”education is one of the best tools to combat racism of any kind. That is the goal of this course, to educate participants about race and racism to help them understand oppressions, how they show up every day, and strategies to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. ” 

She says the construct of whiteness is a social construct- it is not necessarily interchangeable with Caucasians, “because race is a social construct, whiteness is a social construct.’’  

Students will learn about unconscious biases and microaggressions as well. Ellsworth says “unconscious bias or implicit bias is a set of beliefs one can hold that they were socialized to believe and don’t realize they have. Microaggressions are seen as verbal, or behavioural slights and they come in all shapes and forms. It may be someone commenting on the fact that you’ve recently gained weight, or assuming racialized peoples are not “from here”, from Canada, and must be foreign.’’  

Jasleen Dayal, the President of the UWSA said she is proud to see the University of Windsor take needed steps to educate students and campus community on the topic of anti-black racism, “Students want to learn about the issues of racism, how it affects privilege and oppression within society, and much more. This is exciting progress being made here at UWindsor in creating a safer campus for our students, where we encourage dialogue surrounding these topics to occur, and I’m looking forward to future initiatives.” 

Theriza Veloro, the President of the Education Society says this was a well-needed course for all educators, “preservice, beginning, and veteran teachers can benefit from this course to implement relevant pedagogy in their practice to create safer classrooms for students and shape the future to be more inclusive, equitable, and diverse.’’ 

The course runs from February 24 to March 31, 2022, every Thursday from 3:30-6:30 pm. The class is online, and students are eligible for a registration fee discount. You can email continue@uwindsor.ca for details and register here.