4 Let’s Get Critical: Thinking with and beyond the ‘Dead White Men’ of Social Theory
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Na’ama Carlin
Abstract
This chapter reflects on teaching social theory to undergraduates at a time when the call for decolonization of the social sciences and humanities is being heard in universities globally. In this environment, students often question the prominence of ‘dead white men’ in sociology syllabi. Educators responding to the call to ‘decolonize the curriculum’ are faced with a challenge: conventionally, the discipline of sociology relies on the work of theorists such as Émile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx – the ‘dead white men’ of social theory. Is it possible to excise the dead white guys from the syllabus, or is there another option? One of the goals of teaching social theory is to facilitate development of critical skills – social theory offers frameworks for thinking about the forces that organize our social, political and personal lives. Theories illuminate aspects of our social lives and world; shouldn’t our syllabus reflect the various lives, experiences and perspectives that students come from and that they relate to? Rather than completely doing away with the ‘dead white men’ of social theory, this chapter argues that understanding sociology’s historical development informs our understanding of more contemporary theory. As such, it offers a reflection on a teaching pedagogy that challenges students to think critically both when using social theory and about social theory.
Abstract
This chapter reflects on teaching social theory to undergraduates at a time when the call for decolonization of the social sciences and humanities is being heard in universities globally. In this environment, students often question the prominence of ‘dead white men’ in sociology syllabi. Educators responding to the call to ‘decolonize the curriculum’ are faced with a challenge: conventionally, the discipline of sociology relies on the work of theorists such as Émile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx – the ‘dead white men’ of social theory. Is it possible to excise the dead white guys from the syllabus, or is there another option? One of the goals of teaching social theory is to facilitate development of critical skills – social theory offers frameworks for thinking about the forces that organize our social, political and personal lives. Theories illuminate aspects of our social lives and world; shouldn’t our syllabus reflect the various lives, experiences and perspectives that students come from and that they relate to? Rather than completely doing away with the ‘dead white men’ of social theory, this chapter argues that understanding sociology’s historical development informs our understanding of more contemporary theory. As such, it offers a reflection on a teaching pedagogy that challenges students to think critically both when using social theory and about social theory.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors x
- Foreword xvii
- Acknowledgements xxi
- Introduction: Articulating a Critical Racial and Decolonial Liberatory Imperative for Our Times 1
-
Going beyond ‘Decolonize the Curriculum’
- Being Woke to Anti-Intellectualism: Indigenous Resistance and Futures 13
- Decolonizing Australian Universities: Why Embedding Indigenous Content in the Curriculum Fails That Task 32
- Let’s Get Critical: Thinking with and beyond the ‘Dead White Men’ of Social Theory 49
- (De)constituting Settler Subjects: A Retrospective Critical Race-Decolonizing Account 62
-
Being in the Classroom
- Shedding the Colonial Skin and Digging Deep as Decolonial Praxis 79
- Racially Literate Teacher Education: (Im)possibilities for Disrupting the Racial Silence 93
- In Conversation with Helena Liu: Redeeming Leadership – a Project of Critical Hope 111
- The Provocateur as Decolonial Praxis 123
-
Doing Race in the Disciplines
- Decolonizing the Curriculum in the Colonial Debtscape 137
- Race-ing the Law 152
- Assembling Decolonial Anti-Racist Praxis from the Margins: Reflections from Critical Community Psychology 164
- Unravelling the Model Minority Myth and Breaking the Racial Silence: A Collaborative Critical Auto-Ethnography 178
- Counter-Storytelling as Critical Praxis 190
-
Building Critical Racial and Decolonial Literacies beyond the Academy
- Incantation: Insurgent Texts as Decolonial Feminist Praxis 205
- Race at Work within Social Policy 227
- ‘The Sole Source of Truth’: Harnessing the Power of the Spoken Word through Indigenous Community Radio 246
-
Resistance, Solidarity, Survival
- Death Can Be Clarifying: Considering the Forces That Move Us 261
- In Conversation with Yassir Morsi: Slow Ontology as Resistance 276
- Teaching Race, Conceptualizing Solidarity 290
- In Conversation with Alana Lentin: Racial Literacy – an Act of Solidarity 305
- Teacher/Decolonizer 317
- Index 322
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors x
- Foreword xvii
- Acknowledgements xxi
- Introduction: Articulating a Critical Racial and Decolonial Liberatory Imperative for Our Times 1
-
Going beyond ‘Decolonize the Curriculum’
- Being Woke to Anti-Intellectualism: Indigenous Resistance and Futures 13
- Decolonizing Australian Universities: Why Embedding Indigenous Content in the Curriculum Fails That Task 32
- Let’s Get Critical: Thinking with and beyond the ‘Dead White Men’ of Social Theory 49
- (De)constituting Settler Subjects: A Retrospective Critical Race-Decolonizing Account 62
-
Being in the Classroom
- Shedding the Colonial Skin and Digging Deep as Decolonial Praxis 79
- Racially Literate Teacher Education: (Im)possibilities for Disrupting the Racial Silence 93
- In Conversation with Helena Liu: Redeeming Leadership – a Project of Critical Hope 111
- The Provocateur as Decolonial Praxis 123
-
Doing Race in the Disciplines
- Decolonizing the Curriculum in the Colonial Debtscape 137
- Race-ing the Law 152
- Assembling Decolonial Anti-Racist Praxis from the Margins: Reflections from Critical Community Psychology 164
- Unravelling the Model Minority Myth and Breaking the Racial Silence: A Collaborative Critical Auto-Ethnography 178
- Counter-Storytelling as Critical Praxis 190
-
Building Critical Racial and Decolonial Literacies beyond the Academy
- Incantation: Insurgent Texts as Decolonial Feminist Praxis 205
- Race at Work within Social Policy 227
- ‘The Sole Source of Truth’: Harnessing the Power of the Spoken Word through Indigenous Community Radio 246
-
Resistance, Solidarity, Survival
- Death Can Be Clarifying: Considering the Forces That Move Us 261
- In Conversation with Yassir Morsi: Slow Ontology as Resistance 276
- Teaching Race, Conceptualizing Solidarity 290
- In Conversation with Alana Lentin: Racial Literacy – an Act of Solidarity 305
- Teacher/Decolonizer 317
- Index 322
