Anti-Racist Online Pedagogy: a reading list

This project emerged from a desire to identify and share philosophical, sociological, quantitative, qualitative, reflective, and practical resources that consider and critically examine the unique ways in which race and identity and, in turn, racism and White Supremacy function within the practices, technologies, and tools of online learning. In doing so, this list attempts to equip educators with tools, insights, language, practices, imagination, and hope for creating just, equitable, and inclusive online learning spaces and experiences.

While blatant examples of racism and White Supremacy online are often open and easily recognizable, this project begins with the belief that racism and White Supremacy operate as an undercurrent throughout life and culture in the United States and beyond. The use of the term “anti-racist” is here used to highlight the need for educators to avoid assuming that the traditions, tools, and practices of our education systems – including online education – are exempt from the effects of racism and White Supremacy. The term “anti-racist,” then, implies a proactive stance, the development of a regular and vigilant critical reflection on the part that race, racism, and White Supremacy play in the social, cultural, and economic reality of online education while maintaining a hopeful and imaginative vision for how things might be otherwise.

This resource list as it is originally submitted is only a starting point. Following the model set by the originators of and contributors to the Ferguson Syllabus, the Standing Rock Syllabus, and the Charleston Syllabus, this project is an invitation to the broader community of scholars, teachers, activists, and all interested in educating and resourcing educators on the vital role of anti-racism in online teaching and learning to submit additional resources. Please submit any additional resources you would propose including in this project by emailing antiracistonlinepedagogy@gmail.com. Submitting an email ensures that people antagonistic to the purposes of this project do not have immediate access to this document.

Reading List

Adams, B., Nicholls, H., Frie, A., & Fischer, T. (2020, Summer). Anti-Racist and Inclusive Online Teaching during the Racial Justice Uprisings and the Pandemic [Webinar]. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Baker, R., Dee, T., Evans, B., & John, J. “Bias in Online Classes: Evidence from a Field Experiment.” Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, 2018.

Benjamin, Ruha. Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity, 2019.

Bina, Jasmine (Host). (2020, July 1). “Race, Identity, & Power in Our Online/Offline Spaces with Tressie McMillan Cottom” [Audio podcast episode]. In Unseen, Unknown.

Boulder, T., Kinloch, V., Price-Dennis, D., Quigley, C., & Ross, S. (2020, August 24).How to Create Anti-racist Virtual Classrooms: Strategies for Teachers and Families [Webinar]. PittEd Justice Collective.

Brock André L. Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures. New York University Press, 2020.

Daniels, Jessie. “‘My Brain Database Doesn’t See Skin Color.’” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 59, no. 11, 2015, pp. 1377–1393.

“Inclusive and Anti-Racist Teaching.” The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning-Teaching and Learning Resources, 2020.

Eisen, Daniel B. “Combating the ‘Too Sensitive’ Argument: A Demonstration That Captures the Complexity of Microaggressions.” Teaching Sociology, vol. 48, no. 3, 2020, pp. 231–243., doi:10.1177/0092055×20930338.

Eschmann, Rob. “Unmasking Racism: Students of Color and Expressions of Racism in Online Spaces.” Social Problems, vol. 67, Issue 3, 2020, pp. 418-436.

Eubanks, Virginia. Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. St. Martin’s Press, 2019.

Gilliard, Chris. “From Redlining to Digital Redlining.” YouTube, University of Oklahoma Office of Digital Learning, 31 Jan. 2018.

Gilliard, Chris. “Pedagogy and the Logic of Platforms.” EDUCAUSE Review, 3 July 2017.

Haughton, Gina M. “Digital Racism: A Quantitative Analysis of the Extent That Perceptions of Student Race Influence Instructors Scoring of Online Posts.” International Research in Higher Education, vol. 1, no. 1, 2016, pp. 215–226.

Heitner, Keri L., and Miranda Jennings. “Culturally Responsive Teaching Knowledge and Practices of Online Faculty.” Online Learning, vol. 20, no. 4, 2016.

Hoffmann, Anna Lauren. “Data Violence and How Bad Engineering Choices Can Damage Society.” Medium, 30 Apr. 2018.

Hopson, Anna C. “Does Racism Exist in the Online Classroom Learning Environment? Perceptions of Online Undergraduate Students.” Capella University, 2014.

Marquart, M. & Shedrick, D. “Inclusive Online Teaching and Teachable Moments in Online Classrooms.” YouTube, Columbia University School of Social Work, 26 March 2020.

Meta, Rohit, and Earl Aguilera. “‘A Critical Approach to Humanizing Pedagogies in Online Teaching and Learning.’” International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, vol. 37, no. 3, 2020, pp. 109–120.

Mcmillan Cottom, Tressie. “Intersectionality and Critical Engagement with the Internet.”
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015.

Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press, 2018.

O’Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Penguin Books, 2018.

Ortiz, Stephanie. “Racists without racism? From colourblind to entitlement racism online.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 15 October, 2020.

Pacansky-Brock, M., Smedshammer, M., & Vincent-Layton, K. (2020). Humanizing Online Teaching to Equitize Higher Education. Current Issues in Education, 21(2).

Peralta Community College District-Distance Education. “Online Equity Rubric.” Peralta Community College District, 2019.

Shlossberg, Pavel, and Carolyn Cunningham. “Diversity, Instructional Research, and Online Education.” Communication Education, vol. 65, no. 2, 2016, pp. 229–232.

Swauger, Shea. “Our Bodies Encoded: Algorithmic Test Proctoring in Higher Education.” Hybrid Pedagogy, 2 Apr. 2020.

Turpin, Cherie Ann. “Feminist Praxis, Online Teaching, and the Urban Campus.” Feminist Teacher, vol. 18, no. 1, 2007, pp. 9–27.

Tynes, Brendesha M. “Online Racial Discrimination, Suicidal Ideation, and Traumatic Stress in a National Sample of Black Adolescents AMA Psychiatry. 2024;81(3):312-316.

Valcarlos, M. Wolgemuth, J. Haraf, S., & Fisk, N. “Anti-oppressive pedagogies in online learning: a critical review.” Distance Education, vol. 41, issue 3, 2020. pp 345-360.

Yao, Christina W., and Ginny Jones Boss. “‘A Hard Space to Manage”: The Experiences of Women of Color Faculty Teaching Online.” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, vol. 13, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-15.