Teaching, Learning and Intersecting Identities in Higher Education

This book utilizes the theory of intersectionality to focus on the divergent identities and experiences of marginalized groups and to analyze the ways these experiences infiltrate the classroom. It examines teaching and learning as integrated and synergistic practices and highlights the personal and institutional power dynamics existing between scholars and students.
Starting with the premise that institutions of higher education must pay attention to the ways intersecting identities and structures of privilege and disadvantage enter all educational settings, the contributors to this text represent a range of academic disciplines and they are both scholars and students. This approach demonstrates that ideas related to teaching and learning should not follow models that separate teachers, students, and disciplines, but rather that significant learning occurs in the areas where they overlap. Each chapter provides pedagogical strategies and methods for classroom practice that facilitate student learning, equitable classroom environments, and a social justice agenda.

Susan M. Pliner, Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment and Assistant Professor of Education at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, received her EdD in Human Development from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Pliner draws on social justice education and disability studies in her scholarship and teaching.
Cerri A. Banks, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College at Mount Holyoke College received her PhD from Syracuse University. She specializes in cultural studies and qualitative research. Banks draws from feminist and critical race theories in her book Black Women Undergraduates, Cultural Capital and College Success.