Study of the relationship between the white racial identities of faculty members and their implementation of multicultural education within the course, Understanding human differences

Abstract

A study was undertaken to determine the nature of the relationship between the white racial identities of faculty members who teach Understanding Human Differences and their implementation of multicultural education within that course. Two instructors, one female and one male, were interviewed about their white racial identities and about their positions as small-group instructors for the course. A study of the history of the evolution of race as an ideology was conducted along with the two interviews in order to place white racial identity within a historical framework. Janet Helms' (1995) White Racial Identity Ego Statuses and Information-Processing Strategies were used to analyze the data collected from the interviews. Sleeter and Grant's (1994) five approaches to multicultural education were used to evaluate the Understanding Human Differences course. The white racial identities of the faculty members matched the level of multicultural implementation for the course. In other words, the faculty members were both at white racial identity ego statuses in which they were not yet committed to anti-racism as a part of their white racial identities, and the Understanding Human Differences course falls within the Human Relations approach to multicultural education, which indicates a low level of commitment to multicultural education within the university.