The Intersection of Gender and Race in Adult Education Research

Across a fifteen year career, this researcher has labored to conduct research through a perspective that equally considered and honored gender and race, with an acceptance of the complex and often contested passion that recognized a universality to gender that is not consistent in the multifaceted system of race/racism. After an introduction of the two theoretical frames that have guided this researcher’s publications, this paper follows the progression of five exemplars chosen from over 100 publications: Women of Color in the Academy: Where’s Our Authority in the Classroom; Everyday Perspectives on Feminism: African American Women Speak Out; Sonia Sanchez: Telling What We Must Hear; Harriet Buckley: An Artist Storyteller; and Different Worlds and Divergent Paths: Academic Careers Defined by Race and Gender

It’s Been the Best of Times: My Twenty-Year Retrospective on Adult Education

This essay presents a personal assessment of the ways in which the field of Adult and Continuing Education has succeeded and faltered during the last two decades and discusses how the field can address future challenges

Positionality: Whiteness as a Social Construct that Drives Classroom Dynamics

When teachers and learners enter classrooms, they bring their own positions in the hierarchies that order the world. This study examines how one of those positionalities, Whiteness, drives classroom dynamics

Practicing a Culturally Responsive Feminist Pedagogy in Higher Education: An Examination of a Feminist Classroom from the Perspective of Transformative Learning

The purpose of our presentation is to explore how non-White professors, an Asian male pre-tenured professor and a Black female tenured full professor, negotiated their power in their feminist classroom

Examining the Indian Farmer Suicides through the Social and Environmental Justice Lens

Approximately 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India over the last decade. A majority of them are the ones who have been failed by the non- yield of genetically modified cotton per hectare and are dependent on these crops for their daily livelihood. The GM cottonseeds represent the hegemony and oppression of the farmers propelled by the globalization movement. This paper provides an understanding that the social movements against the GM seeds are in fact movements pointing towards the social and environmental injustices and seeks to understand the role adult education can play in addressing the social and environmental injustice

Academic Classrooms and Careers Defined by Race and Gender

The collective classroom and career experiences of a Black woman and White male professor are examined of the last twenty years are examined. It is revealed, that despite the presence of diversity classes and increases in diversity, as regards student and faculty presence, the circumstances of the faculty in this critical examination were defined by the student, faculty, and institutional reactions to their postionalities. Predictably, the White male faculty member had the more positive experiences, while the Black woman’s circumstances were more negative

Race and Adult Education: A Critical Review of the North American Literature

The paper critically evaluates the North American literature showing how race has been treated historically and presents three perspectives on race that inform contemporary research

Black Graduate Students’ Social Relationships with White Professors and Students in a Predominantly White Public University

This study employs a mixed method approach to understanding the cross-racial relationships experienced by Black graduate students at a major Southern research university. Data were collected using a multifaceted mailed survey. Cluster analysis was employed to construct a four-part typology of cross-racial social relationships. Qualitative comments were examined to better understand the identified types. The study reveals the variety of perceived social relationships experienced within a single university

Mentoring While Black & FemaleThe Gendered Literacy Phenomenon of Black Women Mentors

Black women’s social positions in American society allow them to experience life in ways that are different than other women. In this study, we are suggesting that the mentoring that Black women give and receive is a form of literacy that is distinct

Spousal Support and Sabotage: The Experiences of Female College Learners

Human beings are social creatures and we rely on support from other people in times of struggle, challenge, and accomplishment. The aspect of family support is crucial in the negotiating higher education demands. This roundtable presents the preliminary findings of a study which examined the support and sabotage experiences of adult female students enrolled in a research extensive university in the Southeastern U.S. city. Two research questions that guide this study are: to what extent did the women experience social support during their studies and to what extent did they experience sabotage