Including marginalized authors without engaging race reproduces tokenism rather than transforming curricula.

Evidence

All too often we found a will to include those considered “marginal” without a willingness to accord their work the same respect and consideration given other work. In Women’s Studies, for example, individuals will often focus on women of color at the very end of the semester or lump everything about race and difference together in one section. This kind of tokenism is not multicultural transformation, but it is familiar to us as the change individuals are most likely to make. Let me give another example. What does it mean when a white female English professor is eager to include a work by Toni Morrison on the syllabus of her course but then teaches that work without ever making reference to race or ethnicity? I have heard individual white women “boast” about how they have shown students that black writers are “as good ” as the white male canon when they do not call attention to race. Clearly, such pedagogy is not an interrogation of the biases conventional canons (if not all canons) establish, but yet an other form of tokenism. — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 85

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly parallels the tokenism-vs-genuine-inclusion dynamic; usable as evidence in a piece on performative inclusion.
• CANDY: The Toni Morrison-without-race example is a compact, tweetable illustration of well-meaning tokenism.
• XREF: connects to: Colorblind inclusion of Black authors is a covert form of tokenism — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 85; Minority writers are read as representing a collectivity greater than themselves — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 160; A minority writer’s reception can render their work a staged performance of marginality — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 453 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Colorblind inclusion of Black authors is a covert form of tokenism #corroborates (0.95) — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 85
• Minority writers are read as representing a collectivity greater than themselves #expands (0.78) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 160
• A minority writer’s reception can render their work a staged performance of marginality #exemplifies (0.75) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 453
• Denying race as fiction is a reaction against imposed being #complicates (0.72)