REFLECTIONS ON RACE, THE BODY AND BOUNDARIES How to Get on the Bus

Abstract

Drawing inspiration from the work of dancer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham, this paper explores strategies for teaching about both the experience of race and the ethnography of race. Focusing specifically on ways to encourage students to explore the embodiment of race as it intersects with politics of power, strategies to use both within and outside the classroom are explored. Methods emphasize both in-classroom strategies, and those that take students beyond the classroom – and specifically – onto the bus. The setting is the United States, and here the bus has specific historical and cultural resonance. The strategies are transferable and widely applicable (with adjustments for cultural and historical context) to a variety of sites.