Political Education and Racial Justice Movements in Times of Upheaval

Christine Hong
Literature and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
UC Santa Cruz

The first Center for Racial Justice Summer Conference, “Political Education and Racial Justice Movements in Times of Upheaval,” engaged the work of political education. Typically conducted outside formal sites of education, political education has long been crucial to racial justice struggles. Bringing together community-based activists, ethnic studies scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and members of the public, the CRJ conference highlighted and recognized the significance of community-based pedagogy and grassroots educational initiatives that have been central to racial justice movements formed in the midst of social and political upheaval past and present. With a focus on racial justice public syllabi projects, the conference took place over three days as a thematically organized series of presentations, shared dialogue, workshops, and teaching sessions around political education’s role in racial justice struggles. Aligned with UCHRI’s interest in engaging the broader public with the interpretive work of the humanities, the purpose of the CRJ Summer Conference was to produce an online portal of open-access political education syllabi for public and classroom use in order to center struggles and experiences of historically underrepresented groups in higher education.