Attending to microaggressions in the classroom
Microaggressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group” (p. 273).[1] Microaggressions often stem from and perpetuate various systems of oppression, impacting individuals based on different or intersecting aspects of their identity, such as race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class, gender, sexuality, size, nationality, citizenship, age, ability, and other identities.[2]
Responding to microaggressions takes practice, and the nature of microaggressions is such that emotional and physiological responses may make it challenging to incorporate learning in the moment. Though responding to microaggressions is context-specific and there is no one-size-fits-all approach, it can be helpful to work with strategies that can guide you through ways of addressing a microaggression when it takes place. This article offers instructors strategies for addressing microaggressions before, during, and after they occur in the classroom environment. Instructors are invited to draw on these strategies as appropriate depending on their teaching context and teaching approach, and what feels within their capacity. Even small, manageable efforts to address microaggressions, such as microinterventions, can meaningfully impact how students and instructors process the microaggression.[3]
Microinterventions
Targeted actions taken to address microaggressions are known as “microinterventions.” These are “the everyday words or deeds, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate to targets of microaggressions …
Validation of their experiential reality
[Their] value as a person
Affirmation of their racial or group identity
Support and encouragement, and
Reassurance that they are not alone” (p. 134).[3]
Goals of microinterventions can include making an initially invisible microaggression visible, disarming a microaggression, educating the person who delivered a microaggression, and/or eliciting external support.[4] The strategies that follow for addressing microaggressions are aligned with these goals.
To find out more about responding to microaggressions in the classroom, explore these topics:
This ~8-minute audio recording offers an introduction to microaggressions, including what they are, why they matter in the classroom, as well as common types and categories. The full transcript is also available.
References
[1]Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286.
[2]Saint Mary’s College Intercultural Center. (2023). Addressing microaggressions in the classroom.
[3]Sue, D. W., Alsaidi, S., Awad, M. N., Glaeser, E., Calle, C. Z., & Mendez, N. (2019). Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, white allies, and bystanders. American Psychologist, 74(1), 128-142.
[4]Sue, D. W., Calle, C. Z., Mendez, N., Alsaidi, S., & Glaeser, E. (2021). Microintervention strategies: What you can do to disarm and dismantle individual and systemic racism and bias. John Wiley & Sons.
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