Race Talk in the Age of the Trigger Warning

To generate opportunities for transformative learning, educators must create learning environments that help students feel safe and encourage them to grapple with potentially difficult material. The trigger warning, a brief statement information students of potential distressing or re-traumatizing content, has been offered as a way to do just that, but this practice is neither as effective nor as equitable as it may seem. Intentionally or indirectly, the trigger warning limits the extent to which students are encouraged to engage in transformative critical conversations and reinforces the culture of silence that prevails in many educational spaces. Emerging as a response to trauma amid an educational environment that professes student-responsiveness and celebrates diversity yet perpetuates the marginalization of many of the bodies in the classroom, the trigger warning is not the problem – but it is not the solution either. What does this mean for the faculty members teaching this new generation of college students? And the teachers who find this generation’s younger siblings in their high school classrooms? Drawing upon original research, Mara Lee Grayson tracks the rise of the trigger warning within historical and contemporary educational contexts; explores its potentialities, limitations, and abuses as praxis; and offers curricular suggestions for high school and college instructors seeking to implement equitable, antiracist pedagogies that simultaneously encourage students’ well-being, provoke intellectual and emotional growth, and challenge the cultures of silence that maintain inequity on school campuses.

Grayson offers a vital resource for college and secondary English and writing teachers who wish to deepen their social justice practices and discussions in the classroom with students. Her careful nuancing of trigger warnings, how one might use them in the classroom, and the problems with using them are nicely explained. The book also details pedagogical ways to work with trauma among students in classes that likely may inadvertently add to that trauma, or trigger it. Those discussions nicely weave important related topics about white fragility, academic freedom, and antiracist pedagogies, all of which make for a more conscientious thinking about how to be a socially just teacher. Furthermore, Grayson contextualizes her own white, female subjectivity, as well as her own past trauma, into the discussion in ways that many teachers might learn from.--Asao B. Inoue, associate dean for academic affairs, equity, and inclusion, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University; 2019 CCCC Chair, How can educators honor the cultural, linguistic, and social history of their students and also challenge them to reflect and consider the experiences of others knowing that some topics may evoke painful memories or imaginations? Teaching in culturally diverse classrooms, being sensitive to the unsettling nature of the homophobic, white male supremacy narrative in the United States, some educators use trigger statements in hopes of avoiding emotional or psychological trauma during class discussion. We welcome Dr. Mara Lee Grayson's book that exposes and composes, explains, explores and expands our thinking about social, political, racial, cultural and gender issues that influence what and how we teach. Avowing that valuable learning occurs in conversations that disrupt and disturb one's thinking, Dr. Grayson urges us to weigh the cost, then persist and design lessons that cultivate thoughtful, nurturing learning communities and explore equitable curricula with the students in our classrooms.--Anna J. Small Roseboro, National Board Certified Teacher, author, mentor, and coach

Mara Lee Grayson is an Assistant Professor of English at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Her first book, Teaching Racial Literacy: Reflective Practices for Critical Writing, was published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2018.