Teaching on race/ism in Hong Kong: Negotiations and Reimaginations in the Classroom

It is a priority that we prepare our university students for a more globalized world with people of diverse cultural, religious, political, socioeconomic and heritage backgrounds. There lies much potential in the application of critical race theory (CRT) education to the contexts of Hong Kong and across Asia, though the pedagogical literature on how to teach on race/ism is still nascent. This is the fourth year a course on race/ism has been offered at The University of Hong Kong. The goals of this course include addressing racial and ethnic dynamics within Hong Kong, combating racism and racial injustices, and fostering dialogues among diverse communities, workspaces, and classrooms. One final important mission is to improve students’ worldliness, giving them the insights and vocabularies needed to engage in deeper discussions on sensitive topics.

The complexities of race, ethnicity, identity, and colonial legacies among Asian societies requires a special form of attention in Hong Kong universities. This is because many in our societies are reluctant to speak on race/ism, or find themselves confused or uncomfortable when thinking through the racial dynamics they see around them and through digital media. This seminar will review recommended practices when teaching on race and racism, and how issues of identity, history and biology arise in Asian communities. How best can teachers introduce ideas and concepts from race historians, philosophers, social scientists, and other scholars? And how may students come to integrate scholastic understandings with recent policies, aspects of (colonial) history, the portrayals of diverse peoples in media, and the work of NGOs, social workers and social justice advocates.

As an educator in Hong Kong, I find endeavors to challenge our reliance on concepts and histories from abroad, and instead center the local context, demand that we welcome the voices of different stakeholders into our discourse—particularly those of racialized students, recent immigrants and migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers, and this generation’s diverse youth. It is through public engagement and sensitively delivered education initiatives that we may effectively deconstruct everyday (mis)understandings of race, combat racism effectively, and gain a fuller appreciation of how our ideas and ideologies continue to be negotiated, reimagined and reshaped.