1.4 Writing Textbooks with an Equity Lens
Heather Blicher and Valencia Scott
Doing the Work: Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
If you’ve felt uncomfortable at any point during this DEI module: Congratulations! You’re out of your comfort zone, and as a revising author, that’s exactly where you need to be.
When writing textbooks on topics like Sociology, Criminal Justice, or Human Development/Family Studies, you will inevitably have to engage topics about inequality. From acting out on our implicit biases to avoiding uncomfortable conversations, we’ve all played a role in upholding inequality.
It’s important to get uncomfortable: that’s where the real work begins. When we do the work to unpack our biases, speak up, and point out the inequalities around us, we open up space for change. Like writer and activist Luvvi Ajayi Jones says: Be the domino!
Figure 1.4. Luvvi Ajayi Jones’ TED Talk is titled, “Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable.” (Transcript available)
Unpacking histories of oppression when writing for DEI can be uncomfortable work. But using an equity lens to guide you can lead to a textbook that centers historically underrepresented communities and is a source of representation for diverse lived experiences. In this module, we’ll talk a lot about understanding the ‘big picture.’ There’s a lot of different histories and lived experiences to consider, and you may be wondering exactly how to keep the big picture in mind as you write for DEI. It’s helpful to have something concrete to reflect on, so take a moment to review our project’s DEI statement. Think of this statement as a way to guide your ‘big picture’ thinking as you write and revise your textbooks:
Open Oregon Education Targeted Pathways Project: Equity Statement
“The Open Oregon Educational Resources Targeted Pathways Project seeks to dismantle structures of power and oppression entrenched in barriers to course material access. We provide tools and resources to make diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) primary considerations when faculty choose, adapt, and create course materials. In promoting DEI, our project is committed to:
- Ensuring diversity of representation within our team and the materials we distribute
- Publishing materials that use accessible, clear language for our target audience
- Sharing course materials that directly address and interrogate systems of oppression, equipping students and educators with the knowledge to do the same
Designing and piloting openly licensed, intersectional, and antiracist course materials is one starting point among many when addressing inequities in higher education. Our project invites students and educators to engage with us in this work, and we value spaces where learning communities can grow and engage together.
We welcome being held accountable to this statement and will respond to feedback submitted via our contact page.”
Equity: Understanding the ‘Big Picture’
It’s no secret that we live in a society where certain identities receive more privilege and access than others. Centuries of discrimination have contributed to the structural inequalities we see today.
Whether intentional or unintentional, once we recognize these actions, it’s critical that we do the inner work to actively shift our behaviors and mindsets. Like we discussed in Module 1, you have to be willing to internally challenge your own biases before you can step into the work of writing with an equity lens. This starts with understanding your positionality as an author, and taking time to think deeply about how your own biases may impact your writing. Take a moment to read and reflect on the activity box below to get a sense of your positionality as an author:
Take 5 quiet minutes to read and reflect on these questions:
What part of your identity…
- do you think people first notice about you?
- are you most comfortable sharing with other people?
- did you struggle with the most growing up?
- is the most important to you?
- is the least important to you?
- do you feel you face oppression for most often?
- do you feel you receive privilege for most often?
- do you see as having the most effect on your interactions with students?
Adapted from University of Michigan, LSA’s Spectrum Activity, Questions of Identity [Website]
What personal and professional examples or experiences come up for you? Think back to the definition of ‘equity lens’ and ‘equity’ from Modules 1.1 and 1.3. As you ponder these different experiences, take a moment to consider your role as an author and how your identities, privileges, or lived experiences with oppression may impact your textbook contributions.
Whether it’s racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, classism, or xenophobia, it’s important to understand the deep-rooted histories that contribute to many communities being socially, politically, and economically disenfranchised. As a writer, educator, or practitioner with the Targeted Pathways Project, you’ve probably witnessed or been directly impacted by the way this inequality shows up in our educational system.
As a part of the Targeted Pathways Project, one of our commitments is “sharing course materials that directly address and interrogate systems of oppression, equipping students and educators with knowledge to do the same.” As you learn to use an equity lens, and write for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it’s important to understand that your work as authors is about more than just the textbook.
The main purpose of Open Oregon Educational Resources Targeted Pathway Project is to create course materials with an equity lens. This can be challenging work, and it’s important to remember the ‘big picture’: you’re creating materials that call out these issues, and require students and educators to have informed, honest dialogues. As authors, think about how the above equity statement applies to the day-to-day work of textbook writing and revising. It may be helpful can use the following three points to guide your thought-process:
- Think about how the project’s materials are reflecting on/discussing social justice issues related to your field of work/expertise.
- Don’t gloss over DEI issues in your field: take the time to frame textbook content that critically engages these topics.
- Reflect on the current culture of advocacy, reform, and the history of disparities/injustices in your field. Highlight the positive changes being made in your field, as well as the progress that still needs to be made.
CONCLUSION: Module Recap & Textbook Tips
As an author, you’re taking on the responsibility of creating content that will shape classroom conversation and highlight the experiences of communities that are often dismissed in higher education. Writing a textbook that centers around using an equity lens and incorporates considerations for diversity, equity, and inclusion is labor-intensive work. It is a process and requires a commitment to ongoing review and revision (just as we prompt students to do in their work).
Licenses and Attributions
Open Content, original
“Writing Textbooks with an Equity Lens” by Heather Blicher and Valencia Scott for Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed CC BY 4.0.
References
Jones, L.A. (2018). Get comfortable with being uncomfortable [Video]. TED.
OHSU Center for Diversity and Inclusion. (2021). Inclusive language guide.
Open Oregon Educational Resources. (2023). Mission, Vision, & Equity Statements.
The University of British Columbia, CTLT Indigenous Initiatives. (n.d.). Positionality & intersectionality.
University of Michigan LSA. (n.d.). The spectrum activity, questions of identity. Inclusive Teaching.
Screenshot from World Geography © McGraw-Hill is included under fair use.
Additional Reading (and Listening):
Kendi, I.X. (2019). How to be an anti-racist. One World.
NEASC Virtual Global Forum. (2021). Redesigning curriculum through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens.
National Museum of African American History. (n.d.). Talking about race: Being antiracist.
Negative associations expressed automatically that people unknowingly hold; also known as unconscious or hidden bias. Many studies have indicated that implicit biases affect individuals’
attitudes and actions, thus creating real-world implications, even though individuals may not even be aware that those biases exist within themselves. Notably, implicit biases have been shown to be favored above individuals’ stated commitments to equality and fairness, thereby producing behavior that diverges from the explicit attitudes that people may profess. (University of Washington, 2019)
The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion, national origin, age, physical/mental abilities and other categories that may result in differences in provision of goods, services or opportunities. (University of Washington, 2019)
Positionality refers to the how differences in social position and power shape identities and access in society. (CTLT)
centering underrepresented perspectives and amplifying the histories of systemic oppression that lead to social injustices and disparities.
Equity recognizes that individuals have different needs and starts from the understanding that not everyone has the same advantages or opportunities. It aims to level the playing field by providing resources and support in a way that addresses these individual differences and needs.
The term “racism” specifically refers to individual, cultural, institutional, and systemic ways by which differential consequences are created for different racial groups. Racism is often grounded in a
presumed superiority of the white race over groups historically or currently defined as non-white (African, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, etc.). Racism can also be defined as "prejudice plus power." The combination of prejudice and power enables the mechanisms by which racism leads to different consequences for different groups. (University of Washington, 2019)
Discrimination in favor of people who are able-bodied. “After your meeting, will you run down to my office to pick up the documents?” (OHSU, 2021)
Prejudicial thoughts and discriminatory actions based on difference in socio-economic status and income, usually referred to as class. Differential treatment based on social class or perceived social
class. Classism is the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups. The systematic assignment of characteristics of worth and ability based on social class. “Classism” can also be expressed through the use of public policies and institutional practices that prevent people from breaking out of poverty rather than ensuring equitable economic, social, and educational opportunity. (University of Washington, 2019)
