Faculty member’s new book explores antiracist professional development for white teachers

Shannon McManimon, assistant professor of educational studies & leadership, is coauthor of the new book, “Building Pedagogues: White Practicing Teachers and the Struggle for Antiracist Work in Schools,” published in hardcover and paperback by SUNY Press.

McManimon and her coauthor, Zachary A. Casey of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, are both white teacher educators who together developed a professional seminar for other white practicing teachers who are committed to advancing antiracism in their classrooms, schools, and communities.

Drawing on interviews, field notes, teacher reflections and classroom observations, the book details the program’s theoretical and pedagogical foundations, exploring a unique, tripartite approach to race and racism at personal, local, and structural levels. It also records lessons, strategies and practical interventions that emerged from the program, and concludes by reinforcing the truth that antiracism is a continual and open-ended process.

“Casey and McManimon offer a deep dive into a professional community for white teachers to learn about whiteness and to act against white supremacy in this brilliantly written book that is deeply theorized, richly detailed, conversational, and engaging, with a self-critical honesty that cannot help but to draw in the reader,” said Kevin Kumashiro, former dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, and an internationally recognized expert on educational policy and educational equity. “This book will change our profession, and cannot come at a more demanding time.”

In addition to teaching in the School of Education, McManimon also coordinates the College’s graduate program in Humanistic/Multicultural Education.