Honoring liminality: teaching critical and race-gendered approaches in doctoral social work education

Abstract

This theoretical paper adds to the scholarship of teaching and learning, by explicating the shared experiences of one doctoral student and two full-time faculty members related to liminality as a guiding pedagogy for doctoral social work education. It uses liminality to explore the unique space that first and second year doctoral students occupy as a justification for critical and race-gendered approaches that inform teaching doctoral level contemporary theory and social work practice. Recognizing, acknowledging and supporting beginning doctoral students’ liminal identity with critical and race-gendered teaching approaches is in keeping with social work ethics. This pedagogy may ultimately lead to increased doctoral student retention, as well as fostering more liberating approaches to knowledge generation.