Breaking the Taboo: How Anonymous Student Feedback Empowers Students to Learn about Race in World Indigenous Literatures

Research has shown that student silence poses one of greatest challenges in the teaching of race. This article reports on a small one-year study that examined the value of using anonymous student feedback to teach race in the context of Indigenous literatures. The author's experience suggests that the collection of anonymous student feedback opens up a back channel of unconditional love between students and instructors, where students’ authentic beliefs and ideas are neither judged nor evaluated, thus empowering them to discover a sense of agency in the ongoing conversation around race.