Exploring the experiences of black, indigenous and racialized graduate students: The classroom as a space of alterity, hostility and pedagogical labour.

Based on 22 semi-structured interviews, this article explores the experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) graduate students in the social sciences and humanities at a medium-sized comprehensive university in Canada. This article explores how racialization and colonialism shape the experiences of BIPOC graduate students in the graduate-level classroom. BIPOC students may experience the classroom as a space of alterity, where they are made to feel alien and are pushed to represent their entire group; as a space of hostility where they encounter stereotypes and microaggressions; and, as a space in which they are burdened with emotionally-taxing pedagogical labour to educate peers and faculty on issues of race and colonialism. However, BIPOC students also engage in resistance, especially refusing the burdens associated with racism and colonialism and find strength in solidarity with other BIPOC students.