Chapter 2: Burning Out at the Intersections: Reflections on Teaching Multicultural Competencies as a Queer and Genderqueer Puerto Rican Educator

The literature on multiculturalism in counseling and education has produced multiple training and treatment guidelines as well as resources for infusing diversity and social justice content throughout the curriculum. However, there are limited studies and resources for educators on the personal and professional impact of teaching this curriculum and the role of systemic support in creating affirming and nurturing environments for educators that facilitate this process to the classroom. Teaching courses that challenge the status quo and systemic oppression can be an emotionally draining and vulnerable experience for any professor (Garner, 2008). For educators that live at the intersection of many systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, ethnocentrism, ableism), reading, writing, teaching, and facilitating conversations on these topics has an added emotional impact that cannot be underestimated. This emotional impact, exponentially increased by the intersections of oppression, can put educators at a heightened risk of burning out emotionally. In addition, the intersectionality of oppression makes educators vulnerable to other types of professional harm, including poor evaluations, tense relationships with supervisors that might not understand or support the anti-oppressive and queer education, and the implications of both of these in terms of job security, tenure, and promotion (Helms et al., 2003; Jones & Calafell, 2012; Nair, 2014; Yoon et al., 2014).