Hello students! Very pleased that you chose my course and I look forward to learning with you this quarter. I wear a few different hats. As a historian, I specialize in research and analysis of events with special emphasis on the colonial and post-colonial history of France and French colonial territories. (i.e. Caribbean, Indochina, and North Africa). I've done archival work (white gloves and all) as well as public history. As an education specialist, my doctoral work focuses on curriculum & instruction, multicultural education, language, literacy, and technology.

At heart, I am a Multicultural Educator (MCE) and like to implement tons of strategies towards interdisciplinary approaches that honor your cultural and intersectional identities as students. My goal is not only to prepare you for the workplace but for life, so I thrive on developing the critical thinking skills which facilitates your learning.

As a first generation Black American, I embrace my nationality while still maintaining a strong connection to my Afro-Hispanic Caribbean heritage. So, I harbor a global worldview that, at its core, is primarily objective and rooted in the critical analysis of not only learning, but the ways in which we learn. This, I feel, is a vital component in helping you understand the world in which we live. As a person of color, I am consciously aware of the importance of culture within education, and grounded in the belief that student awareness of cultural aspects within society do not impede, rather facilitate learning processes though which critical thinking skills are acquired and developed.

My primary goal, is empowering you as students. Your diverse voices are important because the importance of your seat at the table as change agents assists us in toppling institutional hegemony and deconstructing power structures which reproduce oppression in society.

On a lighter note, I enjoy writing poetry and music, playing the guitar, drums, and piano, watching sports, hanging out with my pups, cooking gourmet cuisine, and fishing when I get a chance.

Specializing in Language, Literacy, & Culture, MCE, and Antiracist Pedagogy and Praxis, Erich T. Elwin is a critical pedagogue, historian, poet, musician, and teacher educator at Highline College, situated along the Puget Sound in South Seattle and Des Moines, WA
Dr. Elwin’s work examines postcolonialism and institutional hegemony, illuminating Anglo-European constructs within higher education and their impact on faculty, staff, and students of color, specifically the ways FSSOC navigate and negotiate power and politics in PWI spaces. “My positionality as an Afro-Carib American informs awareness of the power dynamics situated within institutional structures that create hegemonic ripples generated by policies and practices that are constructed, adopted, reproduced, and normalized institutionally.” Serving the office of Equity, Diversity & Transformation, Dr. Elwin is the Faculty Lead for Black Student Success, Faculty of Color representative for Highline’s Equity Task Force, and former Title III Faculty Lead for Equity Strategies reducing equity gaps for Black & Hispanic students.