This paper draws on research into the teaching of "race" and ethnicity in higher education, including interviews with lecturers and students of specialist sociology of "race" options. It focuses particularly on interactional issues: the conversations conducted about "race" and ethnicity within seminar rooms were often conflictual and emotional in tone. The topics around which conflicts emerged are discussed: the most common areas of conflict were around Islamophobia, anti-Jewish racism and gender/sexuality; anti-black racism, British/English nationalism and anti-Irish racism were also expressed, but less frequently. Women lecturers were more likely to experience conflicts than were men. The paper analyses some factors underlying these processes: these include the perhaps inherent difficulty of teaching subjects in which discrimination and violence feature large; wider political conflicts and "identity politics" as played out within the micro-settings of seminars; and the emotions mobilised in the process of teaching. (Contains 6 notes.)