Towards a Theory and Practice of Diversity and Inclusion in Globalizing US Universities: Transformational Solidarities of Knowledge Activism

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-281
Author(s):  
Michael D. Kennedy ◽  
Merone Tadesse
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Brown University

Concerns for social justice in and commitments to globalizing universities are rarely part of the same portfolio among academic managers, or even among students, but these articulations of transformation in higher education increasingly intersect in both decolonizing theory and practice. Following an elaboration of various meanings of solidarity, diversity, and globalizing knowledge, we consider various connotations of the decolonizing mobilization in universities. We then consider in more detail the challenge of linking struggles over diversity to the practices of globalizing knowledge in the usa, especially at Brown University. We conclude by considering particular forms of transformational solidarity in direct and categorical associations, in contests defining equivalent oppressions, and in efforts to deepen awareness of racisms beyond more familiar contests in societies and global extensions most associated with US power.

Deliberation and University Governance

2019 ◽  
pp. 110-150
Author(s):  
Richard M. Locke
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Governance ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Brown University ◽  
History Of ◽  
Collective Deliberation ◽  
Participation In Higher Education

In the United States, historical oppression and discrimination have barred certain groups based on their gender, race, religion, sexuality, and socioeconomic class from full participation in higher education. While there has been a long history of protest and pressure to diversify, progress has been mixed. After a recent wave of protests at Brown University, Richard M. Locke faced the task of developing a realistic and coherent university plan for addressing concerns and demands. Implementing insights from Joshua Cohen’s work on deliberation, Locke led a process that resulted in one of the most ambitious university diversity and inclusion action plans in the country. In this chapter, Locke describes the process undertaken and seeks to generalize from the experience at Brown to argue that collective deliberation can be an effective model for how universities can address an array of complex issues faced today.

Decolonizing Development Education and the Pursuit of Social Justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhana Sultana
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
International Development ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Development Education ◽  
Popular Discourse ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Dominant Narratives

Decolonization has become a popular discourse in academia recently and there are many debates on what it could mean within various disciplines as well as more broadly across academia itself. The field of international development has seen sustained gestures towards decolonization for several years in theory and practice, but hegemonic notions of development continue to dominate. Development is a contested set of ideas and practices that are under critique in and outside of academia, yet the reproduction of colonial power structures and Eurocentric logics continues whereby the realities of the global majority are determined by few powerful institutions and a global elite. To decolonize development's material and discursive powers, scholars have argued for decolonizing development education towards one that is ideologically and epistemologically different from dominant narratives of development. I add to these conversations and posit that decolonized ideologies and epistemologies have to be accompanied by decolonized pedagogies and considerations of decolonization of institutions of higher education. I discuss the institutional and critical pedagogical dilemmas and challenges that exist, since epistemological, methodological, and pedagogical decolonizations are influenced by institutional politics of higher education that are simultaneously local and global. The paper engages with the concept of critical hope in the pursuit of social justice to explore possibilities of decolonizing development praxis and offers suggestions on possible pathways forward.

scholarly journals “There’s a Human Being Here”: A Doctoral Class Uses Duoethnography to Explore Invisibility, Hypervisibility, and Intersectionality

10.28945/4658 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 637-652
Author(s):  
Annemarie Vaccaro ◽  
Chiquita Baylor ◽  
Desiree Forsythe ◽  
Karin Capobianco ◽  
Jana Knibb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Post Secondary

Aim/Purpose: This paper contributes to the scholarly literature on intersectionality and social injustice (invisibility, hypervisibility) in higher education and serves as a model for enacting doctoral education where research, theory, and practice converge. Background: Invisibility and hypervisibility have long been documented as social injustices, but very little literature has documented how doctoral students (who are also university employees) make meaning of intersecting privileges and oppressions within post-secondary hierarchies. Methodology: This study used a 10-week Duoethnography with co-researchers who were simultaneously doctoral students, staff, instructors, and administrators in higher education settings. Contribution: This paper offers a unique glimpse into currere—the phenomenon of theory and practice converging—to offer an intensive interrogation of life as curriculum for five doctoral students and a professor. Findings: This paper illuminates rich meaning-making narratives of six higher educators as they grappled with invisibility and hypervisibility in the context of their intersecting social identities as well as their varied locations within post-secondary hierarchies/power structures. Recommendations for Practitioners: Duoethnography can be an effective strategy for social justice praxis in doctoral programs as well as other higher education departments, divisions, or student organizations. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can use Duoethnography to explore a plethora of social justice issues in doctoral education and across staff, faculty, and Ph.D. student experiences within the power structures of post-secondary education. Impact on Society: Examining intersectionality, invisibility and hypervisibility is an important way to delve into the complexity of oppression. There will be no justice until all forms of oppression (including hypervisibility and invisibility) are extinguished. Future Research: Future research can more deeply explore social injustices and the intersections of not only social identities, but also social locations of doctoral students who are simultaneously employees and students in a university hierarchy.

scholarly journals Social Work and Obesity

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wood ◽  
Margaret Lane ◽  
Amber M. Mattheus
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Humility ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Educational Pedagogy ◽  
Social Work Programs ◽  
Practice Knowledge

Social work is a profession based on social justice and anti-oppressive action. Social workers in direct practice in most states must possess a master’s level graduate degree and have completed internship/practicum placements hours. This higher education and professional development prerequisites within graduate curriculums must begin to include increased acceptance and understanding of diversity and social justice through expanded lenses and move beyond current frameworks of diversity. For example, one such area of diversity that has become an increasing proportion of higher education students are students who identify as obese or “fat,” and are experiencing oppression and stigma in their everyday life. The authors used a grounded approach to analyze 100 accredited graduate social work programs’ curriculum throughout the United States, with the goal of understanding how the topic of obesity and weight-based oppression were integrated into learning curriculums of diversity, social justice, and cultural humility. The authors will discuss “fat culture” and stigma associated with an obese identity, as well as systems that are inherently oppressive to people who are of larger size. The findings revealed evidence of professional disregard for this population in practice, as well as overarching disregard for body size as a dimension of diversity and inclusion on an institutional level. The authors will reflect on these findings and discuss implications for practice, knowledge, and professional and educational pedagogy.

scholarly journals Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Forsyth ◽  
Claire Hamshire ◽  
Danny Fontaine-Rainen ◽  
Leza Soldaat
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Staff Perceptions ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe principles of diversity and inclusion are valued across the higher education sector, but the ways in which these principles are translated into pedagogic practice are not always evident. Students who are first in their family to attend university continue to report barriers to full participation in university life. They are more likely to leave their studies early, and to achieve lower grades in their final qualifications, than students whose families have previous experience of higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a mismatch between staff perceptions and students’ experiences might be a possible contributor to these disparities. The study explored and compared staff discourses about the experiences of first generation students at two universities, one in the United Kingdom (UK), and the other in South Africa (SA). One-to-one interviews were carried out with 40 staff members (20 at each institution) to explore their views about first generation students. The results showed that staff were well aware of challenges faced by first generation students; however, they were unsure of their roles in relation to shaping an inclusive environment, and tended not to consider how to use the assets that they believed first generation students bring with them to higher education. This paper explores these staff discourses; and considers proposals for challenging commonly-voiced assumptions about students and university life in a broader context of diversity and inclusive teaching practice.

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