Drawing on Internal Strengths and Creating Spaces for Growth: How Black Science Majors Navigate the Racial Climate at a Predominantly White Institution to Succeed

A participatory action research approach was used to identify the community cultural wealth Black science majors use to navigate the racial climate at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Black science students use their internal strengths to succeed in their majors, and they create spaces where they share support and resources to thrive at a PWI.

Make Space, Take Space

This chapter focuses on the impact of a culturally relevant course centering the experiences of Black women attending a Historically White Institution (HWI). This chapter will provide an overview of the course creation, implementation, and positive implications of a gender-specific course steeped in the African Diaspora. Using Black feminist thought, the authors examine how Black female students experience community, self-discovery, and academic success. The chapter highlights student voices and discusses the lasting impact of the case design on the students and collegiate community. In addition, the co-creators share the impact of the course on their own well-being and its larger impact on the collegiate campus.

Beyond El Arrebato: the seven stages of Conocimiento as instruments for radical reflection and the unlearning of white supremacy culture

PurposeTo be actively antiracist requires an internal reckoning, what Chicana activist and scholar Gloria E. Anzaldúa referred to as “el arrebato.” Used to describe the first of seven cycles through which conocimiento, or knowledge, is formed, el arrebato presents a shift in the understanding of the world as it has been prescribed by both patriarchy and white supremacy. This paper will use Anzaldúa's Seven Stages of Conocimiento to trace a Latinx librarian's journey in unlearning white supremacy toward a shift to antiracist practices.Design/methodology/approachThis ethnography follows the author from her time as a Diversity Alliance resident librarian in an R1 library to her current position as a tenure-track librarian in a primarily white institution, outlining how the seven stages have led toward active interrogation of not only library structures but with the legacy of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous discourse within her own Latinx identity.FindingsAs an ongoing reflective practice, this paper presents a journey of learning and unlearning toward critically deconstructing the culture of “niceness” within librarianship, where the principles of neutrality and vocational awe lend to library structures that place responsibility on the individual for institutional trauma rather than rightly examining and reconstructing the environments and structures themselves.Originality/valueThis autoethnography presents the viewpoint of a first-generation Latinx librarian growing up in a tricultural context in the Midwest.

Critical Co-Constructed Autoethnography: Reflections of a Collaborative Teaching Experience of Two Black Women in Higher Education

Within this paper, two Black women teaching at a predominantly white institution of higher education utilize critical co-constructed autoethnography to reflect on their experiences of using a Womanist approach to co-teach two capstone courses during a global pandemic. Womanism is an epistemology focused on the experiences and concerns of Black women. Using this collaborative inquiry technique, we explore how forms of systemic racism within predominantly white institutions affects our ability to teach and grow as researcher in our specific fields. Critical co-constructed autoethnography is a methodology steeped in critical theory, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory that reflects the tempo, uncertainty, and complexity of research relationships that creates spaces for collaborating researchers to work across differences. We conclude this paper by highlighting the value of using co-constructed autoethnography as a method of articulating the voices of those who have traditionally been underrepresented in academia. This method also allows for the congruency of voices, which is a limitation within traditional autoethnography.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Intersectional Socialization of NCAA Division I Student-Athletes Across Diverse Identities

This research explores the socialization of NCAA Division I student-athletes through case study research methods to understand the influence of collegiate sport on interactions across intersectional identities. Grounded in academic theories relation to student-athlete socialization and intersectionality, this study addresses the following overarching question: What is the influence of athletic participation on the socialization of student-athletes? Interviews lasting 30-45 minutes were conducted with student-athletes (n=21) and athletic staff (n=4) associated with an NCAA Division I football program at a predominantly White institution (PWI) in the southern United States. Results suggested that the socialization of student athletes is complicated by their diverse, intersectional identities and oftentimes requires them to fall into perceived situational identities depending on the social setting.

Understanding Differences in Underrepresented Minorities and First-Generation Student Perceptions in the Introductory Biology Classroom

We used quantitative methods to better understand the perceptions of students in an introductory biology course (Biology 101) at a small, liberal arts college (SLAC) that is also a primarily white institution (PWI). In pre/post surveys, we asked students questions related to their attitudes and beliefs about their professor, classmates, and Biology 101.

“With Politics, It’s Easier to Talk to Them About It”: Peer Racial Socialization and Sociopolitical Development Among Black College Students

With the increased frequency of highly publicized racism in the United States, the engagement of racial socialization among Black emerging adults and their peers is critical for navigating their racial experiences and organizing for change as evident in social movements led by young adults (e.g., Black Lives Matter). However, little is known about the process of peer racial socialization and its relation to sociopolitical development. In this study, we qualitatively explored these processes with 35 Black undergraduates attending a predominantly white institution. Two peer racial socialization themes associated with sociopolitical development emerged: Political Division and Media. An additional theme, Culture as a Form of Resistance, highlighted the relationship between peer racial socialization and coping with racism. Implications for further exploration of non-traditional forms of activism and the creation of safe spaces for Black college students are discussed.

Anti-Racism Working Group

Institutions of higher education fail to address ongoing systemic racism within their classrooms, boardrooms, and commons when university personnel and students are not prepared to discuss racism and structural inequalities that exist within the campus community. To address this at a public, Predominantly White Institution (PWI), a group of students, staff, and faculty developed an action-oriented community to increase awareness and advocacy efforts against systemic and micro-level racism. Founded by faculty in the university’s BSW and MSW programs, the Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG) is composed of faculty, staff, and students from multiple university departments. The goals of ARWG include education and awareness, and dialogue about race, ethnicity, bias, power, and privilege; cultivating interdisciplinary faculty and student relationships, and inspiring anti-racist actions. This paper discusses and disseminates research about ARWG’s inaugural year and early assessments of the program. Data includes responses from students who attended ARWG workshops and found them useful in their conceptualization and self-awareness around race, privilege, and taking anti-racist action. ARWG members benefited around three themes including skill development, relationship building, and the increased awareness and ability to engage in productive discussions around race, power, and privilege. We share these results with other universities and organizations to encourage the creation of similar programs and to facilitate learning from our experiences.

Art and Heart to counter the one-hour-zoom-diversity event: Counterspaces as a response to diversity regimes in academia

This text explores our work as Women of Color (WoC) nurturing spaces and practices in response to the mirage of support, the inadequacy of resources, and the tepid responses to systemic oppression within the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of our university, a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the Midwest. Via reflective vignettes, we discuss developing a community art collaboration as a counterspace, defined by various scholars as “social spaces ... which offer support and enhance feelings of belonging” (Ong, Smith, and Ko 2018, 207) for minoritized students. Throughout this text, we discuss the potential of art-based projects shaped by an anti-racist praxis as a resistance to the “check the box” institutional diversity efforts and as transformative spaces to imagine alternative academic futures for Women of Color staff, faculty, and students.