Racism In The Canadian University

The mission statements and recruitment campaigns for modern Canadian universities promote diverse and enlightened communities. Racism in the Canadian University questions this idea by examining the ways in which the institutional culture of the academy privileges Whiteness and Anglo-Eurocentric ways of knowing. Often denied and dismissed in practice as well as policy, the various forms of racism still persist in the academy. This collection, informed by critical theory, personal experience, and empirical research, scrutinizes both historical and contemporary manifestations of racism in Canadian academic institutions, finding in these communities a deep rift between how racism is imagined and how it is lived. With equal emphasis on scholarship and personal perspectives, Racism in the Canadian University is an important look at how racial minority faculty and students continue to engage in a daily struggle for safe, inclusive spaces in classrooms and among peers, colleagues, and administrators.

The university is often regarded as a bastion of liberal democracy where equity and diversity are vigorously promoted. In reality, the university still excludes many people and is a site of racialization that is subtle, complex, and sophisticated. This book, the first comprehensive, data-based study of racialized and Indigenous faculty members’ experiences in Canadian universities, challenges the myth of equity in higher education. Drawing on a rich body of survey data, interviews, and analysis of universities’ stated policies, leading scholars scrutinize what universities have done and question the effectiveness of their employment equity programs. They also make important recommendations as to how universities can address racialization and fulfill the promise of equity in the academy.

A historical narrative and critical analysis of higher education centred on the experiences of Black students and faculty at McGill University.

"Racism, Eh? is the first publication that examines racism within the broad Canadian context. This anthology brings together some of the visionaries who are seeking to illuminate the topics of race and racism in Canada through the analysis of historical and contemporary issues, which address race and racism as both material and psychic phenomena. Fundamentally interdisciplinary in nature, this text will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, academics studying or practicing within the Humanities and the Social Sciences, and anyone seeking information on what has been a little explored and poorly understood Canadian issue."--pub. desc.

In the new arena for anti-racist work in which we find ourselves, the neo-liberal, ‘post-race’ university, this interdisciplinary collection demonstrates common global political concerns about racism in Higher Education. It highlights a range of issues regarding students, academic staff and knowledge systems, and all of the contributions seek to challenge the complacency of the ‘post-race’ present that is dominant in North-West Europe and North America, Brazil’s mythical ‘racial democracy’ and South Africa’s post-apartheid ‘rainbow nation’. The collection makes clear that we are not yet past the need for anti-racist institutional action because of the continuing impact of coloniality on and in these nations. From within the colonial psyche which still exists in the 21st century these nations actively deracinate politics, subjectivities, political economy and affective relationalities when they re-imagine themselves to be ‘post-race’ states where all citizens can have a share in the good life because now only class matters. Universities have also taken on the mantle of upholding societal ‘post-race’ status through ineffective equality and diversity policies and strategies. The collection makes the case for the urgent need to decolonize the university in ‘post-race’, neoliberal times through a focus on institutional racism in HEIs in Canada, Brazil, South Africa, the UK and the USA. As such it addresses institutional whiteness; the transformation of organizational cultures; the presence and experiences of Black people, People of Colour and Indigenous people in HEIs; the development of curriculum interventions; widening participation and organizational change; and future directions for racial equality and diversity in a ‘post-race’ era. This book was originally published as a special issue of Race Ethnicity and Education.

The presence and experiences of Black people at elite universities have been largely underrepresented and erased from institutional histories. This book engages with a collection of these experiences that span half a century and reflect differences in class, gender, and national identifications among Black scholars. By mapping Black people’s experiences of studying and teaching at McGill University, this book reveals how the "whiteness" of the university both includes and exceeds the racial identities of students and professors. It highlights the specific functions of Blackness and of anti-Blackness within society in general and within the institution of higher education in particular, demonstrating how structures and practices of the university reproduce interlocking systems of oppression that uphold racial capitalism, reproduce colonial relations, and promote settler nationalism. Critically engaging the work of Black learners, academics, organizers, and activists within this dynamic political context, this book underscores the importance of Black Studies across North America.

This multidisciplinary volume brings together scholars and activists to examine expressions of racism in contemporary policy areas, including education, labour, immigration, media, and urban planning. While anti-racist struggles during the twentieth century were largely pitched against overt forms of racism (e.g., pogroms, genocide, segregation, apartheid, and 'ethnic cleansing'), it has become increasingly apparent that there are other, less visible, forms of racism. These subtler incarnations are of special interest to the contributors. The intent of Race, Racialization, and Antiracism in Canada and Beyond is to probe systemic forms of racism, as well as to suggest strategies for addressing them. The collection is organized by themes pertinent to political and social expressions of racism in Canada and the wider world, such as the state and its mediation of race, education and the perpetuation of racist marginalization, and the role of the media. The contributors argue that, in order to effectively combat racism, various methodological approaches are required, approaches that are reflective of the diversity of the world we seek to understand.

Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University examines the disruption and remaking of the university at a moment in history when white supremacist politics have erupted across North America, as have anti-racist and anti-colonial movements. Situating the university at the heart of these momentous developments, this collection debunks the popular claim that the university is well on its way to overcoming its histories of racial exclusion. Written by faculty and students located at various levels within the institutional hierarchy, this book demonstrates how the shadows of settler colonialism and racial division are reiterated in "newer" neoliberal practices. Drawing on critical race and Indigenous theory, the chapters challenge Eurocentric knowledge, institutional whiteness, and structural discrimination that are the bedrock of the institution. The authors also analyse their own experiences to show how Indigenous dispossession, racial violence, administrative prejudice, and imperialist militarization shape classroom interactions within the university.