In this assignment, I will be discussing some of the key issues as to why I believe Black studies does not change the role of the university but does change the way we see and understand the world.
For Black studies to be recognized as credible in education and higher education, is not only something of the past but also of the present day. From my own personal account of being accepted onto a Black studies BA Hons degree at Birmingham City University, I experienced resistance from some within the Black community. Who questioned whether Black studies would gain me means to viable employment or either didn’t see the purpose of studying the degree. Nathan Hare’s accounts of the battle for Black studies highlight the issues for the liberation of Black education to be institutionalized in white America. One of the first issues was history, history was distorted to suit the European agenda that held racist views with academics and also educators who defended this. People of African origin’s contributions to mathematics English, sciences, art, and medicine were unacknowledged. Hare documents this by saying: “Still another course was the history of Western civilization (not world civilization, as in the case of the masterpieces), this curriculum would say to Black students who already were failures as individuals that they had no ennobling ancestral roots: their kind had produced no civilization worthy of attention, no literary achievements”.
African American students are viewed as being academically underachieving, however failing to realize the factors that play into the difficulties Black students face to reach academic success. Feelings of the inadequacy of being in an institution or having to conform to middle-class white society, which is not catered for you, and lack of positive Black role models in academic fields. Black students are seen as more socially acceptable being good at sports or music. With not realizing their full educational potential additionally, teachers and professors have low expectations of them. On the other hand, Black students are portrayed as having multiple behavioral issues, leading to the term ‘defeatism’, which Hare expresses: “It might be more in to be good at cards, for example, which only multiples the probability of failure in the academic arena”. It would be a regular occurrence to hear about Black basketball players in the NBA, then it would be to hear about Black surgeons or Black scientists, this not only feeds into the idea for many Black students that they would have more success doing sports or music or anything else but their education it, systematically defends the institutional racism perpetuated throughout the educational system.
Understanding how neoliberal ideologic policies affect education alongside students studying in higher education, we can then understand how this is manifested by capitalism. Some would argue that neoliberalism in higher education is an academic capitalist institution So how does neoliberalism affect the university?
This all comes in with performance-based funding, this being relevant to catering for those seen to be employable for competitiveness in a corporate world of austerity, and private property, allowing the individual responsibility to create a group of people prepared to mold themselves for financial markets. The well-being of students is not being considered, this is particularly damaging to students whose academic performance is not as strong, therefore minority students are left behind. The report ‘Analyzing Neoliberalism in Theory and Practice: The Case of Performance-Based Funding for Higher Education’ by Kevin J. Dougherty and Rebecca S. Natow looks at some of the in-depth issues surrounding neoliberalist theories, specifically for minority students. “Exercise in England has found that it has led to concentrating more research funding in Oxford, Cambridge, and the Russell Group institutions, making it harder for other institutions to compete (Morgan, 2004). Performance funding can also harm minority-serving institutions if the metrics are not carefully designed with their situation in mind” (Jones et al., 2017).
The finding of this exercise brings me to a second point that relates to the neoliberalist elite society we have. Social stratification unfolds negative effects on specific groups in society. Stratification brings social divisions amongst people, however, this is also bolstered by wealth, other aspects of this are race and class. Social stratification is an unfair systematic hierarchy, consequently meaning the same opportunities to have a fairly funded school college or university are not equal. “Growing stratification of higher education institutions and the creation of vicious cycles. Performance funding studies have identified the danger that it can increase inequality of institutional performance by penalizing poor performers, leaving them without the resources they need to improve their performance. This problem of a vicious cycle has been identified in both American and European research”. These circumstances highlight earlier, as students fortunate to be educated in privileged institutions are invested in are better abled with the resources for employment.
Race isn’t the only issue when it comes to having the same opportunities within institutions or employment, being Black and a woman has added barriers to breaking through being able to reach the top racist sexist attitudes within the workforce. Many are unaware of the issue of visibility for Black female academics, resulting in there only being 25 Black female professors in the UK compared to there being more than 4000 white female professors. Dr. Nicola Rollock is a professor in equality and education, she has conducted a research study to unpick some of the reasons why we see so few Black female professors in the UK. In this study, it was found the experiences of Black female academics were far and few between. “Black women make up just 0.1% of active professors in the UK compared with the 68% who are white men”. An official Guardian report documents Dr. Rollock’s findings. “Rollock said the women felt they received little support from their white female peers, whom they said tended to side with their male counterparts. One woman told her: “I don’t understand why everything has to be a battle, and I know that it’s because I’m a black woman”. These experiences touch on how white women do and still benefit from patriarchy, even while claiming the lack of opportunities for women is exclusively based on gender. Black feminists such as Audre Lorde have spoken on the implications of not acknowledging other women’s experiences, “Ignoring the differences of race between women and the implications of those differences presents the most serious threat to the mobilization of women’s joint power”, with accounts of bullying or feeling unacknowledged along comes with this perpetuated stereotype about who Black women are or how we should be presented displays the historic racial bigotry and bias in Britain towards Black women. “The women, of Black Caribbean, Black African or other Black backgrounds, reported being systematically overlooked for promotion, mistaken for clerical staff, or shut out of participation in university activities”.
This report sheds light on some of the real issues Black women face in academics, which proves this is not only solely just race, but gender class and economics all play a role in the broader context of behavior towards Black women in employment.
Intersectionality focuses on the politics of Black women. The experiences of voices of not only women but women of color not being heard relate to one another, we then can begin to understand why we don’t see the same number of Black women as professors in top positions as white women because there is lack of support in being in senior positions.
Acknowledge that Black women encounter combined race and sex discrimination implies that the boundaries of sex and race discrimination doctrine are defined respectively by white women's and Black men's experiences. Under this view, Black women are protected only to the extent that their experiences coincide with those of either of the two groups. Where their experiences are distinct, Black women can expect little protection as long as approaches such as that in DeGraffenreid, which completely obscure problems of intersectionality prevail. The issues of discrimination against Black women historically go much deeper than just racism, misogynoir, a deep-rooted hatred for Black women, is at the root of problems many face throughout career choices. Therefore, it is evident for the fact that there are only 25 Black female professors in the UK.
African American studies are important for Black children/students to develop their intellectual skills to be able to critically think about problems they may encounter in the education system politically, socially, and additionally, mentally, they will also gain academic skills as well. Black studies can benefit a wide range of society to understand the perspective of Black studies this would go further into the issues raised already in this assignment, how it affects what their workplace and school look like, and people in certain positions, why they get the positions. It’s vital to be intellectually in tune with who you are, as well as academically achieving, Black studies can provide for the holistic needs of Black students, it would tap into Black politics certain voices of sectors of our society not being heard. The Negro to Black conversion talks about the stages which a person goes through, but importantly, the intellectual importance to you and the broader community. “The individual functioning at the fifth stage differs from the person in the fourth stage in that he or she is committed to a plan. He is actively trying to change his community”. Being intellectually woke means not only understanding yourself, but you can also helping your own community. ‘Black communalism’ is a term described as Black unity in your community. This is a positive contrast to what was also mentioned: “Social scientists have traditionally content with a statistical, categorical, static, descriptive analysis of the Black community with minimal time and effort spent on prescriptive analysis for rectifying the Black condition”. The importance of Black studies could provide real changes: “In fact, revolutionary changes may only be possible after Black people have been exposed to a more positive perception of themselves”. However, Black studies would not be able to be institutionalized on a national level because this would challenge the status quo of ‘inclusiveness’. Black studies could be seen as being too radical in a broader context or igniting hatred towards white people causing white shame. Some of the feelings cited throughout the conversion experience are that you will face wanting to reject white people due to being enlightened in the intellectual experience: “The white world, white culture, and white people are dehumanized (‘honky’, ‘pig’, ‘white devil’) and become biologically inferior as the Black person and Black studies world are defied”. Going back to institutions such as the Russell groups, a course like Black studies could never be authentically taught because this would overthrow the pedagogy of the university which is founded on neoliberalism and white supremacy. An article highlighted in the Guardian highlighted that Oxford and Cambridge, amongst other universities, showed resistance to combating racism within the institution. Labour MP David Lammy, who has campaigned for universities to better address racial inequality, said: “It is absolutely clear from these findings that many universities are not treating racism with the seriousness it deserves. If universities do not act fast to change the culture, from the lecture hall to the student union, talented students from BME backgrounds will continue to be locked out”. If there are lack of numbers showing in data that there are not enough Black and minority students, the university will note that there would not be the funding of interest to have Black studies in higher education.
With the findings of the research, I truly believe that African American studies need to be institutionalized on a national to have social progression, however, there are implications and barriers that stand in the way of having Black education nationally applied, it poses a threat to the structural oppression that the basis of education worldwide has been created. Not only to Black students but white also. Circumstances around funding, opportunities, visibility also race all play a part as to why I believe Black studies does not change the role of the university, but does change the way we see the world.