Studying Racism in Higher Education: The Methodological Tensions of Evidence

• In Event: 64.078 - Examining the Complicated Relationship Between Evidence and Ethnography

Abstract

Objectives

This methodological paper, without questioning the presence of racism in society, outlines trends for addressing trustworthiness, identifies tensions of trustworthiness scholars face in studying racism, and provides recommendations for increasing the trustworthiness of race relations studies in higher education.

Perspective

Race relations in higher education, a perennial object of study, has been studied with various methodological approaches. Yet, the measures scholars take to increase the trustworthiness of such studies are largely unquestioned. Given the subtle, contextual, and relational nature of students’ experiences with racism (Bonilla-Silva, 2006), studying racism at a micro and meso-levels presents unique challenges for scholars. The microaggressions research project, for example, has received increased scrutiny concerning the rigor and trustworthiness of scholars’ findings (Lilienfeld, 2017). Methodological approaches to studying racism cannot remain unchanged as racism manifests on campuses in increasingly complex, discrete ways.

Methodology

The paper draws from examples from a year-long ethnography—conducted by the author—of Black undergraduates at an elite, historically white institution of higher education. In conversation with Lubet’s Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters (2018) and other works studying trustworthiness (Jerolmack & Khan, 2014; Tierney & Clemens, 2011), the author connects findings from the ethnography with scholarly literature focusing on racism in higher education.

Findings

The author argues that scholars studying racism in higher education face unique challenges in presenting trustworthy “evidence.” This article highlights four specific tensions regarding evidence and studying racism: 1) interpreting racialized experiences 2) attitudes versus practices 3) data representation and 4) researcher identity.

Significance

Scholars seek methodologies and methods to better understand racism and race relations in higher education and to produce policy-relevant research that improves the experiences and success of students of color and eliminates racism in higher education. The findings of the paper demonstrate the methodological challenges involved with studying racism. Through identifying the four tensions, the paper suggests future directions for methodologies to improve the study racism in higher education.

Author

• Antar Akari Tichavakunda, University of Cincinnati