Using Afropessimism and Cultural Identity Theory to Explain “Race-Neutral” Affirmative Action

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Closing the Theory-to-Policy-and-Practice Gap: An Examination of the Role of Critical Theories (Table 3)

Abstract

The purpose of our conceptual paper is to examine and explain the recent Supreme Court decision concerning Affirmative Action through the theoretical lens of Cultural Identity Theory (CIT) in conversation with Afropessimism. This paper is unique by the novel combination of these two theories and ends with the authors imploring those of us in academia to continue or start creating inclusive spaces on campus as the Supreme Court voiced what whiteness in America believes–that Black culture is not a valid epistemological agency. In short, the Supreme Court is entrenched in the traditions and perspectives of whiteness and acts in accordance with anti-blackness at varying levels of consciousness.

Authors

• Terron Phillips, Indiana GEAR UP

• Janelle Grant-Ashbaugh, Grand Valley State University